Listowel the better team & fitter too.
Different ball game when you get to HQ.
Arva game is on TG 4.
Clubs don't exist to make good players for the county team.
I’ve raised previously about too many clubs in Cavan and this is an issue from it I believe. A lot of the best players in underage teams are forced to play in areas like midfield because they are carrying teams. That means they miss out on the opportunity to hone the skills needed close to goals.
That’s why you’ll often see your best county forward from a smaller club coming from a rare underage team that had 3 or 4 decent players rather than 1 or 2.
Any club that can’t field underage teams at various ages should just be amalgamating at all levels including their adult teams. It’s pointless trying to follow the same structure as 100 years ago and ignoring changing trends.
Best of luck to Arva tomorrow. It'll be tough but hopefully they can do it.
McKenna Cup is only ever a run out so wouldn't read too much into it. Would echo some of the worries about GK position though. Thought Oisin Brady looked really good upfront so hopefully we can build on that.
Extra game would have been nice though to get a better look at more new faces. Interesting to see who's culled and who's on the league squads over next couple of weeks. Looks to be plenty of work needed on overall fitness too. We're more than capable of staying up, lots of winnable games but think we're in for a few harsh lessons too from some of the bigger guns. Hopefully first 3 games not too rough and we end up going ultra conservative in both play and team selection.
Cavan should have had at least 2/3 more goals. They seem to panic when in great positions, taking points when goals were very much on. A lot of work needed before the League starts.
Attacking play was good, showed good intent. Oisin Brady was sharp, took his scores well. I liked the long ball strategy.
Defensively we were terrible and if it wasn't for dreadful shooting from Down we would have been beaten earlier.
Faulkner added to his growing blooper real before the second goal. Twice Oisin Kiernan was left flat footed by a simple step from a Down player.
The coaching of the tackle and the work rate and plan for bottling men up and making it difficult for the opposition inside our 45 needs a huge amount of work. This problem is getting worse with time.
Midfield we got wiped when the game was in the melting pot. It was a harsh welcome to county football for Ryan Brady.
Goalkeeper looks like a problem, I'd have Liam Brady ahead of Fergal O'Rourke but think Gary O'Rourke is the best suited for county football.
He may put himself back in goals.
I was actually happy to see us approach the game a little different, to push players up the field and to mix it up a bit with some running and some long balls. For 3/4 of the game we certainly made Downs defence look very ordinary If you are going to try something try it in the McKenna cup. What I am concern about mostly is the quality of the new lads mostly and more generally the mental strength of the team.
I also think a few lads ran out of steam last night. Faulkner had done quite well for 3/4 of the game but he visibly tired and he wasnt in it at all after he gave away that really poor turnover for their 1st goal. I think he could play midfield but only with a strong athletic player in there beside him.
Anyone know what the story is with Dara McVetty?
Are you saying posters on here don’t talk to “real people at games”? Bit of a side swipe at everyone on here.
Re the midfield conundrum, Clarke is not needed at midfield IMO. The two best midfielders in the county at club level are Ryan Donohoe & James Smith. Here’s a novel idea - how about we play them in that position for the county team? Or at least one of them.
I said it after the Derry game. The time for Faulkner to play midfield for Cavan has passed.
I actually think we regressed as team defensively with McMennamin's involvement. Early days for this management team but as was noted today we really struggled with some of Down's running. I know Mcveety will improve things there but it's less about individuals and how we are set up.
Midfield has been a mess for a while. Clarke is one of our most under-rated players. He was our best midfielder last year and when he went into the fullback line against Armagh he was our best defender that day too. We need him at the back and midfield..
I am not convinced with Faulkner in the middle but maybe that will take time.
I may be an outlier on here, but i actually talk to real people at games and I've never met a Cavan fan who didn't think we should have given Brady or O'Rourke from Ballyhaise a run out before this year
I always said it on here. Ray Galligan playing every game in the McKenna Cup under Graham was utterly ridiculous and we are reaping that now and that's no reflection on young Brady who in some ways did ok with saves the last day against Derry He just lacks the physical size at the moment to dominate the box in Div2.
It's difficult to know where we are at,
There hasn't been many complete newcomers whom have gotten extended game time over the two games..
As the two previous posters said James Galligan and Brian O Connell are the only two non regular starters from last year whom have probably played their way into starting against Kildare.
The goalkeeping position is a mess
Full back is solid with Killian Clarke in there,but midfield is weakened without him,
I'm not sure what formation or combination we need in the half back line to tighten it up,but something needs to be altered... You could land a 747 through there and kill noone.
Midfield will surely be 2 of 3 of James Galligan/ James Smith/ Killian Clarke, after the 2nd half debacle here.
On a more positive note, the forward play this evening bar the missed goal chances was a huge step forward from last week. I'd be confident, we can put up some decent scores in division two. I just can't see us stopping some of the teams shooting the lights out.
Did we all know? You may remember better than me but there was definitely a poster argued it at the time with me when I mentioned it as a negative against Graham. All of those Division 4 & 3 games and nobody else even given a minute in goals. Ridiculous.
As another person said above, it may only be McKenna Cup but that is very hard to take. 2 points up going into injury time and we lose by 3. A 5 point turnaround. How is that even possible?
I wondered where Ryan Donohoe was tonight but a friend from another county told me he watched Sigerson last night and he did very well for DCU.
It's not panic stations yet- but you're right, of the new lads on the panel barring O'Connell and a brief cameo from Shehu no one has stood out.
The keeper situation is as any Cavan fan would have predicted. We never should be in a situation that we have three keepers with 2 appearances between them gearing up for a crack at Division two. O Rourke and Brady should have been getting gradual game time over the last 2/3 years. We all knew this would come back to haunt us.
I know its January and I know it is McKenna cup but that was depressing. We are the most mentally weak team in the country. We will find a way to lose. Who concedes 5 points in 5 minutes of injury time!! 6 points up and concede 2-2 in what 7 or 8 minutes.
Most depressing is I do not see any new players there bar maybe James Galligan (whos not really new). We have a massive problem in goals lads. O Rourke is clearly not at the level required. Liam Brady I dont think hes ready either. Paddy Lynch needs a boot up the hole, very little work from him on the ball or off the ball.
We will need to old guard back and going well as we fell apart against a Down team that I was expecting to be decent but were actually very poor. I thought we'd survive Div2, and we might, but I am a lot less confident than I was.
That game was a mix of good, bad and awful. Oisin Brady played really well. Some nice attacking moves. Loved the effort put in and that we won some dirty ball and was happy that once Down got in front midway through the second half we seemed to up our game and looked to have enough.
Solid performances from Killian Clarke and Brian O'Connell again. Oisin Kiernan and Gerry Smith did well.
Whereas Down's bench contributed, once we started to make changes, we didn't add much. That's a worry.
The two goals were awful- first one from Faulkner unnecessarily caught in possession. Second one was a well-worked move but O'Rourke has to save that. We also had some goal chances that we butchered in the second half. If we get chances like that in division two, we will need to take them, simple as that.
O'Hare pushing up on our kick out in the second half- and especially the last ten minutes- seemed to completely outfox us. We didn't have a plan B and the kicking from O'Rourke wasn't great to be honest. We conceded five points in a row from play in that passage. We are going to have to improve on how we beat that sort of full press when we take on the likes of Armagh and Donegal or it's going to be a massacre
Given that a lot of teams are going to have sweeper keepers these days, I think Gary O'Rourke needs a run. He's the one of the three that is best placed to play that role. O'Rourke from Laragh doesn't have that in his locker and I am not sure if Liam Brady does either.
2nd half was a mess..
Ryan Brady and Faulkner were exposed at midfield with James Smith taken off,one of the smallest and weakest midfield in Ireland outplayed us in the air in the second half. The lads are outstanding footballers,but neither are IC midfielders,neither are strong enough under the high ball in my opinion.
The Backline was badly exposed in the second half,Havern caused havoc when Killian Clarke came off.. we are going to shift some heavy scores in division two, I feel.
The forward play was mostly good,with the exception of a couple of missed goal chances...
Gerard Smith and Oisin Brady were exceptional in the 2nd half..
1-15 should be winning games in January.
Big improvement from the Derry match,
Forward play very good, lovely direct ball in, and some lovely worked direct running moves..
James Smith and Paddy Lynch causing problems aswell..
Fergal O Rourke very impressive in goals also.
Backs being cut open very easily though,like last year against Down which is a worry.
Liam.Kerr and Odhran Murdock have caused problems,with their direct running,Kerr has Brian O Connell on him now, his third marker...
Much better than the Derry match for me so far, hope we can up it again ,in the second half.
Good to see Fergal O’Rourke getting a start.
Couple of changes from last week.
Black card for should have been a free in to them. At one point they had a 20m free to go 3 ahead, inconceivably he dropped it short and Derry got a point from the counter attack. Think the black card was the next play. They looked very fit too. Watched Tyrone and Donegal yesterday and both flying fit. Clearly the pre season ban on training isn't been adhered to by a lot of teams.
Yes I heard they were very good and were unlucky to get a black card that allowed Derry to move ahead. They are 11/10 with Powers to win Div 3. Looks good odds to me.
I see Cullyhanna won their Intermediate semi final yesterday, it’ll be a fair sickener for Ballyhaise if they win the final.
Down looked decent against Derry. Will be a good tough game on Wednesday
Just because they aren’t standing right along the sideline, doesn’t mean a coach can’t be vocal.
Derry definitely had someone over the terrace side second half and they also had Harte and another man fairly vocal on the stand side. The second man on the stand side was more in the dugout than the actual sideline so maybe that is a rule now and they were bending it.
Unless the keeper was behind the line when he fumbled it. He broke the golden rule of letting the ball bounce in front of him. Poor goalkeeping.
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