Cavan vs Antrim - what date?

cournioni

Well, we were on top for most of the game to be honest and then just sort of fell apart in the second half after some demoralising misses (about four goal chances in total). They took the lead for the first time with about 5 minutes left, and then Finbarr O'Reilly put over the levelling point two minutes into stoppage time. We should take them next week.

As for Mark McKeever, he should cop the **** on. Who does he think he is walking down the tunnel like that? Good player or not, if he acts like that again he should be kicked off the panel.

Lemlin

What did McKeever do? I missed that, was on the terrace on the other side of the pitch. I heard that Pearse McKenna threw a wobbler at the rest of the team after the match though.

He was quite right to as well. Cavan were terrible and so were Antrim. 15 euro for the worst game of football I've seen in years. I wouldn't mind but the entire team were out last night pissed out of their minds when they have the replay next Saturday.

The referee was terrible as well. If someone fell over he stopped the game. There was no continuity in the match at all because of it and it made a poor game of football even worse.

At one point Dermot McCabe handpassed the ball and he blew up for a free, even though McCabe's pass was perfectly fine and he had his back to the referee, so the referee had no chance of seeing whether the pass was legitimate or not.

Whoever wins the replay is going to get destroyed by Tyrone.

28064212

The umpires down my end were awful. With about 5 minutes left they signalled a Larry Reilly wide when it was dead between the posts. It was from out on the far wing, and for some reason the guy on that side called it, instead of the guy behind the goals, it was a joke. And one of them called a forty five, the Antrim goalie said something to him, and he changed his mind.

Once McCabe dropped out of the game, we won nothing in midfield. McKenna and Walsh were disgraceful. And Walsh should've been sent off for his karate kick challenge. Couldn't understand why he wasn't subbed about half an hour in. We need Forde and Lyng to be picking up the breaking balls from midfield.

dregin

By all accounts Walsh has been rubbish since he came back from Australia. I can't really comment because I haven't seen him play since he left but I reckon he's gettin on that panel through contacts and not by merit.

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Lemlin wrote:

I heard that Pearse McKenna threw a wobbler at the rest of the team after the match though.

He was quite right to as well.

He would've been right to, if he hadn't been so awful. 2 minutes left, down by a point, gets a great pass just inside the 21, loads of time, 4 Antrim players and the goalie in the box, what does he do? Kicks it along the ground, going for goal. The only Cavan players justified in blaming the rest of the team would have been Jason and Larry Reilly, and maybe Finbar as well. And even they missed some very good chances.

cournioni

Lemlin wrote:

What did McKeever do?

When he was substituted he completely ignored Paul Brady when he was going off and walked straight down the tunnel. And it wasn't like he was having a good game or anything. He was probably the worst player on the pitch on all accounts.

That umpire on the stand side of the goals in the town end was disgraceful. I was sitting in line with the shot and the posts for that shot and it was a clear point. At least a foot inside the post. He was the guy that gave the referee advice on whether the Antrim goalkeeper should have been sent off or not. If kicking someone off the ball isn't a sending off I don't know what is.

In my opinion, the referee was playing for a draw the whole way through the game. When Cavan were well ahead he was letting Antrim away with everything at midfield and blowing for frees every time a Cavan man challenged for the ball.

But all of that said, Cavan were desperately poor. They should have had the game out of sight in the first 15 minutes. After that it was just mistake after mistake.

dregin

You reckon it was a personal thing against Brady, or maybe he was just really pi$$ed off with himself. Paul's always been a fairly friendly fella, I can't imagine many people having anything personal against him.

cournioni

Could be a Mullahoran/Gowna thing. I can't imagine anyone doing that to Brady either, there's no one more committed to the GAA in the Cavan team that Brady to be honest. He better have been pissed off with himself because after his performance he can blame no one else.

dregin

meh, I wouldn't thought inter-club bitching would have made it's way into an inter-county squad. Mc Cabe used to give Paul Galligan serious abuse on the pitch, roaring at the bench to take him off. The main problem with the team is a complete lack of discipline. I've seen them in a group and the level of idiocy tolerated is absolutely disgraceful.

cournioni

Yeah its always the usual suspects at the shouting to single them out you'd have to say Forde, Larry Reilly and McCabe. McCabe is the worst out of the lot though. For such a great player he really loses the respect that I would give a player of his ability through this endless bickering on the pitch. I just wish someone could put these lads in their place. Even if it means kicking them out of the squad.

Lemlin

Finbarr O'Reilly may have had an alright game. But the fact that he was barely able to stand in the Imperial last nite, wearing a stupid hat and swigging on two bottles of WKD is what I'm worried about. Does the man not realise he has a match only 6 days away?

The team aren't fit enough and its displays like his that show why. The way they were acting in town last nite a Junior team wouldn't get away with a week before a match. No wonder Coleman whats fu*k all to do with them. I wouldn't blame him.

cournioni

Seriously? I would have chucked him out of the bar myself if I saw him at that. I play for a junior team and we aren't even allowed to drink now with the championship nearly a month away. If that is true he is letting his county down and should be told so.

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rooster wrote:

Cavan had a challenge away to Kildare the following week, but as only 11 Cavan players turned up, a number of lillies had to don the Cavan jersey!

I heard (from a reliable source) that the reason only eleven players showed up was because two days before the match, some Gowna ex-player was getting married, and most of the squad went on the piss at it. For two days.

cournioni

So much for dedicated footballers in this county eh? If that is the way they treat our county team they shouldn't be in the squad. I'm sure there are plenty of footballers in the county who would love to be in the position they are in. I know I would.

Lemlin

Yep, I was there, saw it with my own eyes. He seemed to be the only player from the senior team that made it to the Imperial. The rest were all in McMahons.

Worse still was the entire Minor team getting into the Imperial night club for free because Keoghan is manager and owns the place. Surely he should be encouraging them not to be in there pissed out of their minds.

As for the players being commited, I know of at least one who has grown that disillusioned with the rest of the panel that he went on the piss in Liverpool rather than turn up at the game.

As for Peasr McKenna throwing a wobbler, at least he was trying to get through to the rest of the team. yes, I remember that time when he shot for goal, it was stupid but at least he tried for the entire match and gave his all, unlike alot of the team.

The sooner we get players like Sean Johnston, Anthony Forde and Mickey Lyng back the better. Other than Larry Reilly, the entire forward line on Sunday looked like they couldn't kick a point from play. John Tierney falling over when he was through on goal was beyond funny, it was agonising to watch.

Nicholas Walsh was particularly dreadful. How he was ever given the chance to play in Aussie Rules professionally Australia is beyond me. Seeing his trapsing around with his socks rolled up like Thierry Henry, it was easy to see why they sent him home.

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lemlin wrote:

John Tierney falling over when he was through on goal was beyond funny, it was agonising to watch

Can't say i saw that, but I don't think it's fair to say that he had a particularly bad game. Especially if he's carrying an injury, which someone said earlier in the thread.

I can't recall a single decent ball actually coming in to him. As a full forward, you're relying on your half-forwards, who were virtually non-existent (except Nicholas Walsh, and in a bad way), and midfield to give you some good passes, even 50-50 balls to come in. John's a very strong player and there's not too many full backs who I'd fancy to win a shoulder to shoulder with him, never mind the Antrim defence who aren't exactly championship material.

You could see he was getting frustrated in the 2nd half before he got taken off, he spent more of his time between the 45 and half way line trying to get into the game then between the 21 and the by-line

cournioni

Well the only thing good that came out of that game as far as I'm concerned is that we couldn't possibly play any worse and yet we still drew the match. We're still there and we're still in with a chance.

I hate bringing up the past but remember '97? We were desperately poor against Fermanagh and Anthony Forde popped up with the leveller in injury time to salvage a draw. We went on to win the Ulster title after that. So lets not get too down about this result.

28064212

That's true enough, I wasn't too down about the game, more what seems to be the attitude in the Cavan camp. You never know, this might be the kick in the arse they badly need. Although the big question is whether Eamonn Coleman really is sick or whether he just wants out. Things could get pretty bad if the manager is trying to distance himself from the team. I mean he used to train Gowna (didn't he?), and they weren't exactly a bunch of saints on or off the pitch.

Mighty_Mouse

Could be worse. Could be Roscommon!

28064212

True enough. I suppose it is pretty widespread in the GAA when you look at a couple of the incidents in the last few years. On a separate note, does anybody know when Lyng, Forde or Johnston will be back?

Lemlin

In 1997 though, Cavan had players like Stephen King and Bernard Morris who were commited to the cause. Peter Reilly, Jayo and Dermot were also alot fitter then than they are now. They also got a lot of luck.

Martin McHugh was a great manager too. Coleman is a good manager but he wants nothing to do with the team. A senior official on the county board was telling a person I know that Coleman is over his pneumonia but wants nothing to do with them because they won't even listen to him in training. I could give the name of the official but don't think that would be fair.

The worrying thing for me is that the attitude of the senior team seems to be following through to the Minors.

I don't have a clue when Lyng etc. will be back. Think they might make the Tyrone game and I hope they do because we certainly will need them.

And we only drew the match because we were terrible and Antrim were diabolically terrible.

Lemlin

Read today in The Sun that Lyng and Johnston are back in training but McElhennon is not gonna risk them on Saturday. Anthony Forde might be back from his virus though.

Gaynor is still suspended and Pierson still injured.

cournioni

Not so bad, hopefully we'll have those three back for the semi-final if we make it that far, or the qualifiers if we don't!

Something interesting I've read on the Hoganstand site, I thought it would be worth a look if you believe in coincidences and all of that nonsense:

1978
Wales win the Grand Slam in Rugby
The Pope Dies
Liverpool lose in the League Cup final to the eventual League Champions that year{Forest}
Liverpool win the European Cup
Down beat Cavan in the Ulster U21 Final
Cavan Beaten in Ulster Final

2005
Wales win the Grand Slam in Rugby
The Pope Dies
Liverpool lose in the League Cup final to the eventual League Champions that year{Chelsea}
Liverpool win the European Cup
Down beat Cavan in the Ulster U21 Final
Cavan Beaten in Ulster Final??

Could happen! haha.

Lemlin

Very interesting actually. Saw alot of people pointing towards things like that with Liverpool and look where it got them!

Of a different nature, who's going to Belfast Saturday night for the replay? I wasn't planning to but have changed my mind, it might be a good road trip!

cournioni

I won't be making it to the game unfortunately. Busy weekend ahead... Pity, because I always love the trips up to Belfast. Every time we go up there the place is taken over with a sea of blue. Stopping off in the Carrickdale on the way back is always good craic too.

I think we'll win this one by four or five points.

dregin

The Carrickdale? What way do you go to Belfast? Oh you're in Shercock, yeah?

cournioni

Yeah, its the handiest way to go although I think Dundalk is the longer route. We went by Blayney/Keady/Armagh/Portadown one time and it was an absolute nightmare with traffic once we got to Armagh City. Not to mention diversions and roadworks along the way! The Dundalk-Belfast route is much more stress free to say the least!

Plus there is always ones from Kingscourt and Bailieborough that drop in for a few in the Carrickdale on the way back so we get to exchange a bit of banter!

Lemlin

Dunno what way we're going - I've no plans to drive. Too much of a hangover Sunday to drive back.

I think we'll win this one though. There's no way we could be as bad as the last day so the lads should get at least a couple of goals against that dire Antrim defence.

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Breaking News.ie wrote:

McElkennon keeps faith with Cavan crew
03/06/2005 - 08:04:02

Cavan boss Martin McElkennon has kept faith with the side that drew with Antrim last week for tomorrow's Ulster SFC replay at Casement Park.

McElkennon is deputising for Eamonn Coleman, who is out with illness.

The Breffni Blues are still without the services of Anthony Forde, Seanie Johnston and Gerald Pierson due to injury. Anthony Gaynor is also suspended for the clash.

McElkennon has said he will not risk Michael Lyng, despite him returning to training after recovering from a hamstring injury.

CAVAN (SFC v Antrim): James O'Reilly; M Hannon, D Rabbitt, K Fannin; K Crotty, P Reilly, M Cahill; D McCabe, P McKenna; M McKeever, N Walsh, F O'Reilly; Jason O'Reilly, J Tierney, L Reilly.

How the hell can he justify playing that twat Walsh again? I know we mightn't have a huge reserve of strength, especially with the injuries, but christ we'd be better off with someone from the Minors.
Won't be going to the match, too much of a trip.

Lemlin

That's unbelievable. To play Walsh again is just ridiculous. Perhaps its his opinion as well that the lads can't be as bad as last week.

Why is John Tierney playing yet again when he's not fit though? Mickey Graham would be a much better option. Or even move Walsh into full forward.