The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

Big crowd for the most entertaining junior final I can remember. Lovely night for football & a very good first half with some great scores. But tighter in the second half but when the game was in the mix in the last 10 minutes Drumlane seemed to want it more.

Ryan Connolly’s equalising point, almost from the sideline, was magnificent. His winning point wasn’t easy either. Arva seemed very passive at times but well played Drumlane.

hopefully the weather doesn’t impact on the intermediate final too much tomorrow.

It’ll be a miracle if the Clarke fool doesn’t cause a riot here.

I couldn't make it so was relying on Cavstream. The game seemed a bit flat for a final. I thought the referee didn't help in the early stages and there were a lot of frees which meant there wasn't much of a flow to the game. Fair play to Gowna, they performed on the day and since the second half of the first quarter final against the Gaels they have really picked up the tempo and improved with each game. Big performances from Cian and Tiarnan Madden, Conor Brady and Ryan Donohoe. The Fitzpatrick brothers kicked two great scores right after Martin Reilly's goal and those were crucial at the time. Special mention to Mark McKeever. Some performance, regardless of his age.

Killygarry will come again and they have proven a lot of doubters wrong and that was some run they went on from last year's game against Lacken. It is a very inexperienced and young team but lots of real talent and they will learn from that.

Encouraging signs for senior club football as the top three teams are dominated by very athletic, skillful players (Gowna, Killygarry and Crosserlough).

I thought Clarke was a tad lucky to get in there. Great to see Jason and Gerry getting the recognition they deserve. Jason in particular was outstanding this year.

It looks like we will have the Tailteann Cup to look forward to again this year...

Mickey has a big challenge, he needs to introduce new blood and he needs them to slot in straight away.

It's a big year for the likes of Oisin Brady Cian Reilly and Niall Carolan who have some experience and now need to break into the team and find consistency.

Thomas Galligan is a massive loss. There aren't many wrecking balls like him in Div 3 and there's no replacing him. We still have a decent talent pool though and some of our most experienced lads are still in their prime.

You still have a good spine of experienced lads with Faulkner, Clarke, G Smith, Ciaran Brady (hopefully back to normal), McLoughlin & McKiernan. I believe all of those will continue.

Thomas Galligan is a loss but iirc has he not been fairly injury prone? Like a lot of that McRory Cup team that he was on. Not too many of a promising team has featured strongly for the county team, mainly due to injury issues.

At least we might now see the best midfielder in the county J Smith actually playing at midfield.

Cormac Daly? Has he not been tried and tested a few times before. What age is he now? Too inconsistent for me. I don’t think he’s as good as he was a few years back and I’d rate his counterpart Wright above him now.

Ryan Connolly has been in there too. Did well in a challenge against Monaghan at the end of 2019 and scored a point against Westmeath in 2020 League. Drifted off the panel since.

Which of the Bradys from Gowna marked Canavan in the U20 Ulster Final game last year? I’d like to see him in there.

I don’t think Ewan Henry will be an improvement on anyone in there.

Truth be told it was a poor club championship, mainly down to the tactics employed. How would you pick out anyone from, say, Ramor or Mullahoran and them playing downright terrible defensive football all year?

Regardless of what players are in there, the tactics need to progress. The top teams counter attack and move the ball quickly, something we are struggling with. Hopefully this new man from Mayo will instill some of their high tempo.

Any more word on Lynch and James Smith not being available?

Thanks, would be strange if they weren’t available with McVeety coming back

Didn't Smith pick up a bad enough knock in the league final. He was flying that day but at the championship game I overheard his uncle say he shouldn't have started against the Gaels and probably needed an operation- and then picked up another knock. Clearly wasn't next nor near himself for the Gowna game.

Him and Clarke in the middle would be ideal. Where does McVeety go in? He was magical as a full forward, but if you have Lynch and Gearoid in there, maybe McVeety goes into the half forward line with Cian Madden and Gerry Smith.

Interesting read.

Great read, apart from the reference to Tyrone in the 2020 Ulster final!

He probably didn't want Tynan retiring him.

Is that list coming from the Celt? As others mentioned, I would hope that the likes of Jack McKenna have stuck around.

Unfortunately, with the poor performances in the League, the Tailteann Cup Final was win or bust for the season last year IMO.

I’d be happy enough to see some changes and I did hear that Johnston was still heavily involved in Cuchulainns last year behind the scenes. There are plenty of club manager jobs available.

Looking at the last panel (the "let's not mention it" game against Westmeath..) i think we had Carolan starting and Brian O Rourke and Cian Reilly on the bench. I would be very surprised if Carolan and Reilly (fully fit) are not pushing for places immediately. Have to assume that Lovett will start with the u20s but clearly he has bags of talent and such an exciting player to watch.

Big year for the likes of Oisin Brady, Conor Smith and Cormac Reilly. All got game time in the last two years but between injury, ill discipline and not just making the mark (yet) at intercounty, none of them have nailed down a place. All clearly have talent and has been shown at club level.

This time last year the talk was whether anyone could nail down a starting forward place and Paddy Lynch stepped up and did that and more. Obviously McGovern if back in is another one with lots of talent as well that showed flashes of what he could potentially do in 2020 and 21 and it is wonderful to see him back.

For me, the biggest position for someone to nail down and claim as their own is centre half back. Clarke was listed there for most of last season but mostly played in the middle (and did a fine job doing the dirty work alongside either Galligan or Smith in the league). It was mostly Moynagh who dropped back, but whilst he is a brilliant player (and was our most consistent defender in 2019) I am not convinced that he is a centre half. With the Holla back, Oisin Kiernan a cert and Conor Brady coming to the fore, surely it's one of those three to nail down that spot. Personally, I would like Conor Brady to step up and have a fully fit Holla and Kiernan as rampaging on the wings. I know Jason played half back a lot last year but i prefer him in man marking roles- but in fairness, wherever he plays, he never lets us down.