If fit, I think he partners one of Smith / Galligan and they rotate in and out of the square (which did happen on Saturday). Brady in midfield gives the option of Clarke picking someone up as a man marker. Speaking of which, he was great in the early games and after he picked up whatever injury he had pre-Sligo, he's not been flying. I'm never 100% convinced on Killian as a midfielder and much prefer him as a defender.
Conor Brady catapulted into a game in Croke Park after injury like he was in 2020 vs Dublin. He obviously features in Mickeys starting 15. Where do people think he will play? Midfield?
The worrying thing is we have been falling over the line all year and will need to improve to get past Antrim. Where will the improvement come from though there have been no signs of any improvement during the league.
I wouldn't be too worried about the performance, and we did enough to win it. There is naturally a lot of room for improvement but I think there was more pressure on Cavan to perform and get that first trophy in 70 years than there was on Tipp, and that showed in some of our play. We just needed to fall over the line on this one I think. We created far more chances than Tipp but they looked more composed until they had to chase the game. I actually felt they were becoming into our new bogey team and there was a confidence in most of their play that they believed they had our number.
Credit where credit is due, we were far the hungrier team with 15 mins to go and let's be realistic, if Ray nails one or two of those dead balls, it's a different game.
From memory, he only started taking frees in the replay as we were so inconsistent. He wasn't a noted free taker but took on the responsibility and was really calm under pressure.
Niall Murray was really motoring on frees in 2019, another big negative of his injury unfortunately.
I still see free taking as an issue for Cavan. We’ve nobody like a Sean O’Se or Dean Rock that is scoring 80 percent plus.
It has lost us games. The 2019 home league game vs Kerry immediately comes to mind. Galligan missed frees at vital times that day.
Based on his form all during the league (don't think he missed one against Carlow, Wexford or Waterford) and barring one or two against Sligo he's been very consistent, so you would have to say it was Galligan's to take. But definitely would have suited a left footed free taker.
Watched it back on the TG4 player and from my reckoning, Tipp had two wides in the first half and two in the second (and one of those was a misplaced pass into Sweeney as opposed to a shot). They did have two goal chances in the first half and obviously the shot against the bar but they from memory didn't drop any short and didn't miss a single free.
He looked nervous. I wasn't too far away from the first free (when Thomas was fouled) and I wasn't confident that he would do it.
Does he? I remember him missing a pressure free from 20 to 30 yards out against Armagh in extra time that meant we had to go to a replay in 2019 Ulster semi final.
I’m never overly confident of Gearoid’s free taking.
I couldn't understand why gearoid didn't take that free. Sometimes when you look at who is stepping up to take frees through the league you'd have to scratch your head. Gearoid scores that free 9 times of 10.
Law of averages were not in Galligans favour yesterday.
Doesn't surprise me, I'd say there was very few from Limerick either for 2nd game. We had 4 home league games and there was barely any opposition supporters at all.
This is why I don't understand people saying it's great these hurling counties are doing well. It isn't for football because they don't have support and never will. I'd much rather see the likes of Sligo, Leitrim, Louth, Fermanagh, Longford etc succeed than Tipp, Limerick and these hurling only counties down south. At least it means something to the football counties.
We can't complain too much mind because we're practically football only anyway.
Ha! They will in their holes.
He played well in the second half against Sligo but I agree his form has gone off a cliff since the Tipp match in Breffni. The plus side is that normally if Gearoid isn't performing we don't score, so to put up 2-10 and have him only contribute a free is a sign that we are progressing. I do wonder if he's 100% but he was putting in the yards and forced a few turnovers and linked well for the second goal- but didn't contribute much otherwise.
Cop yourself on with that comment. He clearly was instructed to leave it, law of averages was that Galligan would have kicked it over and it also allowed for the clock to run down a bit as well. That Ray missed it wasn't Gearoid's fault.
A few thoughts:
Finals are about the result, not the performance. It may only be division four but it's our first trophy at Croker at county level for 70 years. I'm delighted to have been able to be there to see it. Getting over the line and not performing well is something we've not done a lot recently. Also, Tipp were in danger of becoming our new Roscommon in that they just seemed to have our number. It looked like it was going to be their day they way they started the second half and they were way more economical in taking their scores. They looked far less nervy than we did and probably were the better team for longer spells. We did have a slice of luck with the shot off the crossbar but Mark Russel coming off was a massive blow for Tipp- was he injured or just goosed? The three points he kicked in the first half were absolute monsters and he was cleaning up in midfield.
But when the game was in the mix, i was really impressed with our workrate and our tenacity. In fairness whilst Smith and Galligan were fairly anonymous for long spells, they both stepped up for the last 20. Lynch was exceptional and that's some tally to come back from Croker with. As mentioned, Jason wasn't far behind. Special mention to Stephen Smith who had his best game i think for the Cavan seniors. Kicked a monster point, created two goal chances with brilliant kick passes. There were lots of players who didn't have their best day at the office in terms of decision making but no one lacked for effort or commitment, but i can't help thinking that some of them either let the occasion get to them or weren't fully fit.
We won, had a good day out and we won with lots of room for improvement. I've no idea on the amount of scoring chances created but aside from three poor placed balls from Ray we kicked about four into the keepers hands at least and god knows how many wides (including Fortune's goal chance) and for once it was good to come away with a win and not be thinking about how we threw it away again.
There were very few from Tipp there. I heard one woman comment to a steward that she was trying to find a pocket of Tipp supporters to sit in amongst all the Cavan people but couldn’t find any.
I had a gander at the Tipp thread on here and couldn’t even see mention of the game on it - all hurling.
A vast improvement is going to be needed for Antrim. We wasted a lot of ball yesterday. I posted previously about the end of the first half but the end of the second was even worse - Ray misses two 45s and a free (one of the 45s didn’t even go dead so allowed Tipp to launch a counter), Tommy Galligan misses a simple mark, Conor Madden too non chalant when we broke through and should have had the ball over the bar but got blocked and Caoimhin does all the hard work with a ball into the corner to kick it away.
Its great to win in Croke Park but there were far too many unforced errors.
A win is a win. I'm happy for the team and management, they deserved to win the trophy and get the day in Croker. Getting games there can certainly do no harm.
There seemed to be a fairly poor attendance which we discussed previously.
All roads lead to Antrim. Let's give Ulster a good rattle.
Is Mickey holding something back and trying to keep our opponents guessing? In 2019 I’m nearly sure Dara Mc played most League games in the half back line before being unleashed into the forward line come championship.
At the end of the first half, we were 4 points up and Lynch kicked one ball wide and another into the keepers hands. Those would have killed the game. Tipp then got 4 in a row to draw level.
How many wides/dropped short had we compared to Tipp?
Watching the coverage now - lucky I spotted on the Sky App that you had to record the programmes before to get it all. 20 minutes in and Jason McLoughlin went down with the shoulder. They were readying a sub too. Very lucky he didn’t need to go off. Hard pressed that he didn’t get MOTM.
A trophy in croke Park but in reality not a lot to celebrate
Our midfield was woeful, I can't see how we can continue with James Smith in there faulkner got a toasting but got little protection
Shots dropped into keepers hands, bad frees
But we did have some positive plays 2 good goals and its a good boost going into championship
It is what it is and park it up
Next stop corrigan Park
You can add Gearoid to the last sentence aswell. Coward out off a simple free that Galligan missed and did feck all other than pass backwards.
One swallow doesn’t make a Summer. I didn’t see the game last night as the county board decided to put minor games throwing in at 6.30 and when you’re a member of management you can’t just slip away at the end of the game.
Fair play to the lads for the win and the management team. Hopefully Donohoe and his team will prove their critics like myself wrong. I’d love to see nothing more. As Damien says himself, it’s just an opinion but some folk always like to roll out the catty remarks.
Croke Park was not easy. We rode our luck with that ball off the crossbar. A win is a win but I’m not sure we deserved it. Will watch the TG4 coverage when I get home. At times we just kicked the ball away and Ray Galligan again showed he’d can’t be relied on some days.
Poxed to win that
Terrible performance so far.
Congratulations to all players and management of u-20s brilliant result. Hopefully they play with the same determination and skill in the next game any day You get a win away to Monaghan is a great day. Well done all involved.
Fair play to the team and management I don't think anyone seen that coming.
I hope Paul Fitz is here taking names on behalf of Damien.
Huge congrats to the u20s. They were really well set up, worked extremely hard and had a nice bit of quality to make Monaghan look very ordinary. It's also clear to me those lads are totally on board with their manager so fair play to Damien Donohoe who has had to take a lot of flack. Good luck to the seniors today, hopefully we can make it 2/2 for the weekend.
Safe travels today to all going and let's hope we can finally get over the line in HQ
I can't get to it due to prior commitments but I'm looking forward to watching it
Strong enough team starting, it would be nice to see them attacking Tipp from the very start and using that full forward line
Here's hoping last night's under 20s brilliant result is the start of a great weekend
