The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

mogue77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122036534#Comment_122036534

Gerry smith should be able to stretch Matthew Donnellys legs a bit hopefully.

Blue47

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122036574#Comment_122036574

I’d say Clarke will definitely start

baconsarnie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122036726#Comment_122036726

Did he even start at senior level? My memory is that he mostly came on for 2/3 mins here and there under Terry. I could never fathom that and felt he was a player that never got a chance. Must have been massively frustrating for a very talented player to never even be given a crack at it.

baconsarnie

No Burns, Kilpatrick, Harte, Meyler…Wonder will he start McShane or will he go for the three smaller inside forwards.

If both teams line up as is, any calls on the match-ups? Gunner on McCurry, Cian Reilly on Darragh Canavan and O'Connell on Ruari? If McShane starts, Gunner on him and O'Connell on McCurry.

rrs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122036726#Comment_122036726

Mostly sub appearance. I don't think he was on the panel that long. 2014 and 15 maybe. He wasn't there in 2016 when they got promoted to Division 1

Graham recalled him in 2019 and he made no impact.

baconsarnie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122037385#Comment_122037385

He came on in Salthill in Graham's first league game in 2019, he wasn't remotely fit at that stage and I don't think he featured after that.

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122037349#Comment_122037349

I thought he fizzled out a bit to be honest. He went travelling, think Canada, for a while too which wouldn’t have helped.

I don’t think he’s made enough of a statement when playing club football for it to be said he wasn’t “given a crack at it”. At the end of the day, if he was good enough he’d have won and kept the jersey.

Cavan_King

The sun is out lads. Cavan are on a shot to nothing tomorrow. Team they haven’t beaten in 40 years, nobody (including me before anyone points it out) expected them to beat Monaghan and we can’t even score if Patrick is tightly marshalled. Wouldn’t it be great if they just went out with an air of abandon and went for it?

KeepTheFaith

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122042136#Comment_122042136

Yeah tomorrow is a shot to nothing. Hope we tear into them and swing for the fences. It's been a while since we had a big Ulster Championship game in Breffni with the sun shining.

mylestheslasher

Another depressing result for our underage teams. Minors bet by 5 points by Armagh. 1-5 to 0-2 down at half time. If someone is being paid to oversee underage development in the county they should be held to account for these results. Time to stop making excuses about the weather or whatever else.

rrs

They have a good chance tomorrow, and shouldn't fear Tyrone. 3 regulars missing and 2 former All Stars retired since last year.

Nothing to shout about underage, with the Minors losing again. They play Antrim next. Antrim or Fermanagh look to be the only teams they are capable of beating underage.

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122042498#Comment_122042498

My understanding is that Dermot McCabe is the full time Games Development Manager overseeing the development squads.

As I raised here before, that seems to be going well for Gowna but not so well for Cavan.

He is also the one who oversees the few full time coaching staff that they still have left.

KeepTheFaith

The underage situation is shocking.

The Larry Reilly post match interview should ring massive alarm bells. He said he was happy enough to be just 4 down at half time, proud of the first half performance. Talking about how he disagrees with the amount of training required to compete.

We didn't really compete Larry! Solidly beaten by Donegal Derry and Armagh. Fell over the line against Fermanagh.

Something needs to change. Surely McCabe can't be in a position for life there? If he's over the youth development and we have regressed, dramatically, during his tenure.. who calls a halt?

I would like to see the We Are Cavan focus more on it. We are reaping what we will sow in a few years time at Senior level. We shouldn't be waiting until we bottom out, again, before we get things back on track.

rrs

They cut down on the number of underage coaches, because of the the finances of the Polo Grounds Development. Plus work on the Main Stand in Breffni. When Peter Donnelly was in place there was a lot of full time coaches working underage. That isn't the case now.

celt262

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122043105#Comment_122043105

All money! I heard they are worried about the Breffni bash apparently there has been a poor take up on tickets.

Thunderbirds

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122043061#Comment_122043061

Couldn't agree more about the interview. He said it was just a bit of craic. I said before, one story I heard should have rang alarm bells but the interview confirms it. Never heard a more defeatist and bizarre interview from a Cavan manager.

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122043105#Comment_122043105

The development squads are now being ran by coaches from the clubs, including fathers of players who are “trying out” for the squads.

Like I said a few weeks back, you’ll see a good correlation between a club having a coach with a dev squad and the number of players from that club on it.

celt262

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122044042#Comment_122044042

Whole thing is gone pear shaped

mylestheslasher

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122043061#Comment_122043061

I 100% agree with that. I was shocked by his interview, it was brutal. I agree journalism in County again needs to start asking some hard questions about the direction we have taken.

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122043061#Comment_122043061

In fairness to WAC, I think they are subtlety hinting at it as best they can - mentions during the Arva AI run of young players ignored for Development Squads and also highlighting others performing well in U20 & League club matches yet ignored in development squads.

Damo Donohoe has also started going to CB meetings as the Drumalee club rep and is asking questions.

At the end of the day, they are media members so are relying on the CB for content, interviews etc. so have to play their cards right.

As they have mentioned, it’s up to the clubs to ask questions.

celt262

Anyway nice morning. I hope everyone is fit and ready for today.

benjy1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122044465#Comment_122044465

Desperate interview, if mcgleenan gave an interview like that in his time , WAC especially Fitz would have done some ranting about it but not a peep out of them after Larry’s.

Will all be forgotten about in two weeks as Larry and WAC reiterated. The craic was had though seemingly. 🙈

Custard_Cream

To be fair Nicolas Walsh seemed to do great work back in the late 2000s. A lot of the structures and processes he created led to a lot of the success in the early part of the last decade.

McCabe seems to just be picking a wage up at the minute and he needs to be held accountable for what's happening . While he seems to be a good coach/manager there is an operations and sports administration element to the role and he really doesn't seem up to that side of things.

In saying that, some of the managerial appointments at under 20 and minor have been so underwhelming in the last 10 years. As someone mentioned, Larry's interview after Wednesday was just embarrassing. Shocked at the level/standards of intercounty football. Well I suppose it was always going to be a step up coming from the Cavan junior championship.

Our elite athletes deserve so much better than that rubbish.

rrs

Larry Reilly was joint manager of the Minors in 15 and 16. They reached the Ulster final in 15. The commitment level has hardly changed much since then. He sounded like it was a relief to be over.

Good day for the Senior game.

mylestheslasher

Nice day today, hopefully we can find a big performance and keep our amazing record against Tyrone intact - having never lost to them in Breffni in a championship match (thats the record I like to think about anyway)

Regarding development squads, Sligo are a county with very limited resources and population that to my mind are punching above their weight. Here's what they do.

4 full time games development officers split into North, South, East and West.

They have a scheme going which has been rolled out throughout connacht were students in certain courses are hired to cover schools in certain areas. So if this was Cavan the idea would be a student might work say between 2/3 clubs- example Arva/cornfean could share amongst their schools. Connacht pays for half, clubs then split cost of other half. Student works with clubs through the season, visits all schools weekly, runs Easter camps etc. All under supervision of GDO of the region.

Development squads start at u13. The u13 is done maybe for 8 weeks by region. Anyone can go in. They play a few games at the end, North v South etc. These are used to select players for u14 the next year. U14 is overseen by one of GDOs, they'll try get 10-12 coaches from the clubs to help out. Maybe 100 kids go through. All focused on skills at this point , not winning. Numbers get cut each year. The 10-12 coaches (some are parents) have little say in who is cut or stays. Once it goes competitive a management team gets appointed and I'm pretty sure the rule is no parents allowed. I'm not fully 100% on all the ins and outs but that's pretty much how it's done.

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122045259#Comment_122045259

The minors this year had a four day schedule. I don’t know if a decade ago they would have had that but I doubt it.

I think there needs to be a root and branch analysis done of the whole lot.

County board chairmen, executives and coaches have come and gone but one man has remained constant since at least 2013, if not before. As someone said above, is it a job for life? Surely it’s the type of job should be refreshed every few years to bring new ideas and strategies into the role.

rrs

I think it was 2015 when Dermot McCabe began the role. Peter Donnelly was there until 2014. Donnelly was there from 2008. Nicholas Walsh was in place before him.

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122045826#Comment_122045826

This article from April 2013 states he was in the role then…

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-20228687.html

I think alot of the issue is the prominent role still in Cavan football of that ‘97 team.

Donnelly was a coach and then involved in strength & conditioning:

https://hoganstand.com/article/index/178507

cavan4sam

That one hurt today.....

Couldn't fault the lads effort

mylestheslasher

What a shame we didn't play with a bit of adventure in the 1st half instead of the 15 mem behind the ball dung that Tyrone love. In the end we brilliantly came back but I think expended so much energy doing so. With Faulkner struggling in extra time we just hadn't enough leadership and quality on the pitch to get it done. Positives were oisin Brady in 2nd, his best 35 mins in blue. Jason class when he came on. Just a shame we gave them an 8 point lead.