Cavan vs Tyrone

28064212

Cavan have named the same team that started against Antrim in the second game according to RTE.
Of course they said the same thing after the first Antrim game, then changed it around before kickoff. Still, surely even announcing Walsh again is a bad idea. Was anybody at the Antrim replay? Had he improved any?

cournioni

I wasn't at the replay so I can't help you out there. But I am pretty confident that Cavan can win this one. Everyone is completely writing us off again which always makes us stronger. Hopefully we can cause an upset. Having Lyng, Forde and Johnston on the bench could be a blessing in disguise for us as they could make very good impact subs.

Roll on Sunday!

Lemlin

I reckon Forde at least will start. Walsh was better in the replay but, saying that, so were the whole team and that would of been easy anyway after their first performance!

28064212

Tyrone have brought Canavan back into the starting line-up for the first time in almost 2 years according to the Times.
I think this is probably a good thing for Cavan. By starting him, they're losing the possibility of using him as an impact sub like they did against Down where he was very effective. McElkennon can plan for him from the start instead of having to create a backup plan

Waylander

I fancy tyrone to win this one by a few points. Have not seen Cavan yet this year, but a draw against Antrim was poor and would not inspire confidence.

Lemlin

Cavan need to change the team about a bit thought. Would like to see Joey Jordan starting in the backline.

Btw, what time is throw-in? 3.30? I'm getting my tickets tomorrow and am not sure.

cournioni

Yeah, I think the throw in is at 3.30 alright. Minor game is beforehand, which isn't to be missed. I'd say the minors will give it a good go this year, and so they should with players like Mackey, Gaffney, Cullivan and Flanagan.

Lemlin

I guess you haven't heard but the minor game is not beforehand because of the Leaving Cert. The minor game is on in two weeks on a Friday night in Crossmaglen of all places.

How much are tickets? €20 I'd expect.

I have a €10 on Cavan at 5-1 with Paddy Power!

Waylander

I think Tyrone will win, but 5 - 1 are good odds, thats not a bad bet.

Lemlin

The reason I made the bet was this:

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??


Pornapster mentioned it in another thread and several Cavan people have been talking about this fact because it was also mentioned with Liverpool and the Champions League in that alot of things that happened in 1985 were happening in 2005.

I'm not normally superstitous but if it worked for Liverpool, why not Cavan!!??

cournioni

If McCabe goes to take another free I'll personally shoot him. FFS why can't he get it into his head that he isn't the Cavan team all by himself. He should have stood on the edge of the square so that if McKeever didn't convert the free that he might have a chance of getting it with his height.

Cavan played very well, and restricted Tyrone to shooting from 45 yards out. And if we had one of our better days up front we might have been out of sight before half time.

Hopefully we can do the same next week. But unfortunately, the stronger team always prevails in replays and I don't think we are as strong as Tyrone yet...

Waylander

I would say not as strong, and also I think it will be Cavans 4th consecutive weekend with a Championship game. For a team that was already struggling with injuries that is a fairly daunting schedule.

28064212

If McElkennon plays McCabe again at any stage in the next game, he deserves to be hung. Even aside from the free kicks, there was absolutely no need to bring on someone who's only real function on the team is as a tall guy to catch kickouts. McKenna, Forde, Peter Reilly, Finbarr O'Reilly and Walsh (surprisingly) were completely dominating midfield. Before McCabe came on, Cavan were winning midfield balls 9 times out of 10. After, it was more like 2.

McElkennon had the tactics perfect in the first half by playing Jason and Larry on their own up front and having a third midfielder. Any swaps should have been straight position-for-position. At least he showed a bit of managerial guts to take Larry off when he started playing crap. He has to learn to pass the ball every once in a while. Especially when there's three defenders coming to him.

Lemlin

Cracking game. The lads did us proud. Was talking to Paddy McNamee last night (a Cavan selector) and he wasn't happy at all that they hadn't won which is the right attitude to have.

I agree with everything said here. Finbarr O'Reilly isn't a fantastic footballer by any means but he was playing out of his skin yesterday and never should of came off, especially for McCabe. Its a pity Anthony Forde couldn't of stayed on too but that was due to just being back from injury.

I don't know if they showed it on the Sunday Game last night but my main talking point would be Cavan having a perfectly legitimate point by Larry Reilly ruled wide. We could see clearly from the terrace it was a point and even Tyrone supporters near us said it.

It would of came at an important point in the game too because Tyrone had just got Cavan back to within one point after Jayo's goal so it would of gave us breathing space again. Hopefully, the superstitous crap will work next week!

Also, have to say I wasn't at all impressed with the Tyrone support. I've never seen such cockiness from football goers. Last year, Armagh fans had the decency to say how it was, and admit Cavan were unlucky to lose. The Tyrone supporters yesterday had a basic attitude that Cavan had missed their chance and Tyrone were going to hammer them next week. That may happen but on yesterday's showing Tyrone are nothing special.

I wasn't happy with the booing of Paul Brady either. Okay, I admit I'd cheer when an opposition player is sent off but some of the roaring was over the top especially as the man was being carried off on a stretcher. The fella had just flown back from America, where he won yet another world handball title, to play at the game and he has to put up at a load of morons roaring at him when he gets an injury. It may not be widely known but he's one of Ireland's best sportsman so a bit of respect should be shown.

28064212

Couldn't see the Brady incident from where I was (didn't even realise he was sent off until I heard it on the radio after), but I was talking to someone who watched the Sunday Game, and they said that he obviously deliberately stamped on the Tyrone player, which was a really stupid thing to do. Especially with the game he was having.

Forde wasn't playing great, didn't really look match sharp, but hopefully he'll be back up to full match readiness by next week. Lyng on the other hand looked like he'd never been away, which was great. Aside from the first free he missed. And I don't think you can really blame him for that given that it was announced that he was being taken off just beforehand. I can see him and McKeever, and Finbarr O'Reilly if he plays anywhere near as good as he did yesterday, causing some real problems for the Tyrone half back line next week

cournioni

Nah, I watched the Brady incident there today again at lunch and it seemed that it was an accident. He wasn't looking at the player at all and some of the Tyrone players were already on their way over to him before it even happened. There was more malice in Canavan pushing Brady while he was on the ground tbh.

Lemlin

I didn't see it at the game because it was on the opposite side of the pitch but after seeing it on TV he did deserve to go I thought. Cavan have launched an appeal saying he had cramp and did it by mistake - I suppose anything is worth a try!

I know the underdogs usually get hammered but I'd like to see Cavan bring the game to Tyrone again like we did last week. Its funny to hear Mickey Harte harping on about Cavan using negative tactics - didn't Tyrone invent puke football!? Maybe he should watch a tape of their 2003 All Ireland semi against Kerry where American style football tackles were utilised against Kerry players.

If Walsh can keep Cavanagh under wraps again and the back line can stick tight to Mulligan and O'Neill, then there's no reason Cavan can't beat them. Leave McCabe on the bench though, and I'd like to see Lyng start or get on earlier and Forde get closer to 70 minutes.

Congratulations to Pauric Reilly too, for an 18 year old, he had a tremendous game the other day.

cournioni

I reckon Lyng will start in place of Brady if his appeal is not successful, and then Forde will move to half back. McCabe is finished IMO. Yeah, Pauric Reilly had a great game for a guy of 18, he stuck close to Dooher when Brady was sent off and didn't give him a sniff.

Lemlin

I'm not sure if Lyng is ready to start. He didn't look up to his best to me. Would like to see Joey Jordan get a chance to start instead of Brady. He's a very tight marker and was great in the challenge vs. Longford.

That said, he was only doing water boy the other day because he's only home from Wales and maybe he isn't match fit yet.

Just saw this on Hoganstand.com.

Cavan (SF v Tyrone): J Reilly; M Hannon, D Rabbitt, K Fannin; A Forde, Peter Reilly, Pauric Reilly; N Walsh, P McKenna; M Cahill, M McKeever, F O’Reilly; J O’Reilly, J Tierney, L Reilly.

Not sure if starting John Tierney is a great move. It means Forde moves into the back line. I reckon that isn't the team that will start because Cavan will probably try to operate a two man full forward line again.

cournioni

I reckon either Cahill or McKeever will drop back to the half back line and maybe Larry Reilly will start on the 40... I think having Tierney on the team would most definately ask questions of the Tyrone defence. He will win nearly every high ball into him and lay it off to the supporting players. When Larry won the ball last week he kept running himself into trouble and he wouldn't pass to any supporting players.

I reckon that is why Tierney is playing.

Lemlin

That would be a good move alright. I'd say Cahill would drop back before McKeever. Not sure about Larry on the 40 though, when he plays there he tends to make aimless runs towards the corner flag.

At least we won't have a lack of impact subs with Seanie Johnston, Lyng and McCabe not starting. That said, on the back of McCabe's performance last weekend I wouldn't let him near the pitch.

28064212

Tierney will be great if the half forward line and midfield play the right kind of ball in. Against Antrim he didn't get a single ball he could really do anything with. Cavan have become used to playing low balls to the wings for the Reillys, which would be grand if Larry would pass. But I reckon Jason and Larry would easily have the beating of the Tyrone defence if they were picking up the breaking ball in the centre of the pitch instead of out on the wings.

Having said that, McElkennon could do with Tierney what he did with Forde, play him as a third midfielder. But I'd say he'd only do that if Walsh and McKenna weren't doing what they did last week.

I thought Lyng seemed fit enough on Sunday, I'd be surprised if he wasn't on by the 2nd half.

Lemlin

I wasn't impressed with Tierney at all against Antrim. Have you ever seen a forward from another county being put through on goal and attempting a volley only to fall over? I didn't blame the poor fella for playing crap after that, he'd just had 15,000 or so people pissing themselves laughing at him.

He's far too big and cumbersome to play as a third midfielder. I'm willing to give hhim another chance though because he was good against Meath in the league and didn't look half bad when he came on the other day. Alot of people also reckon he was asked to play when unfit against Antrim.

Lyng didn't look fit to me at all, hence why the bench tried to take him off. Thank god he stayed on though as I don't think any of our other forwards could have kicked that free over. He'd be a useful player to have to come on when the Tyrone defence are tiring to run at them, he's very fast.

cournioni

Tierney hasn't trained in months because of a groin injury, which is why he is so unfit. He didn't want to play for the county this year as he was going to have surgery on it but he was talked into playing for the year by Coleman. This was after two outstanding matches for Knockbride when he was up against one of the county defenders, he absolutely destroyed him.

Tierney will win the ball every time if you hit it into his chest or high in the air, there is no use in playing the ball in low to him as it gives the defenders a chance. Which is why he was so poor against Antrim.

By the way Lemlin was that not Larry Reilly falling over when he was clean through on goal. He sliced the ball miles wide after attempting to volley the ball in and landed on his arse.

Am I the only one here who thinks that Sean Johnston is too light for intercounty football. He's only 5'8" and about 11 stone. He'd get trampled by the Tyrone defence.

Lemlin

Johnston was one of our best forwards in the league so I think he'd be more than able for intercounty. He could do with bulking up but at the minute we could do with forwards to support Jayo and Larry in the point scoring stakes.

Nope, it was definitely Tierney. I thought it was Larry too seeing it at the game but several people told me that it was Tierney who fell over and then I saw it on TV that night. It'll definitely be on any list of bloppers shown at the end of the year.

28064212

Lemlin wrote:

I wasn't impressed with Tierney at all against Antrim. Have you ever seen a forward from another county being put through on goal and attempting a volley only to fall over? I didn't blame the poor fella for playing crap after that, he'd just had 15,000 or so people pissing themselves laughing at him.

It was definitely Tierney, but that was (yet another) crap ball played into him that he never really had a hope of getting to. To even get close was an achievement in itself. No matter how good a forward you are, you're dependent on the quality of ball played into you. Larry and Jason get decent passes suited to their game because they're such long-standing players. The team is still getting used to Tierney's style of play.
I thought it was completely unbelievable when Tierney came on against Tyrone and no-one started the obligatory applause. Fair play to McElkennon for giving him a chance

Lemlin

I don't think it was a crap ball at all. Okay, it was bobbling a bit but, if anything, that meant the last thing he should of tryed was a volley. He had plenty of time to pick the ball up and shoot.

The crowd weren't happy with his performance against Antrim and IMO they had every right to be. Not suiting his style or not, the lad was terrible. Hopefully he can improve against Armagh though. Mossy Quinn managed to go from zero to hero for Dublin.

Lemlin

I don't know who here was at the game but what can I say, we were annihilated. The second half Tyrone came out and scored four points in a row, and the lads dropped their heads. Canavan and the boys were just walking through us then.

It was such a pity because after Tyrone got the first goal, we were on top and really putting it up to them for about 10-15 minutes. We kicked far too many wides though. When they got the second then, things were looking difficult but we were still hanging in there with a bit of fight. The third finished us off and ended the game as a contest. To think that Tyrone had scored 3-2, more goals than points, after thirty minutes is hard to stomach.

Fair play to the supporters, many left because it was so heartbreaking to watch but those who stayed cheered on the team until the bitter end. There was a great atmosphere before the game and up until the beginning of the second half which hopefully we'll be able to create in the qualifiers too.

I've never said this before about a team but I hope Tyrone get hammered by someone this year. Their supporters seem to assume that they have a god given right to win and are unbelievably cocky. Funny when a group of Cavan supporters started chanting "If you've got five All-Irelands clap your hands" and they went very quiet.

Other than that, I just don't like them as a team. They're fit to dish out dirty play but the minute one of them is touched they hit the ground faster than a ballerina on ice. This is an aspect of soccer coming into the GAA which I don't like at all. It's a man's game lads, no need for the overacting.

After that demoralising thrashing, hopefully Cavan can lift themselves now for the qualifiers. It's a hard task but I'm hoping to draw a team like Louth that we should see off easily. Knowing Cavan's luck though, we'll end up with Donegal or Meath, the qualifiers have never been kind to us. At least we can't draw Derry again I suppose.

cournioni

The problem was the long ball tactics we deployed. They didn't work once, and the three goals came from breaks up the field after Cavan lost posession. It left our defence exposed and Tyrone punished us for it. Apart from that I thought we done pretty well in the first half. We won loads of posession around the middle of the park, if we had to play simple short balls we would have probably done better than we did.

Cavan just did not turn up in the second half. Which is why I cannot understand people going on and on about how Canavan played. Fair enough he took his scores well but when you are up against no one you're obviously going to get a good few scores.

Yeah, some of the chants coming from the Cavan fans were brilliant. I thought the "if you'd rather be a Euro than a Pound" chant was very funny too. Fair play to them for putting in the effort to get the team going.

All in all, I think that Cavan need a severe overhaul. I think that some of the older players should give way for the young blood coming through. McCabe just isn't up to it any more and he is too much of a disruption to the Cavan side.

Lemlin

We're still a half decent team and are well fit for a good run in the qualifiers. I hope we get Louth or a team of the like though because we don't want to come up against a team like Donegal when our morale is low.

McCabe was dreadful. He did nothing first half but knock the ball down to Tyrone players. He should go for definite. I think Jason, Larry, Peter and Anthony Forde still have something to offer though.

McKeever and McCabe haven't talked all week since McCabe took the ball off him for that free last week. Can't believe that arguably our best player the last day, Finbar Reilly, lost his place for McCabe either.

Waylander

A bad team played off the pitch yesterday, but it was their fourth week in a row and they looked dead on their feet. Next week will be 5 weeks in a row. They are in trouble here I am thinking. They should not be expected to do that. Having said that, having seen both the Tyrone games, I have come to the conclussion they are a dirty team, and would not be sad to see them out.

Lemlin

I didn't see any of the Cavan games on TV so I don't know how the team were portrayed. The first game against Tyrone was pretty scrappy but how could it not be when they started diving on the ground all the time?

We may have a few dirty players but we've no-one like Ciaran Whelan who seems to think that the ball is located in a Wexford player's ribcage!

28064212

Waylander wrote:

Having said that, having seen both the Tyrone games, I have come to the conclussion they are a dirty team, and would not be sad to see them out.

Lemlin wrote:

We may have a few dirty players but we've no-one like Ciaran Whelan who seems to think that the ball is located in a Wexford player's ribcage!

I assume Waylander is saying that Tyrone are the dirty team, not Cavan.

Was at the game (for 50 minutes anyway). Up until about the 20th/25th minute it was a very good game. It was free flowing, fair, both teams were playing fluidly and with skill. Cavan had the upper hand from our full back line up to the half forwards, and were moving it about very well. When we had a shot, the players tended to lose their composure a bit and rush it, but we were playing well.

But the 3rd goal killed us off. It was a very well worked goal, good vision and movement by Tyrone, the defence was caught out. However, that should have been Tyrone's first goal. I couldn't believe the ref gave a penalty when Canavan went down. From where I was sitting (level with the 14 yard line, opposite the covered stand) there was no way he was fouled, and my brother was sitting behind the goals (so we had 2 excellent views) and he thought the same. The worst thing was, he gave it without even consulting the umpire who was virtually in the middle of them.

The first goal, I thought surely Keith Fannin was fouled. He would have easily got back in front of the scorer, maybe they still would have got it, but he would have made it difficult at least. But the other Tyrone player came in and just completely body checked him. Caught him on the leg, looked very painful, wasn't surprised he had to go off. Again the ref let it stand without consulting the umpires. At half time, if Cavan's shooting had been a bit better, the score should have been more like 1-04 to 0-7 or 8.

In fairness, well done to the Tyrone forwards though. They only kicked one wide (I think), and that wasn't actually wide. Canavan gave a great kick from way out on the right in the first half, went dead over the black spot, and the umpires waved it wide. Couldn't believe it.

From the Cavan point of view, they had just completely given up by half time. In the first half, every player was playing well (especially McKeever) apart from some wayward shooting. And Dermot McCabe, who couldn't win a single ball against a player 3 inches shorter and nearly 2 stone lighter. The only useful thing he could do for Cavan was catch, and he can't even do that. I was amazed he lasted til half time. Couldn't understand why Finbarr O'Reilly wasn't starting either, especially after his performance last week.

Hopefully Cavan will be able to pull themselves together before Donegal. A 0-16 to 0-12 win over Wicklow doesn't inspire fear. But the fact that Cavan have been playing for 4 weeks straight could be a major factor

cournioni

28064212 wrote:

In fairness, well done to the Tyrone forwards though. They only kicked one wide (I think), and that wasn't actually wide. Canavan gave a great kick from way out on the right in the first half, went dead over the black spot, and the umpires waved it wide. Couldn't believe it.

I know the one you are talking about, I was up on the hill. Nah, it was definately wide by a half a foot or so. Great effort though.

Lemlin

Canavan is an awful diver. He was jumping round like a polar bear in the Sahara! That definitely wasn't a penalty alright, he knew exactly how to win it though, and he got another few easy frees because the referee seemed to want to protect him.

The shooting was atrocious alright. Even when Tyrone got the second goal, if we'd taken all our scores we would of still been in the game. It'll need to imrpove drastically if we're to have any chance against Donegal.

Btw, does anyone know what happened with Padge Reilly? From where we were it looked like a Tyrone player clocked him in the scuffle at the Tyrone goals in the first half but the player only got a yellow.

hawker

Lemlin wrote:

Canavan is an awful diver. He was jumping round like a polar bear in the Sahara! That definitely wasn't a penalty alright, he knew exactly how to win it though, and he got another few easy frees because the referee seemed to want to protect him.

The shooting was atrocious alright. Even when Tyrone got the second goal, if we'd taken all our scores we would of still been in the game. It'll need to imrpove drastically if we're to have any chance against Donegal.

Btw, does anyone know what happened with Padge Reilly? From where we were it looked like a Tyrone player clocked him in the scuffle at the Tyrone goals in the first half but the player only got a yellow.

I saw this incident on TV last night and I couldn't understand how the Tyrone player stayed on the pitch. It was a disgraceful elbow to the Cavan mans jaw that could easily have broken it. Obviously the umpires spotted it and they bottled it. I was sickened by it. Gormley (I think it was him anyway) should have been arrested never mind sent off!!!

cournioni

Don't think it was Padge Reilly that got the elbow, I'm nearly sure it was Jason O'Reilly. It was seriously dirty, a definate red card. That could have easily broken Jason's jaw as hawker said.

Lemlin

I think the officials were trying to avoid sending off people after the spate of red cards in Ulster last week. Still no excuse though, it looked very bad from where we were standing and that was at the other end of the pitch nearly.

hawker

Lemlin wrote:

I think the officials were trying to avoid sending off people after the spate of red cards in Ulster last week. Still no excuse though, it looked very bad from where we were standing and that was at the other end of the pitch nearly.

Believe me, it was bad. They might show it on TG4 tonight at 8.30. I was thinking exactly the same thing about the officials.