The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

mylestheslasher

Cavan were already in Sam, win lose or draw. Bar freak results in the province like Waterford beating Kerry. We still finished 3rd.

That said that was brutal. An embarrassment of an effort. There's a few lads on that pitch who've had a lot of chances, are doing nothing, and frankly don't deserve to be on match squad.

You can't turn this around in 2 weeks, I'd give us very little chance against Monaghan.

tazman06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121932027#Comment_121932027

1 point from the draw with Meath, but yeah no wins at home

benjy1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121932034#Comment_121932034

Exactly experience tells us with these players , this is the level of them, it’s like they peaked a month ago. No way can they raise it ten fold in 2 weeks, will huff & puff beyount but won’t bate Monaghan. McManus even on one leg will make hay again that defence.

Cavan_King

3rd in Division 2 by the skin of our teeth. Three poor results in a row. We’ll be cannon fodder in the Sam Maguire draw after a what now appears to be an inevitable loss to the Farney.

cavan4sam

How many of that team will start v monaghan?

cavan4sam

At the start of the league we'd have taken hand and all for 3rd place but it's the performances in the last 3 games that are very worrying

Hopefully it's just complacency of survival being secured early and knowing promotion was probably unrealistic

We'll know in 2 weeks time

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121932196#Comment_121932196

It’s mirroring last season unfortunately where we started the League well and then stumbled through the last few games before an inept display against Armagh.

baconsarnie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121932007#Comment_121932007

We were really poor, couldn't believe how flat we were, but you're 100% right, that ref was a cod. As you said, simple frees we didn't get (Kelm nearly took the head off Oisin Brady) that meant they got "turnovers" that resulted in scores. Cavan players often had 3/4 men all over them that went without frees but it seemed more often than not when a Fermanagh player brought the ball into contact it was a free. Add to that the blatant timewasting by the Fermanagh keeper that went unpunished, and yet he pulls up O'Rourke when Conor Brady hadn't full gone outside the 21.

baconsarnie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121932034#Comment_121932034

I'm guessing Myles that like myself you were seriously questioning your decision to travel 2plus hours to go to Breffni on Saturday night. As i was getting home near midnight I was asking myself what was the point in going to a dead rubber game like that. Why? I expected a reaction, some sort of energy to say the lads were going to bounce back. I was hoping to see a few lads really put their hands up for the Monaghan game.

That was just cat. No energy. No plan in attack against a mass defence. Fermanagh dictated the play and could have been even further out of sight by half time if they took their chances. We created nothing and kicked one point (ONE!) from play in the first half against a team that had shipped a cricket score the previous weekend. Absolutely shocking.

tazman06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121936341#Comment_121936341

he was so bad. That pull back on Oisin was outrageous, and he was 2 metres away and gave nothing. I've no issue with picky refs or such, as long as there is consistency. There was none with this ref. He'd give some very soft frees and then nothing for blatant ones. We deserved to lose, but he was definitely at fault for a fair few scores when we could have had frees to reduce the gap, but they extended it instead.

baconsarnie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121936492#Comment_121936492

He wasn't the cause of us losing, but imagine we had played well and we should have won a free to bring it back to 2 points and instead they break and go four up with a few minutes left.

As you said the lack of consistency was shocking.

celt262

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121936638#Comment_121936638

3 minutes injury time aswell after 5 subs been brought on and the goalkeeper wasting time at every kick out. Definitely wasn't the cause of us loosing it was a desperate performance and i pity anyone that travelled far to watch it.

Going into the Championship its not looking good for this team and management.

baconsarnie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121932196#Comment_121932196

When you step back, there's lots to be happy with in the league. Staying up was the priority and to be technically in the mix for promotion in the second last round of games was brilliant.

There was some great performances. The win in Cork was great, the second half against Louth and the win against Kildare (remember, they went in as favourites and I think us beating them absolutely knocked the wind out of their sails). For the first five games, you could not question the effort put in (albeit not always over 70 minutes) and lads emptied the tank and fought for the jersey. Some positives in that we found a new keeper and he's settled in Paddy Lynch has shown that he's a top class division two standard forward and that he's gotten better and better over the course of the league. Other positives? Gerry Smith coming back to his best form in years (he's been really badly missed in the last two games).

Downsides? The last three games, not only have performances been poor, I am really concerned with our energy levels. We look shattered. The defence, which looked really structured in the first two games to avoid being cut through the middle, was porous in the first half against Cork and more or less open for business from the Louth game onwards. What has happened there?

Attack-wise, we looked great in spells even in the second half in Cork and Louth. Since then? We are neither getting the ball in quick, or breaking lines. It's back to slow and lateral. We struggled to break Fermanagh down FFS!

Another concern as noted was that how many "new" players are breaking through? Reality is that we are going to be sweating on McVeety, Jason, Gerry, Faulkner et al to drive us on against Monaghan and beyond. Has anyone come in barring Carolan and possibly Tiernan Madden put their hand up in the last two years? Even Cian Reilly hasn't really done that.

baconsarnie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121936672#Comment_121936672

Heading back up the road, I was seriously questioning my decision to travel down, and that's a sad state of affairs. I'm not that unrealistic to think Cavan should win every game, but I would like to see some passion, some intensity and ideally some sense that there's a game plan.

dxhound2005

Paddy Lynch is the overall top scorer in all four divisions, with 1-48. The nearest is Shane McGuigan with 2-40, and the nearest in Division 2 is Sam Mulroy with 4-25. Cavan scored 3-94 in total, so Lynch got half of that. The next best for Cavan is James Smith 1-6 and Caoimhin O'Reilly 0-6.

Three goals for is the joint lowest over all the divisions. And without looking into the stats further, I would say that Lynch is an outlier in providing such a high proportion of the scores for any county. Cavan conceded 7-96, but no goals in four of the matches.

celt262

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121937110#Comment_121937110

Any idea how many of his scores were frees/45's?

It's not a good sign that our next highest scoring forward has 6 points over 7 games.

baconsarnie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121937263#Comment_121937263

He started well- scored 2 points in each of his first three games- but has faded since.

mylestheslasher

We were so bad at weekend I forgot to comment on the pitch which was in an awful state. What happened since the Meath game? Looks like a herd of cattle broke in.

tazman06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121938700#Comment_121938700

I heard the team are training on it as other pitches are in poor nick with rain and such recently and they need somewhere decent to train on. Suppose it's one of the issues with so many games and sessions at this time of year before growth really takes off. It generally does turn into a nice surface when into better weather and growth

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121937110#Comment_121937110

I never used to overly worry about Cavan not having a marquee forward - don’t get me wrong, it was a concern but we made Division One twice without one.

That said, as Colm Parkinson used to point out, we were a team who defended and attacked as one - for example, the Sligo Tailteann semi final where iirc we had 13 or 14 different scorers.

The problem now is that lads like Gerry Smith & Holla just aren’t chipping in with the scores they used to. Whether that’s down to the system, manager or their advancement in years, I’m not sure.

I’ve seen others like Cian Madden carry the ball as far as the 20 metre line and appear afraid to take on the shot.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121937263#Comment_121937263

From RTE match reports.

Home games. v Donegal Paddy Lynch (0-6, 3f) out of 0-16. v Meath Paddy Lynch (0-06, 0-05f) out of 0-11. v Fermanagh Paddy Lynch (1-07, 5f, 1m, 45) out of 1-13.

Away games. v Kildare Paddy Lynch (0-08, 6f) out of 0-16. v Cork P Lynch (0-09, 6f) out of 0-17. v Louth Paddy Lynch (0-08, 0-06f, 0-01’45) out of 2-13. v Armagh Paddy Lynch (0-05f) out of 0-12.

Counting a Mark as being from play, I make that 1-13 from play for Lynch. Sam Mulroy, Louth got 3-4 including one Mark from play from his total of 4-25.

Lynch was high up in the scoring charts in Division 3, second behind John Heslin with 3-23. And in Division 4 fourth with 4-21. If he could have added another couple of goals to his 1-48 this year, it would have been a mighty score. Cavan may have found their new Charlie Gallagher, but he has not yet got the name recognition of the great man.

mylestheslasher

I think one thing that has really changed since last year as teams would have set up against us with a big focus on curbing Gearoid, whether he lined out at FF, Ctr Forward or midfield. Gearoid took watching and a man would be typically set aside to spoil him. They don't have that issue anymore.

On the positive front Monaghan seem to have picked up a few injuries and a red card at the weekend so hopefully that will help.

baconsarnie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121943917#Comment_121943917

You're 100% right on that. We reached back to back Ulsters and won in 2020 without a marquee forward. You could argue that as the 2019 season evolved McVeety was on the pathway to being that player. We always had half backs. midfielder and half forwards that contributed heavily to our scoring.

I don't think it's a change of tactics or lack of ambition this season. From memory, McVeerty, Gerry Smith and the Holla all contributed to the scoresheet in our opening games. In terms of the Holla, i think he chipped in with scores from the first three games. He's played a lot of non-stop football and always gives it 100% but he looked tired in the last few games. Oisin Kiernan is always good for a score or two when fit. Cian Madden usually contributes scores from games. If fit, those 5 would be certain starters across those lines and will contribute plenty. Faulkner almost always contributes to the scoreline regardless of where he lines out.

We need more from James Smith. I may be wrong but has Oisin Brady scored from play since the Cork game? I know he's been injured but he's found the tight marking in division 2 tough.

As Myles has pointed out, Gearoid whether in midfield or roving on the 40 always took attention away from other players. One of our best players for decades, and I think now that he's gone people are only realising how good he was for us. Typical Cavan!

celt262

Was listening to the WAC podcast this morning jeez they talk some scutter.

mogue77

Stronger looking u 20 team out tonight hopefully they can start better than two weeks ago and get the win.

themink

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121945721#Comment_121945721

I have to say i find them an enjoyable listen. There is a good level of banter between the two of them and for someone who no longer lives in Cavan, they do a good job of keeping me informed.

They are admittedly a little on the optimistic side in terms of how they seem to rate Cavan.. but i think something more negative and downbeat could be a tough listen. What part of it do you consider ‘scutter’? I guess some of the ‘stats’ they throw out do sometimes seem fairly contrived or irrelevant.

tanko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121946910#Comment_121946910

Is it being streamed??

mogue77

I don’t know, it’s on northern sound.

mylestheslasher

U20 game is online at Ulster GAA tv.

I'm away from home as ye know but I wonder what sort of clowns are preparing these teams. Ive seen U12 club teams in Sligo better set up than Cavan. Terrible on own kickouts, not competing on Armaghs, totally open at the back, clueless in attack and very poor basic ball skills around the pitch. I'm hoping this is a freak 1st half and there will be some sort of rally.

tanko

Six down at half time, not looking good. They’re not much of a team by all accounts i’ve heard.