Lovely to see a Cavan man lift a trophy in Croke Park. And some performance from the Holla as well. He was unbelievable in the second half. Hoffman too was superb and that was some block from Sheridan. Arva kicked some awful wides and for once for a Cavan team, that didn't come back to haunt them.
Couldn't believe the Listowel crowd booing the ref. The black card was blatant and the ref was consistent in moving the ball forward for any lip from the players- that happened to Arva a number of times in the first half. The goal at the end would be a hard one to take for Listowel (in real time it looked like a poor call) but i think most reports say it was a free and if not pulled back the Listowel lad would have been called for steps.
Arva did well considering Conal Sheridan wasn't remotely fit and I don't think McCabe looked right either, but they completely deserved that win.
Ballyhaise must be kicking themselves after watching Cullyhanna win easily enough.
Since the county final, the Holla really has been hitting his stride. Immense in the Ulster final and capped off his long season with his best display since 2020. He's such a brilliant footballer and one of the best in Cavan at breaking a tackle.
It takes some effort to come back from an ACL and few players get back to where they were. It was no surprise that he wasn't great in 2022 when he was making his way back onto the team. Even last year for Cavan he rarely looked like the Holla of old (he was brilliant against Westmeath but can't really remember any other games where he dominated games).
A fully motoring Holla returning to Cavan will be as much of a boost as McVeety last year. Half back (if all players fit) will again be our strongest line and the hardest one to break into.
Great win for Arva, they had a few exceptional performances. Holla obviously and Hoffman and I thought Morris at full back was outstanding. Donnelly was excellent too.
The win is all the more impressive given that 3/4 of their big players didn't perform at all on the day.
Arva got a lot of the big decisions in the second half but I think they earned them, they were going after the game and had seized the momentum. The black card was borderline, it did look like he led with his leg. The goal didn't go in until the whistle had gone but other refs would have let it play out a couple of seconds longer. The Arva corner back should have stopped him at all costs there, take a black if necessary.
We might never have two sides as strong at Junior and Intermediate as Arva and Ballyhaise but hopefully they have shown the path now for other teams to be competitive when they get out of Cavan.
I saw a few of their players in Croke Park, it can't have been an easy watch for them!!
It would be brilliant if club football in Cavan continues to develop. We have strong football teams that should be competing (and winning) in Ulster.
Good call on Donnelly, he was brilliant: took on players all the time. He should be brilliant for the u20s this year.
Just for the record drumgoon did win that all Ireland. All the players have Ireland medals to show for it and as far as im aware it’s the same cup that arva lifted yesterday. Check it and you will see Drumgoon’s name printed on it.
us goonies love reminding people of it..
I've no doubt that they won it it just wasn't an official GAA All-Ireland completion.
My understanding is that cremartin held an ulster tournament for the junior teams. After it was over the learnt that the other 3 provinces had held there own tournament. So they then contacted croke park to see how f the could run it to an all Ireland final. Croke park agreed and drumgoon went on to win it. Might not have been an official tournament but was given the go ahead from Croke park
Any word on the u 20 panel ? some very good players on it should be a good team..
I see the ladies announcing full panels for all age groups but nothing from the men.
Sad news with the passing of Paraic Farrelly... He was some man for the stats
He sure loved the GAA
May he rest in peace 🙏
I worked with him for a while, very sad news, a nice lad.
How are we feeling about the game against Kildare. I think we've a good chance. They had a poor O Byrne cup, and have been fairly erratic in the league in previous years. They are obviously also out of their own home ground. I really hope we go for this game hard as a good start would be massive in this league.
I wouldn’t read much into O’Byrne Cup. Longford have won it the last two years - that says it all to me.
We have a terrible record against Kildare unfortunately. Even in Jack O’Connor’s largely anonymous time there a few years back, they beat us in the League.
I’m sure I’ll be told I’m being negative but, a bit like the Armagh game last year, I can’t see why we would have any expectation to beat Kildare given the League standings of the two teams over the past few years.
This has a 4-6 point win for Kildare written all over it.
I think we will get a surprise win along the way somewhere but will we be able to beat Louth and Fermanagh to survive is the big question.
I give us a fighting chance. The bookies have it 2/1 to 1/2. They aren't thinking 4-6 points. We have a terrible record against Kildare but they are no world beaters - especially at this time of the year.
Kildare league results last year
Dublin 0-13 to 1-11 loss
Cork 0-07 to 2-14 loss
Clare 0-16 to 0-15 win
Derry 0-07 to 2-15 loss
Louth 0-12 to 2-11 loss
Limerick 3-10 to 2-7 win
Meath 0-13 to 0-08 win
3 wins and just stayed up. Lets not be blowing Kildare up to be something they are not.
They've haven't dropped below Div1/2 for a while now. They've been in half of all the U20 AI final's since the competition started 6 years ago, winning 2. They are easily a top half team all day long, should be in a good place where fitness, conditioning and experience is concerned coupled with bringing through good talent. This is a very tough assignment at the best of times but considering all the question marks over us, I certainly wouldn't be playing them down and I'd be worried about how exactly we'll hit the ground. Hopefully they leave the shooting boots in Kildare.
Not playing them down, just not building them up either.
I think it is fair to say with population numbers and underage success, Kildare are massively underperforming at senior level. Their record in championship (even with the Dubs being so dominant) for a supposed top 10 team. It's harsh for a lot of their provincial games they have faced Dublin and taking a fair few trimmings. Barring the "newbridge or nowhere" win over Mayo I don't remember them doing much in the back door either. Yes the beat Roscommon last year but I seem to remember the Rossies being a bit complacent at that point.
Having said that Kildare do have us in head to heads. I don't see anything from league or championship over the last two years to crow about, but then again they won't be exactly quaking in their boots about facing us.
Forecast could be really important. If it's a really filthy day, we need to be up for it and have lads like the Gunner ready to put a massive shift in.
Good point, I would rate the O'Byrne cup even lower than McKenna cup. Last year a load was made of Longford in the run up to the league and they were dreadful.
Sure look, it's Tuesday and we're only a few days away so does anyone want to go with a starting 15? Knowing nothing of Sigerson commitments, injuries or form here's my total stab in the dark:
Have no idea what fitness update is on McVeety but am assuming that the Holla will be entitled to a few days more off. If he was available that would be a massive boost, even for a 20 minute burst. I wouldn't rule out Hoffman for an impact in the league either. WAC said Boylan wasn't going back in, which is a shame as he really showed potential last year in the league.
The Boylan thing is depressing. Surely fellas realise that you need to do 3 yrs of S&C at intercounty to be physically capable. It doesnt work just going in for 1 year and then quitting. All youve done is take a slot from another lad.
I'm not going to throw shade at any lad. The commitment levels are off the charts and lads have college, work and relationships to manage. It's not a slight on him but more a shame as he was brilliant against Offaly in the summer and showed well in other games.
I don’t think anyone is building them up but it’s fairly hard for us to be confident of beating any team in the top 16 - two years of failing to win the Tailteann Cup proves that.
Kildare were in Division 1 in 2022 and finished with 5 points - not a terrible performance. It’s more than we managed in two attempts at the end of the last decade.
Last year they remained in a very difficult Div 2 - let’s not forget Derry & Dublin were the two standout promotion teams.
I do find it amusing that Cavan supporters are looking through their results and thinking they’ve beaten nobody of note - I’m sure they haven’t lost to heavyweights like Tipperary, Wicklow, Antrim & Fermanagh in recent seasons either.
Having a look at the last GAA ranking table based on results in League & championship on here, Kildare are 12th in the country and we are 18th.
Mightn't be too far off, don't believe James Smith is available so maybe James Galligan to get a run. Wouldn't be surprised to see McVeety get a run also, maybe a change or 2 in the forwards but that's 70% it I'd say. Goalie will be interesting. Galligan is leaving huge boots to fill and was worth at least 6 points a game to us in countless matches I'd care to forget where we were cut open like butter. On top of that his kicking was mostly exceptional. Hopefully it doesn't become an Achilles heel for us. If it does we can always draft in Barry Reilly 😉 (he says half joking).
James Smith not available? Is he injured. That's a big loss.
I'm hoping our goalkeeper improves a good bit he looked poor last night in sigerson and apparently wasn't great in a challenge against sligo last weekend and yes I do think it's a result of grahams refusal to rotate keepers in mc kenna cup etc
Hard to guage where this team is at in relation to all the others in Div 2...
An interesting few weeks ahead we'll hope for the best and expect the worst as usual
Unless they played Sligo twice, that challenge game was before the McKenna cup
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