The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

tanko wrote: »

At the start of the league, i would have been happy enough to stay in the division and still would but it would be great to get promoted even if it's only for one year. It might help to keep lads interested. The overall standard in division two isn't hectic this year. I can't see too many reasons why we can't win two out of the last three games.

The standard is never too hectic. Last year Meath got promoted and they’re making a bigger mess of being promoted than us and Roscommon last year - we were at least competitive in most games.

I think we’re building a committed team of players but would agree with others that beating Clare and getting to 8 points has to be the first goal.

Great to see Gearoid getting back into form last night and Conor Madden back on the pitch. Our established lads are standing up and being counted.

Yevon wrote: »

Clare sound extremely dogged. And as Mickey Hannon pointed out, a dip next week from Cavan who are playing their 3rd week in a row is a likely occurrence. That said, we have momentum and are getting into that winning habit.

IF we can beat Clare, a win against Roscommon or Kildare will probably promote us. Wonderful position the lads have put themselves in.

Roscommon have beaten Kildare so we’re on six, Armagh, Roscommon, Westmeath and Laois are all on five and then you’ve Clare, Kildare and Fermanagh on two. Huge win for Roscommon away to Kildare.

I agree with what you’re saying re Clare and us playing 3 weeks in a row but at least we didn’t have a long journey this week and are at home next week. They’ve a two and a half hour journey and I wouldn’t expect they’ll bring much support as they’re a hurling county.

I wouldn’t be taking anything for granted though. Clare will be tough. That said, considering we lost Niall Murray without a ball kicked in the League, there have been some huge performances by Cavan. The rookie forward line has really stepped up.

Armagh are not great away, beaten by Laois and a last gasp goal today v Westmeath to level it. They are away to Fermanagh in the next game. You wouldn't be backing Armagh to win that.

Brilliant win last night. Conditions atrocious and possibly worse than Sunday in Portlaoise, with ball handling a real challenge.

Again, lads gave their all for the jersey and that’s all we can ever hope for. Brilliant to see Gearoid back to form. Ciaran Brady was a driving force all day. Thought Oisin Kiernan was absolutely immense and kicked two monster scores as well. Special mention to Chris Conroy who had by far his best game at a senior level. He put some shift in, fielded brilliantly, used the ball well and took a great attacking mark.

Leaders all over the park, massive efforts put in. Roll on Clare!

piplip87 wrote: »

Great performance again from the lads. Really put the Armagh result behind them. Promotion is now a real possibility.

I honestly thought we could be headed to the B championship but get two wins from the next three and we should be back at the top table again.

Hopefully we beat Roscommon jaysus they have been a right pain in the hole since that division 2 final about 12 years ago.

Are Kildare not a bit of a bogey team for us? I don’t remember us beating them in recent years and they gave us an awful kicking the year Seanie kicked the score for them in 2012.

Cavan_King wrote: »

Clare is a vital game to win. We're on six points but eight will see us safe. Regardless of the enjoyable purple patch at the minute, I expected us to win the games we've won before the league started. Lose to Clare and struggle in the last two games and we could still be in bother in regards to relegation.

I note Mickey said that he has a clean bill of health now with Madden, Conor Brady and Conor Smith (all the Conors!) all coming back. Where is Jason McLoughlin though? Very little mention of him of late. Considering how well the backline is doing its great to think he's still to slot in there.

The only thing I would be concerned about is complacency: as in “ah, sure it’s only Clare”. Don’t think Mickey Graham will allow that to happen.

While they have only one win, they only lost to Westmeath and Laois by a point. Having said that they haven’t scored more than 1-11 in a game (twice) so if we keep our intensity levels up, we should look to limit their scoring opportunities.

Granted that they haven’t conceded much either so Sunday will need us firing at all cylinders.

In terms of the starting 15 would like to see Conor Madden in closer to goal.

Third game on the bounce with two games played in horrendous conditions so the bench will likely play a role. Thought Benjeman Kelly showed fairly well when he came on, Connolly looked lively and as always Stephen Murray made an impact. With other lads coming back, that’s the kind of options we might need on Sunday.

Never mind about anything else- a win at home is all we need to focus on. Can’t wait! Hoping the weather isn’t too disruptive for once.

rrs wrote: »

Gary Brennan and Jamie Malone would be big losses for Clare this year. Both nominated for All Stars last year. They still have a useful team, Tubridy and Keelan Sexton are good forwards. Sean Collins son of the manager is a good player too.
Cavan should have enough though.

Division 2 will look stronger next year, Cork likely be promoted, one of Mayo /Donegal /Tyrone going down with Meath from Division 1

The overall standard of teams in Division 2 this year is the worst for a good few years. It'll be a lot harder to get promoted next year.

Yevon wrote: »

I like Murray starting if he's fit for a whole game. Really think someone deserves a chance in place of Doughty. He hasn't taken his chance and the black against Fermanagh could have cost us dearly.

Massive 2/3 games now. Tomorrow likely to be another slog with the weather.

I was only at the Westmeath game and he performed well enough in that to keep his place. In fairness to some of the rookies, they need to be given time to find their feet and I'm sure Graham doesn't want to mess with a winning team too much.

That said, I'm still surprised we haven't seen more of Ryan Connolly. Conor Smith not in the panel either for tomorrow so mustn't be ready yet. I was hoping he'd get at least a few minutes.

That first half was absolutely shocking. I know it was our third game on the bounce so big ask to have the same intensity as previous games. But the handling, the poor kicking, the running into tackles, no support play...absolutely nothing worked. Think it was 33 minutes for our first score from play. Just not good enough.

Nice response in the second half but we missed two or three scoring chances when we had momentum but Clare were the better team, well fired up, well organised and kicked some good scores.

Lovely to have all four seasons in Breffni today as well.

Yevon wrote: »

What was the attacking plan today? It just looked absolutely clueless.

Clare were good, had their homework done and fully deserved their 2 points.

I still dont think we can beat Roscommon or Kildare. Fingers crossed 6 points will keep us up.

It was slow, sluggish and lateral.

No point even thinking about Division 1 if we can’t beat Clare at home.

We’ll be lucky to stay in Division 2 because I can’t see us picking up any more points.

I don’t like to be negative because I know lads are giving their all but it’s hard not to be after that.

Disappointing result today but no surprise really, Clare are a decent enough side and we were never going to have it easy
Terrible first half again.. Its becoming a bit too much of a trend now,
Hopefully we can pick up at least a point in the last 2 games to keep us up.
Don't think it's all doom and gloom but a bit of work to be done all the same

Need to beat Kildare or it will get messy.

The play is run from deep most of the time through the half back line. Smith an dKieran are pacy players. There needs to be more looking up though, instead of head down soloing the ball. More quick foot passing. Clare overturned Cavan a good few times today,

Cavan_King wrote: »

There’s too much turning back and playing sideways passes. Clare killed us today with quick and direct running.

this was our downfall in the games against westmeath, laois (first half ) and roscommon , also you must factor in the week 3 element we definitely had an advantage

we got a bit of a wake up call against laois last week our first half performance was terrible and had we lost today we were effectively relegated

i read here that we had our homework done , i know colm collins he is from the same parish as myself , he has copied and pasted an awful lot of the cavan module in recent years , he uses cavan and roscommon in references in team meetings regularly as ye are the only 2 teams making an impact on division 1 super 8 teams , also the style of football is nearly the same as what terry hyland used to play when cavan manager (the black death of Gaelic football according to joe brolly ) . he had his homework done as he has been keeping an eye on the progress ye have made since 2014 especially

the only way i can console ye lads is by asking ye to beat kildare in two weeks time in that astro sized pitch in newbridge , it keeps us safe for another week plus sends ye back on track in the promotion race .....you know it makes since;)