The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

2020 was an anomaly of a Championship played In Winter. Tipperary won Munster and have gone backwards since. Tyrone breezed past Cavan the following year in Ulster.

Last year was a decent performance against Donegal but that Donegal team went downhill after losing the 2020 final. This was a home game and beaten fairly comfortably

Fair play to you Cavan_King if you watched it again, once in the flesh was enough for me.

You have absolutely nailed two things in that post. Once the draw was made we knew it was going to be Armagh. How they lined up wasn't a surprise and yet we had absolutely no idea how break them down.

And the minimum anyone would expect would be that if we lost, we would have put up a fight. It was a completely rudderless and timid performance, and that's the hard part to take.

Was there a plan? We went man for man at the back (again) with no cover- which i could accept if we were playing some gung-ho attacking football- which we weren't. As a performance in a big match it almost was carbon copy of the Westmeath match. No intensity. Walking pace. Cleaned out of it in the middle in the first half. I can't believe how flat we were. Someone beside me said when the times going behind the band "our lads look nervous" and he was right- Armagh were completely up for the fight and we simply were not. That's the sad part.

I was convinced we were well primed and would come out of the traps and have a proper crack at Armagh. After 2 minutes it was clear i couldn't have been more wrong. It was risk averse, passive nonsense. And let's not doubt it- Down will give Armagh a game. So we can park the league being our downfall talk. We were in division four FFS last year and we came out and gave Donegal a decent rattle (yes, they were on the slide, but let's not forget that they could have won Ulster last year if they had a decent manager).

And the narrative about the 16 wides all being from outside the scoring zone is nonsense- yes in the first half, but in the second half when Armagh took the foot of the pedal / ran out of steam / got the jitters (i think a combination of all three) we had fairly straightforward chances. The last 4 wides for example were all very kickable. Knock two of those over and it would have made for an interesting finish.

Not that we deserved anything from that performance. It was as pathetic a collective display I've seen in an Ulster match for a long time. Even in 2021 when we were the walking wounded, we at least put it up to Tyrone for 40 minutes until they got their goal. We were practically out of this game after 20 minutes.

How many of the panel are going to be geared up for the Mickey Mouse All-Ireland? What about fans? More games against the likes of Fermanagh, Antrim, Longford and Tipperary? Yay! I can't wait to burn money on diesel and tickets for that.

They are games we shouldn’t be losing. The Clare result started the rot because it got us relegated and, while Clare are a decent team, you shouldn’t be losing to them at home.

I enjoyed the Tailteann Cup games last year but it’s going to be a hard slog now after watching that farce on Saturday.

I had hoped we were going somewhere but, alas, it appears no.

I’d love to see what someone like Oisin McConville could bring to this group of players before a lot of them hang up their boots.

The first half of the League final didn't suggest Cavan would come all out of the traps. It was a slow ponderous performance . Fermanagh didn't have the forwards to punish Cavan. The second half was an improvement but couldn't have been much worse.

Huge test to keep lads motivated for the Tailteann (again). We all know they have put in serious shifts in and had to be thinking they had a good chance of making an Ulster final again. I am sure they are hurting but wonder whether they will have the appetite for more slog for a second rate competition.

I'm not exactly feeling the love for it either, but a few weeks later (and i should have dried off by then after Saturday!) I might warm to it a bit. It might depend on the draw. I'll be rooting for Down and Offaly- that way if they make provincial finals we might see a few new teams to play! :)

Credit to the hurlers, in very trying conditions for the small ball, they put in a serious shift and deserved the win.

He’s been doing punditry for the last decade or more and it’s quite clear he knows his stuff. I feel a fresh voice is needed and he is one that springs to mind.

Parkinson wouldn’t have the temperament for management and is too controversial. Not sure he’s interested in it either.

I wouldn’t know much about Niblock or Cantwell but I don’t believe either are intercounty managers. Care to enlighten us as to what experience they have that you’ve linked them?

Last time I checked McConville has managed club sides like Crossmaglen, had a stellar playing career where he won an All Ireland & is an intercounty manager. He also lived in Cavan for a time and has worked with club teams here. He lives an hour up the road so is a realistic proposition.

Not sure why you’ve therefore likened him to three people above who have never even managed a club team to my knowledge.

Want to share your own opinion on the management situation?

I don't disagree but the performance was so abysmal on Saturday that they should want to atone for it and be glad of the opportunity to have games coming up and not have to wait until the League next February. We'll see how it pans out but a lot of those young lads should be getting a bit of game time now, McKenna, Ryan O'Neill, David Brady, Tiarnan Madden etc

If that is the case, and Saturday did have a feel of an end of the era management wise, I would hope that the County board are given notice to get a good process in place. I don't want a repeat of 2017!

I think we will see most players staying on for the Tailteann as they probably will want some form of reward for all the work they have put in, but could be wrong. But definitely think we will see 3/4 players stepping away after that. But it needn't be a total end of an era. As much as it pains me to say, we should be looking at Monaghan*. Each year we hear that that's the end of them, but like a zombie in a horror movie, they come back for more. No need saying we are back to 2010 and need a total rebuild each year.

And fair play to celt262 for only being half vexed at this stage. I've not managed to get to that stage yet!

*off to say a decade of the rosary for even mentioning those shower.

Would Michael McDermott the ex Ramor manager be worth going for?. He's had a lot of success at Club level, and managed Clare the last time they reached the Munster final in 2012.

He won the senior championship with Ramor & recently won the Meath championship with Wolfe Tones. He works in the Credit Union in Virginia so is in the area.

As far as I remember, he was in for the job when Graham got it. I also believe he went for the Meath job after McEntee went.

Good to see the county lads will be let play this weekend. Crosserlough & Ballinagh both with their available county lads tonight.