The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

mylestheslasher

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124197486#Comment_124197486

Principals my hole. Thin skin is what he has, roars like a alp at everyone else but afraid of a few lightly critical words

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124197377#Comment_124197377

And, even at that, it seemed quite the amount of work had to be put in for the local newspaper to get an interview with our new county manager.

If he wants to stick to his guns, which I’m sure he will through pure ignorance, I think he should outline his issue with the individual concerned.

The Celt are now apparently going to cover Monaghan more with the Northern Standard (I think that’s the paper) gone so perhaps when the CB realise they are reading more of Bannigan than they are of our man, they’ll actually grow a pair of liathroidi and try to manage the situation. For me, they look even worse than McCabe at present.

Them ringing ahead to the McKenna Cup press conference to do McCabe’s biding for him was beyond farcical.

Naughty_Skelator

This is an abomination of a performance so far…

etuzyuk

Doing well on the scoreboard for a team getting cleaned out of it in midfield.

dxhound2005

Gave away a disaster of a goal. But mostly due to the human nature factor, player expecting a different bounce. That sort of error can't be coached out of players as is being shown in lots of games on heavy pitches.

etuzyuk

Rode our luck too in front of our own goal. Very happy with score line but need to get a foothold around the middle. Meath big enough outfit.

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124198249#Comment_124198249

The same player did the exact same thing in the McKenna Cup against Fermanagh. Lost possession in a critical position to give away a goal.

benjy1000

They’re worse than I thought. Very poor

South of the Bann

Are we Westmeath 2025 in disguise

Naughty_Skelator

1 point up , retreat back well inside the arc , put no pressure on one of the best 2 point scoring team in the country… give them a free shot, why are we so brain less?

Custard_Cream

The hard luck stories are getting quite boring now at this stage. McCabe can clearly get a good performance from a group but the man hasn't a clue how to get his teams to win. Division 3 beckons.

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124198391#Comment_124198391

You could see Meath had a set play ready to get Flynn on the ball for the two pointer. That no one was on his toe is criminal.

Again, a McCabe team in position to win the game and bottle it.

cavan4sam

Unpopular opinion but I'm giving mc cabe a pass today . We were the better team today but our players decided on making stupid decisions. Oisin Brady for that goal was terrible

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124198496#Comment_124198496

Meath should have had us beaten in the first half. How many wides did they kick? A much better second half.

Custard_Cream

There was a clip on the TV that summarizes everything for me .. When the game was in the melting pot, Robbie Brennan was looking cool, calm and collected having a chat with his background team . That is the complete opposite to McCabe on the line most of the time .. Cool heads are needed in them big moments and that sometimes reflects on your team.

Listen, McCabe will get a good level of performance from that group . I expect us to be competitive in most games this year.. I just can't see us winning many games. We have had a lifetime of hard luck stories and moral victories so I'm just finding it very tiresome.

etuzyuk

Rode our luck and lacking in areas but dogged enough and we'll be close in most games you'd think. At the same time we're no all stars and we'll be pulling away from no one in any of the games. Think we can pick up a couple of wins but saying that with no great deal of confidence. Whether that's enough to stay up is debatable. We'll need favours elsewhere you'd feel.

piplip87

6000 surely wasn't right, was a massive crowd.

On the game, Meath should have been out of sight in the first half. Our lads battled well and were very good in the second half. Some poor decisions on the ball cost us in the end.

Plenty of positives to take out of that. Offaly, Kildare, Louth are must wins, I do think it will be very tight between going up and going down.

Tyrone are in bad form, although we all know they will come good in two weeks .

celt262

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124198529#Comment_124198529

A game is never over at half time.

celt262

Morris was the difference today great scores and cuteness to work others in. We had had a poster here saying last year he is no better than our forwards I think today told the tale on that.

diesel druggie

Good enough performance from Cavan today. Meath repeatedly cut them open to easily. Meath without Morris would be no great shakes either.

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124199040#Comment_124199040

Who said a game was over at half time? I said Meath should have had us beaten by half time - to simplify it further for you, they should have had an unassailable lead but for the amount of wides they had & goal chances they fluffed.

In 2024, Armagh lead Cavan by 2-12 to 0-04 at the break in the League. Were you expecting a second half come back in that game to win?

tazman06

Still hard to know what to make of yesterday. On one hand we were so open first half, and they couldn't miss first quarter but then could barely score. Think it was savage work from us to get back in level and no idea how we were indeed level. Better 2nd half. They still had chances though and missed a lot, defence has to be a concern - next to no tracking, our defensive system was zonal and not straight man-marking at times? (or at least we switched between both a fair bit). Yet despite that we got in positions and took scores and leading with just 50 seconds left. So to lose it from there is sickening.

2 pointer is simply hard to defend, I see criticism of styles of defence no matter what style is taken. Defend the arc, and what happened yesterday can happen. Go out man for man and you leave gaps to run through and around. Which is best? Let a team go for broke for 2 pointer, or leave spaces for 1 point opportunity to grab a draw? 2 pointer the lower % I suppose, but that's the thing - they missed a few so correct call at the time might be to defend the arc and bet they miss. Either way it was an insane kick that was over the black spot with distance to spare and sometimes you just have to take that on the chin.

Weirdly not as annoyed as Cork. I feel we were closer. Our legs went a wee bit, but not as much as week before so full match fitness is nearly there. We did manage to stay in it and score near the end. Surely we're getting close though. Can't be this close in matches and continue to find ways to lose (Yes I know, Westmeath last year would beg to differ). No better time to get Tyrone than now, and if we stick with them down the home stretch they may get spooked by us for once rather than having their feet up last 10 mins as they usually do. I think we're close to clicking and a win of any description would do wonders and we could end up having a decent Division 2 campaign. But need that win soon

tazman06

Further points I was to add. Thought the ref was very good. Shouldn't have to say that, but here we are (thought ref last week cost us a few scores). He was very even, no grandstanding, let things slide a little which we can all understand (wasn't picky on the 50m forward one for ball back for instance). A few minor quibbles, but otherwise thought he did a great job

We actually managed the game better than last week, so I see improvement there. Rather than letting an 8 point turnaround slip, we were right there and stuck with them and got the lead and maybe on another day we get that one. The subs used were better - we learned that from the last day, although timing of them not great. Ciaran Brady (the Corofin Holla?) coming on worked better, as did Ryan Donohoe (and I'd usually be very critical of him). So we learned who to use, just not the timing of them. I'd be happy if we see the continued learning and progression if we do this better vs Tyrone and so on

Oisin Brady is turning into quite a weapon out the field. All over the field, and creates so much. Can break a tackle, or speed past men. Still issues there in losing ball or turned over, but he's overall way into the positive. A pity that his few mistakes ended up being critical (has to learn when to get rid of a ball when in trouble) but I see him developing far more in this role and being a massive point of difference for us on better pitches later in the year

etuzyuk

Would agree. Still very much on the fence of where we're at. In transition and a lot of players in that age profile of gaining experience and finding their feet at this level. So it's not going to be smooth and there will inevitably be setbacks and poor performers. Plus relying on older players who haven't too many campaigns left so there'll be even more change coming. I think if we can pick up a couple of wins against the weaker teams and show a bit of battle against the better teams, like we have so far, we can forgive some of our shortcomings for now and hope to build on whatever gains.

large_palette

We stayed with Meath yesterday despite playing some underwhelming football. And it was the overriding feeling throughout, "how are we still in this?" Meath are no lightweights in this dept, but our midfield got cleaned out. A concern at this juncture. They had some brutal shooting on goal and should have pulled away from us around 50mins. Morris was the pivot for Meath and he's going to have a big year for them. Conlan is a gem at corner forward. Meath have an identifiable style of play under Robbie Brennan who remained unflappable on the sideline, even when Meath were brutally misfiring on goal. Cavan do not have a clear system yet and we seem to be adapting to the new rules at a slower pace. Very evident after watching the game in Ballyshannon. We're still a bit reactionary and playing on our wits, unintentionally running into cul de sacs when the fitness and skillset wasn't there to take the man on, and with no support lined up. Our performance was more workmanlike and dogged. Probably frustrated the hell out of Meath but can't fault us for heart. It's early days for this management so we'll call it a work in progress. Some standout performances for Cavan in Oisin Brady, Gerard Smith, McKiernan, McLoughlin, and I thought Cormac Reilly done well. No problems with the referee who managed to stay out of the limelight.

mylestheslasher

I do not like Meath, so that was a particularly sickening defeat. However when I look back this morning I am not sure there was an awful lot we could do. This Meath team are coming, have beaten some top teams in the last 12 months and had a massive advantage over us around the middle of the field where we had to go with an aging legend who barely played for 12 months and a novice. In the modern game, primary possession from kick outs is critical and given the mis-match, we probably did ok losing midfield 70:30 (estimate). Now with Morris Meath have a top finisher and our marquee forward isnt on the field for whatever reason. And yet, still we were right in that game only for an outrageous 2 pointer. I was happy to see some innovation around our kick outs, I saw 3/4 set plays that have been worked on and I am sure we will get better. Even though Morris was a constant threat, in this new game a corner back can only do so much when you give the ball away out the field and I thought McLoughlin was incredible today - singlehandedly stopping a number of goals. The sad truth is we are a team coming towards the end, Meath are a coming team. We are coming to the end because of the poor stewardship of the county board and their abject failure in developing youth football - its that simple. We are lucky to have lads like Dara, Holla, Gerry - absolute legends of footballers who give 100% every day they put on the jersey.

There are a few things we can work on. Speed on transition is still an issue. Silly individual mistakes under no pressure. I think our fitness is not where it could be, which leads to mistakes and keep innovating on the kick outs. We could have a chance against a Tyrone team who are no great shakes, still retain that cockiness that they will beat Cavan easy and especially when they see we are 0/2. Why not Healy Park to turn it around. We have to break this hard luck, moral victory in tight defeat trend we are on.

Cavan_King

I do rate Mickey Hannon’s opinion, although I find him somewhat guarded towards giving too much criticism at times but, as a former player himself, that’s natural.

I find his view that the close scorelines are hiding clear issues with the team as an apt description. Did we stay in the game yesterday or did Meath keep us in it? I know which I’d argue.

The back looks very open. Players are bursting energy getting back but then aren’t actually contributing to the defence when they get in position - I don’t know if that is due to tiredness/conditioning, the system itself or individuals lacking the necessary skill. McCabe always puts emphasis on physicality so I can’t see how we aren’t putting in bigger hits.

I do not believe we have a hope against Tyrone in two weeks unfortunately. Staying up is going to prove very difficult.

celt262

Two games in and we are proably in the postion that most expected us to be in. Not expecting anything out of the next game either. The run of games after that are the must win games to have any hope of staying up.

piplip87

Whats going on with Paddy Lynch ? Has the dear leader fallen out with him too ? How many is that now ?

Blue47

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124202198#Comment_124202198

He went off injured against Fermanagh so I'd say it's more to do with not being fully fit although he came on against Cork. Was warming up on Sunday.