The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

Cavan are one of the few teams in the Country outside of the top 4 or 5 teams with a full time S/C coach. The conditioning superior to any of the teams in Division 3 ,who are mostly under new management teams and new S/C coaches. It takes a few years to get up to that level.

Down had some good patterns had play but overall Cavan were a better team. Down had players only coming into the panel in recent weeks the johntons and Eugene Brannigan. Kind of a thrown together team. Good to see Gearoid McKiernan making an appearance and getting a few scores.

Would agree they cut threw Cavan too easily a few times in first half

I was over on the terrace and when the half time whistle went, Laverty was like a bullock let out of a shed, racing onto the field. I thought he was going after the ref (one of the Down lads, one of many during the game i might add, was on the deck prior to half time claiming an off-the ball altercation). He then rounded up all his lads and flew down the tunnel and came back out and started accosting Cavan players when our lads started making their way in. I couldn't see much more after that, anyone in the stands see?

I see some amount of cribbing online from Down people about the ref over on the Down twitter account. I thought the ref was very fussy and they got a lot of handy frees in the second half. In no way did i think the ref favoured Cavan, i thought he got plenty wrong for both teams.

Stephen Smith got a mark that wasn't and McVeety was pretty fortunate not to get a black card in the first half. Having said that, some of the rolling around on the deck from the Down players feigning head injuries was embarrassing.

Is a definite date set for the League finals?

You’ll always get a few like that. I think Laverty was trying to build a bit of a siege mentality and give them a cause to motivate them in the second half. Kilcoo are a hated club in Down for their antics so that’s the environment he’s coming from.

I checked the Twitter account after you said that and a lot of supporters seem to think that’s them in Division 3 for another season but they’re only 2 points off Fermanagh.

Fermanagh have Westmeath and Cavan left whereas Down have Longford & Offaly so still plenty to play for.

Only realised checking the fixtures there that Cavan’s next game is a Saturday fixture. Saturday the 18th at 2. I can’t see many travelling for that with it being a familiar opposition, a long drive, very little for us to play for and a good few sore heads expected.

I would still love for Cavan to really push on and win all seven games though.

I agree that with that, and when you consider that we will beat Antrim in two weeks time, we can put the mathematical scenarios to bed. Normally you would say that for a game like that it would be about resting lads, but given that championship isn't too far away you would imagine it will be about game time for Gearoid, James Smith, Jason and maybe one or two coming off the bench like Cian Reilly and the Gunner.

Micky did say after the Longford game that Connor brady and Connor Smith were 3 to 4 weeks away so if he said yesterday they were due back that’s about right, fingers crossed they are.

Felt harsh to drop Evan Finnegan yesterday. He hasn’t put a foot wrong that I can think of but McLoughlin has to be one of the main stays of the team.

I think he was exposed a bit in Tullamore which has dented his hopes of keeping a place. Mickey wasted no time in subbing McLoughlin in to nullify the threat. Finnegan's top end pace might make him not suitable against certain opposition.

With Conor Brady, Oisin Kiernan and Oisin Brady all to come back, McCabe and David Brady will find it tough to hold those jerseys.

My Championship 15 with everyone fit:

Ray

Carolan Faulkner McLoughlin

Holla McVeety Conor Brady

Clarke Smith

Gerry Cian Madden Oisin Kiernan

Oisin Brady Lynch Gearoid

Probably tough on Tiarnan Madden but I think Brady is a more solid option defensively and a more accomplished shooter. Boylan has been excellent but I think Oisin Brady offers more athleticism.

McVetty could go into forwards and Conor Brady or Clarke Centre back.

I think Tiarnan looks great carrying the ball forward, he can deliver a nice pass too. I don't know if he's defensively strong enough yet to make a championship team. We've seen a few very sloppy tackles around the neck from him over the last few games as a result of this. His shooting also lets him down.

I think our defence has been so solid this year, Mickey will be reluctant to move McVeety to the full forward line. In 2019 we didn't have Lynch and needed Gearoid at midfield. McVeety's tackling is fantastic and his aggression in that sector of the field is a huge asset, he stepped out of position yesterday which led to the Down goal but overall I think he's still the best option there.

That's probably not far off it, assuming everyone is fit. And with that, you have real options such as Boylan to bring pace to the attack if we needed to freshen things up or Tiarnan Madden to carry the ball and pick out passes if the game opened up. The half back has looked very balanced in the last 5 games and I would be loath to change it, but Conor Brady would add a huge amount of physicality that could be needed to counter the runs of Burns and the like.

One definite is that if both are fit, it's Clarke and Smith in the middle. Killian might have been listed at centre half in the programme in the last 2 years but he's more or less been in midfield and consistently solid alongside James Smith or Galligan. It's an underrated role, but he's doing it really well. I think his versatility in the past (corer back, full back, wing back, centre half, midfield and even a brief stint at full-forward) and his willingness to play any role had an impact on his form- but he's been brilliant in the middle for us and there's no way we need to change that now.

Similarly McVeety at centre half back works in terms of the defensive shift he can put in and his ability to break forward to cause havoc. As noted, we have Paddy Lynch as a target man and possibly Gearoid for that as well.

One thought i had was that if Gearoid isn't 100% on all cylinders for the Armagh match, we might see O'Neill start. He puts in some shift, is willing to track runners and wins ball regularly. He's not prolific but he could do a job for 35 minutes and then we could bring in Gearoid, life the crowd (if needed) and also completely change how Armagh (or Antrim 😉) have to set up defensively.

Yeah that's a really good point about bringing on Gearoid. You can rely on O'Neill to win ball and if we get the runners off him, he can be very useful and always puts in a big shift. Having Gearoid on the bench is doubly beneficial. It gives a mental lift to our players knowing we have a trump card to come on, knowing that if the scoreboard is tight we have someone to push us over the line if we are beginning to struggle for scores.

It will also change the way Armagh are playing, they will have a plan in place for Gearoid and we can force them into changing their shape to accomomdate that. Tired bodies and minds of Armagh will suddenly have a big task. I also feel that Armagh's answer to these sort of challenges can often be stepping over the line physically. That could result in cards or kickable frees, all good news for Cavan if we can take advantage.

This Armagh team now have a history of not getting over the line in big games, particularly Ulster games. There has to be doubts in the minds of their players so we need to put then in a position where those doubts bubble to the surface and they make mistakes.

Madden seem to be in serious shape this year and has done well when introduced so far this year, this is the strongest squad we have had in a while we have good cover around the field apart from maybe full-back we would have to put Clarke back there if anything happened Faulkner. I would also like to see Ray Galligan sit out one of the remaining games.