The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

tanko

Imagine being a Down supporter watching that. Did they score 1-11 in the first half and only 0-2 in the second.

Cavan_King

Yevon wrote: »

Stephen Smith has not been good. Neither has Pierson. I think there's too much focus being put on positions there, it doesn't matter if they're not natural scoring forwards when nobody in the full forward line is doing the scoring anyway. Put Benjamin Kelly in there, he's big and fast and can score. Put Buchanan in there and keep the full back line honest.
We are putting in lads there that aren't troubling defences, aren't drawing in defenders and aren't scoring. Lads that offer no physical threat.

I think Pierson has a bit more about him than Smith. Pierson was arguably our best forward in the League pre Covid but he had a poor club championship and that’s carried into his form. I think Mickey is playing him in the hope he’ll play himself back into form.

Interesting that Harte did mention that Martin Reilly was making runs and not getting the ball in at HT. Damo Donohoe also mentioned that as a problem following the Kildare game.

The bottom line is that players stood up today. All too often in the past that was missing from Cavan teams. I remember two years ago Jimmy McGuinness saying it about Cavan before we played Tyrone in the qualifiers - Cavan had nobody to stand up and grab a game by the scruff of the neck when it was needed.

The likes of Faulkner, Galligan, C. Brady & McKiernan did that today.

Cavan_King

Ulster Final set for the Athletic Grounds. What a stupid decision. It was a mud bath today.

rrs

A real Ulster Council decision. They are based in Armagh.

It should have been Enniskillen, half way for Cavan and Donegal , or toss a coin and play in Donegal or Cavan, wasn't going to make a difference with no crowd.

benjy1000

Cavan_King wrote: »

Ulster Final set for the Athletic Grounds. What a stupid decision. It was a mud bath today.

What are the other options? Clones hasn’t floodlights.
Omagh is in bad shape & is generally waterlogged.
Breffni isn’t an option .
Brewster is a viable option not sure why they didn’t pick there but there must be a reason.

Gallant_JJ

Fantastic second half performance, leaping around the livingroom. For me, whilst Madden undoubtedly changed the game, Faulkner was magnificent. Everything you want from a leader, even when things weren’t going our way.

rrs

They might have been banking on Down winning the game, so there would be a crowd at the final. 400 are allowed at Inter County games in the North.. Oisin McConville said last week a few thousand should he allowed attend the Ulster final. NI with worse case numbers then South.

Hammar

rrs wrote: »

They might have been banking on Down winning the game, so there would be a crowd at the final. 400 are allowed at Inter County games in the North.. Oisin McConville said last week a few thousand should he allowed attend the Ulster final. NI with worse case numbers then South.

Don't think there would have been any crowd no matter who got through...GAA have pulled the plug on crowds in all 32 counties.

tanko

At half time today i don't think anyone in Cavan was too worried where the final was going to be played, i'm just glad we're in it.
With a bit of luck the weather might improve and the pitch will dry out.

Cavan_King

benjy1000 wrote: »

What are the other options? Clones hasn’t floodlights.
Omagh is in bad shape & is generally waterlogged.
Breffni isn’t an option .
Brewster is a viable option not sure why they didn’t pick there but there must be a reason.

Why wasn’t Breffni an option? The Ulster final is played in Clones even when Monaghan are in it.

It could be brought to Croke Park again. Compare it today to Armagh.

Jizique

Cavan_King wrote: »

Why wasn’t Breffni an option? The Ulster final is played in Clones even when Monaghan are in it.

It could be brought to Croke Park again. Compare it today to Armagh.

CRoker makes sense; only fair to get a run out there before facing the Dubs

rrs

Cavan_King wrote: »

Why wasn’t Breffni an option? The Ulster final is played in Clones even when Monaghan are in it.

It could be brought to Croke Park again. Compare it today to Armagh.

Breffni is a new pitch too. It was relayed 2 years ago.

The Munster final next week is in Cork. Connacht final today in Galway. There wasn't much point bringing it to Armagh, h but it is what it is. Hope fully they are competive and don't give Donegal too much respect.

tanko

I'd say Donegal would rather play the final in Breffni rather than Armagh, it's the best playing surface in Ulster. Whether they'd agree to it is another thing.

baconsarnie

Yevon wrote: »

Yeah I still think we are too reluctant to give it in to the full forward line. Martin Reilly showed today he can make the ball stick inside and he can be productive with it.

Absolutely agree about the players standing up. So many games in the last few years we were just devoid of leadership. A qualifier game against Offaly in the league stands out, if it wasn't for Cian Mackey we would probably have been beaten.

Today, we had several players making big plays when it counted most. Faulkner (probably should have been MOTM) with last ditch defending, Gearoid dominating the middle when we needed possession, Thomas Galligan securing possession in the middle, scoring, diving catch for the mark. Killian Clarke getting forward for a point, Ciaran Brady taking one for the team in injury time. Conor Madden piecing together the flashes he's shown over the years into a wonderful second half performance. Just brilliant.

Amen, and as others have said, in they second half we had leaders all over the place. Faulkner was man of the match, no question. Best game he’s had for us since restart. He wasn’t hitting the heights he sets for himself and I think he was still suffering from that nasty knock against the Gaels, but today he was a force of nature. But that was a team performance. Big Gearoid with a monster of a performance in the second half. Thomas Galligan, the Holla, the Gunner when things were going against us stood up.

But everywhere there were lads who emptied the tank. Gerry Smith had a great second half. Conroy- who had many a great league game, took some big marks. Killian Clarke had an impact. Jason McLaugjhlin I thought was superb as well. Oisin Kiernan stuck to Mooney and he didn’t give him a sniff in the second half. That won’t be noticed but it was a big part of our win.

Finally, we’ve all seen Conor Madden do wonderful things with Gowna and in flashes for Cavan- like his performance last year against the Rossies. But that’s his first time that he’s shown the country what he can do in the heat of championship. He’s a magnificently talented footballer and I really hope today is the first of many match winning performances from him. I’ve never seen him boss a game like that at county level where he was demanding the ball. It was magnificent to see.

rrs

They would hardly object. Played in 3 Ulster finals against Monaghan in Clones


They would be use to playing in the muck all the same, the game against Tyrone was similar conditions to today.

Cavan_King

rrs wrote: »

They would hardly object. Played in 3 Ulster finals against Monaghan in Clones


They would be use to playing in the muck all the same, the game against Tyrone was similar conditions to today.

There’ll be no team better at playing in muck and wind and rain than Donegal. Sure haven’t they said themselves, when criticised for hand passing too much, that one of the reasons they play that game is they’ve plenty of experience training in gale force coastal winds up there!

Not sure if he’s been mentioned but Luke Fortune had a super game for a lad getting his first decent run in the team. Has really slotted in superbly.

Good to see a bit of clever play from Cava too. Staying down when they needed to and generally bossing the Diwn players physically.

At this stage, with Cavan down to the last eight, I think we’ll definitely see some All Star nominations for Cavan. Ray Galligan a cert for one in my opinion.

Thunderbirds

Cavan_King wrote: »

There’ll be no team better at playing in muck and wind and rain than Donegal. Sure haven’t they said themselves, when criticised for hand passing too much, that one of the reasons they play that game is they’ve plenty of experience training in gale force coastal winds up there!

Not sure if he’s been mentioned but Luke Fortune had a super game for a lad getting his first decent run in the team. Has really slotted in superbly.

Good to see a bit of clever play from Cava too. Staying down when they needed to and generally bossing the Diwn players physically.

At this stage, with Cavan down to the last eight, I think we’ll definitely see some All Star nominations for Cavan. Ray Galligan a cert for one in my opinion.

We'll be in last 5 next Sunday at 4.

rrs

Cavan_King wrote: »

There’ll be no team better at playing in muck and wind and rain than Donegal. Sure haven’t they said themselves, when criticised for hand passing too much, that one of the reasons they play that game is they’ve plenty of experience training in gale force coastal winds up there!

Not sure if he’s been mentioned but Luke Fortune had a super game for a lad getting his first decent run in the team. Has really slotted in superbly.

Good to see a bit of clever play from Cava too. Staying down when they needed to and generally bossing the Diwn players physically.

At this stage, with Cavan down to the last eight, I think we’ll definitely see some All Star nominations for Cavan. Ray Galligan a cert for one in my opinion.

Yeah, I've heard that before. The windy conditions of the North coast made it more a short hand passing game.

Watching Armagh yesterday, while they are very poor in defence. Their keeper not up to the level of Ray Galligan, Sean Patton. A good keeper who can read the game, ability to pick passers short and long and a good fielder of the ball,, adds a lot to a team.

Beggan and Morgan also good in Ulster. The rest wouldn't be up to that standard.

The All Stars named in February next year. More of a chance getting 1 with it being knockout and Cavan playing 4 g,mes would be still need a good showing in final.

tanko

Christ, such bitterness from Sean Cavanagh, no mention of the two other wrong refereeing decisions that resulted in Down getting a goal and Cavan being denied a probable goal, typical of the miserable git.

tayto lover

The Cavan defence was again wide open today. They gave up about 4/5 goal chances. A couple of very good saves and mix ups by the Down forwards resulted in only one being taken.
Cavan would seriously need to fix the defence if they’re to trouble Donegal.
I don’t think they can do that in a week.

baconsarnie

Yevon wrote: »

A comeback from 10 points in an Ulster Championship Semi-Final and they focus on a technical foul in the lead up to the penalty and a missed chance by Down. Jesus wept.

Such “analysis”. A team that has won three games in three weeks including 2 huge comebacks and that is the best they can do?

I like the fact that their coverage of the Down goal edited out the phantom Mark. Did Paddy Tally edit the footage???

cavan4sam

Very lazy but predictable analysis by the sunday game
Won't do us any harm it just puts more pressure on this years ulster champions Donegal
Cavanagh is a bitter twat and o rourke is just we'll o rourke

celt262

cavan4sam wrote: »

Very lazy but predictable analysis by the sunday game
Won't do us any harm it just puts more pressure on this years ulster champions Donegal
Cavanagh is a bitter twat and o rourke is just we'll o rourke

I doubt they even seen the game other than thev couple of minutes of highlights that was shown last night.

rrs

3 games were on at same time. Meath v Kildare,
Galway v Mayo and the Cavan game.

It's unlikely O Rourke watched Cavan game live, but they had time to watch it back before show started.

celt262

rrs wrote: »

3 games were on at same time. Meath v Kildare,
Galway v Mayo and the Cavan game.

It's unlikely O Rourke watched Cavan game live, but they had time to watch it back before show started.

They had all evening to watch it but going by there analysis i'd have my doubts.

willabur

The sunday game is transition year level of production, genuinely look like lads in their debs suits.

Even with the bias of the lads on BBC at least you know they watched the whole game.

Donaghy was on OTBAM this morning and it was chronically obvious he didn't watch 1 second of the game. He lauded the performance of Stephen Smith, Faulkner put in a great man marking display (based on a game he played 2 years ago), Conway kicked crucial scores (he didn't).. I lost count the number of things he plain made up about the game. Oh Martin Reilly is the spiritual leader of the team, that was a good one also

piplip87

Whached it again there this morning. Downs dominance in the first half was not as strong as suggested at the time. The mark that lead to their goal should have been a Cavan line ball and the ref gave a free in when Rielly was through on goal so that's possibly a 6 point lead handed to Down. Down went up by 10 should have been 4.

Down where not great in the first half, Cavan where just brutal.

The Cavan gameplan in the first half was to try dominate possession keep it short and try to work it into good positions and take the score. Downs defense was solid and it didn't work.

The second half we went out and played football. Quick long passing and some outrageous scores.

If we can bring the intensity from the second half to the Donegal game next week we can be competitive. If we come out and play like we have in the first half like we did yesterday we will be hammered.

Hopefully two Ulster finals in two year will encourage a few other lads into the panel.

Whatever happens a good streak of wins in the league next year is possible build some momentum and hopefully super 8s await.

mylestheslasher

willabur wrote: »

The sunday game is transition year level of production, genuinely look like lads in their debs suits.

Even with the bias of the lads on BBC at least you know they watched the whole game.

Donaghy was on OTBAM this morning and it was chronically obvious he didn't watch 1 second of the game. He lauded the performance of Stephen Smith, Faulkner put in a great man marking display (based on a game he played 2 years ago), Conway kicked crucial scores (he didn't).. I lost count the number of things he plain made up about the game. Oh Martin Reilly is the spiritual leader of the team, that was a good one also

The analysis of games on SKY and BBC is light years ahead of RTE who should be embarrassed by the people they are putting up. If it is not Tomas O Se rhyming off the two players he knows from each "small" county its Colm O Rourke talking up a poor Meath team. Listening to Canavan, Harte and McConville who actually know the type of players they are talking about and what positions they play is a breath of fresh air.

KIB4Life

mylestheslasher wrote: »

The analysis of games on SKY and BBC is light years ahead of RTE who should be embarrassed by the people they are putting up. If it is not Tomas O Se rhyming off the two players he knows from each "small" county its Colm O Rourke talking up a poor Meath team. Listening to Canavan, Harte and McConville who actually know the type of players they are talking about and what positions they play is a breath of fresh air.

Definitely enjoy Sky’s coverage more then RTÉ at the moment. Haven’t seen the BBC’s so can’t comment on their coverage. Canavan and McConville are very good though whenever I have heard them. People used to give out about Brolly but to be honest I would nearly prefer him to come back then listen to Spillane, O’Rourke, Cooper and Cavanagh.

Tomas O’Sé and Ciaran Whelan are probably the two best analysis at the moment in RTÉ but in fairness they don’t have much competition. Cian Ward is very good doesn’t do much media work does be on the GAA Hour with Colm Parkinson he is very good very good knowledge of the game, also good at analysing games, am surprised he hasn’t got any media work with the likes of RTÉ or SKY.

I suppose he didn’t have a successful enough playing career to get a gig with either of them. Didn’t win any all stars or All Ireland’s. Which is wrong because just someone was a great player doesn’t mean that they will be any good as an analyst like Cavanagh and Cooper have showed.

Cavan_King

mylestheslasher wrote: »

The analysis of games on SKY and BBC is light years ahead of RTE who should be embarrassed by the people they are putting up. If it is not Tomas O Se rhyming off the two players he knows from each "small" county its Colm O Rourke talking up a poor Meath team. Listening to Canavan, Harte and McConville who actually know the type of players they are talking about and what positions they play is a breath of fresh air.

The BBC in studio pundits were very good yesterday but I found the commentary team poor. Niblock is hard to listen to and I’m not sure why Marty Clarke was selected to co-commentate on a game involving his own county.

It was quite clear from early on the pair of lads could rhyme off every Down player, their club and who their grandad played for but hadn’t a notion about Cavan. Surely someone with a partial knowledge of Cavan football should have been in the box with Niblock or even get Mackey in and have three.

Great show on We Are Cavan last night with the interviews. Interesting to hear Faulkner state that the planned tactics were to slow Down’s players far up the pitch first half but the team just failed to do it.

Also it really appears that all the talk of who is not there that we seem fixated on in Cavan us clearly in the player and management’s minds as both Mickey & Chris Conroy referenced it again.

It is about time these dedicated lads got the credit they deserve and people stop bull**** talk of who should be in there etc.

It’s not often we’ve seen determination & willpower like yesterday in a Cavan team.