The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

A team that win the Tailteann is winning a comp for the bottom half of teams in the country, from team 16 down. Look at the placings of Westmeath & Meath who have won it.

Another poster has already answered re Armagh above.

Last year we had a lot of posters with delusions of grandeur expecting us to beat Armagh and I was derided by some for giving the realistic view which turned out to be correct.

I do respect our players but watching them it’s easy to see we are short in key areas.

It’s even simple little coaching points like the passing tonight. I lost count of how many times a ball was played behind a player where a ball into the ample space in front of him would have allowed us to counter attack alot more effectively. Instead the player had to double back on themselves to collect a ball from behind them.

It was clear before the game Meath we’re going to have an effective man marker on Paddy so the players should have seen early he was not getting any change out of him and started running the ball.

The big positive is we didn’t lose.

He had at least one bad wide, did he possibly have two? I find it at times difficult to tell him & Gerry Smith apart from afar.

Gerry had some poor wides too. Second half he got lucky that one got recycled into a score.

Niall Carolan got lucky that the keeper touched that fisted ball of his over the bar. Had he just let it go into the net without touching it, it was no score.

All in all, the worrying aspect is that we are still relying on the old heads and they are not getting any younger. That good crop of U21s from 2015 are all 30 this year.

Cian Reilly and Tiarnan Madden from that U20’s team too, thought they were both very good when they came on for the second half, would start both, Holla more effective when moved to half back in second half. Agree that Oisin Kiernan is a big loss, great inside passer but always good for a point or two as well.

Anyone who attended last evenings game will understand how poor we were in that first half however there are plenty of positives to take, not so much from the game itself but in general-

1. After 5 games we have a chance at promotion. (I think 100% of Cavan folk would have took that at the start of the year.)

2. Some of our lads are playing out of their skins. Just 2 examples are Jason McLoughlin and Gerard Smith. Absolutely fantastic so far. There are plenty of other lads performing.

3. We were worried about our keepers (apart from Raymond) not getting game time under previous management. That hasn't manifested into a problem. O'Rourke was outstanding lastnight.

4. Our more experienced lads are performing well. Very consistent.

5. New management are adapting in front of out eyes. I'm no expert but some naive stuff tactically in the first half of games has largely been addressed at half time by management.

6. Having been out on the field after the games it's clear to see how much it means to the players. (Win or lose) Some very disappointed faces lastnight but positivity all around the group.

7. A serious game with a lot at stake to test ourselves next time against Armagh. Ideal preparation for Monaghan in Championship. It's not the be all and end all either but a good performance needed.

8. Sam Maguire football coming this Summer!

Fully agree with all of that myles.

Gerry was outstanding yesterday but that final effort was disappointing. Holla's equally so. That said, they were out on their feet after taking the fight to Meath. Holla hasn't been playing well but just forced himself into the game yesterday through sheer will.

Ray's subs have been excellent in the main but you'd question how James Smith was left on yesterday and Oisin taken off. Oisin Kiernan isn't strong enough on the ball at this level. Ryan Brady is the same, which is very surprising given how good he looks at Club Championship level.

If Conor Brady is fit to be on the bench why was he not able to be introduced? I thought Rehill was doing fine and was unlucky to be taken off.

Faulkner was just exceptional too at stages. He has a new lease of life after coming out of the full back line.

Full forward line is a big worry. Apart from Lynch, all other candidates are turning in terrible performances week after week. Surely Cormac Reilly has to be in line for a start?

Will GAA Go reduce the price of the game or will it always be €12?

Well the wearecavan boys seemed to have conceded mic time to a load of Meath people in their "joint" match day diary. **** sake if I wanted to listen to Meath ones for an hour I'd head to Kells. Sunday game barely mentioned we were playing, instead focusing on Meaths kicking game (you have to laugh) They probably should have mentioned Meaths 15 behind the ball at all times Black death defence.

We aren't on the media radar at all. Some of that is pure laziness and completely disrespectful (not just to Cavan but to most teams outside division one). Most of that is on the media and some of that is on our historically poor performances. Take 2019 and 2020 out of it we had nothing to crow about. We briefly had a media focus after the Antrim "Corrigan or nowhere" debacle whereby people went "Oh! Cavan aren't that bad" and our typical glorious in defeat against Donegal meant we were reasonably covered during the first novelty Tailteann run.

Most media coverage is based on recency bias. Cork, Kildare and Meath get more coverage than Cavan based on either Tailteann success or All Ireland qualification. That could change this summer if we take a scalp or two, which draw dependant we are more than capable of doing.

Myles- you made me smile there on the media commentary. Not far off at all!!!!

Ray's subs have been key to some of our wins. O'Connell and Rehill against Cork, Cian Reilly and Cormac against Louth.

On the flip side, he needs to make sure he doesn't veer into overreaction territory. He has subbed a sub on a few occasions, James Galligan against Donegal and Caoimhin against Meath. He pulled Oisin Brady after 20 minutes the last day when the entire team was below par. He needs to be careful he doesn't alienate fringe players and knock their confidence.

Oisin for example was poor when he came on against Cork but he was left at it and hit what was essentially the winning score in injury time.

Caoimhin has done okay since he's come back in, quietly contributing. He got seconds against Kildare, so that doesn't really count. He scored 2 against Donegal, Cork and Louth. Six points, mostly from play isn't bad at all. Okay, he didn't have much to show for against Meath but very few forwards did.

Oisin Brady clearly is a talented footballer but his display against Down has clearly meant he is getting plenty of minding in division two. I think he has one against Kildare and one against Cork. I know he came off against Kildare injured so he may be struggling to get to the pace of games.

Yeah he's getting the results and he's getting reactions from players. He clearly has high standards and maybe it's not a bad thing to have lads know they need to deliver or risk getting taken off. He's the man seeing the training sessions etc so we have to trust he knows what he's at. I'm definitely not saying he's done the wrong thing.

I always felt McGleenan really brought criticism on himself from all quarters by being overly zealous with his changes. He kept taking off Caoimhin who was having a brilliant league, it scuppered his development. He really messed about with Madden too. I hope Ray doesn't fall into that trap. The Armagh game will be a big one for Oisin Brady in that respect.

I didn't see that game, but I know the conditions were not good for football. Lynch got 6 points out of the 11. I know he takes the frees, but he is the overall leading scorer after 5 rounds in all the divisions with 0-36. That is excellent.

I know positions are fluid, but that was how I saw them lining out. Carolan was definitely closer to goal and barely ventured forward in the first half. Absolutely no way Rehill was in the corner. Second half, much like Cork, I felt Holla was central and Carolan at half back. Cian Reilly definitely went to corner back. Like you, I thought Rehill came into the game and handled a lot of ball and probably taken off to allow Carolan to get further up the field and offer more in attack with his pace and ability to punch holes in the opposition defence.

Not sure if it would be our style of play but am I right in thinking we appear to have a slight issue with playing League matches 3 weekends in a row?

In 2020, I remember WAC particularly pointing out our poor performance vs Clare was because they felt we were playing a 3rd weekend in a row - due to a rescheduled game.

Looking over the dates, it appears our loss to Tipperary in 2022 Div 4 was also our third weekend playing in a row.

You’d hope a two week break now will give lads a good chance to recharge both the bodies and minds.