The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

Intermediate draw

I watched our county U16s take a hammering off Meath in Oldcastle yesterday. This is the team that McCabe allowed the “Dads & Lads” coaching approach with it and it showed.

A complete **** show from start to finish - the amount of substitutions in the first half showed that.

Yet we’re about to let him waltz into the senior, and perhaps U20, jobs. The one saving grace is because he runs Breffni he might actually get them to spend a bit of money on actual coaching.

Lads after watching today's game it's so obvious Kerry used the Cavan game as a tool to try come to Dublin/Croker under the radar..

Fair play though.. I loved that bravery they had from the get go .. I knew from the parade Kerry were completely psyched up for it ....

Secretly delighted for McGuiness, he's an absolute bully... He came down to brefni and completely disrespected our novice manager who's learning his trade..... Well Jack o Connor sent him back in his box today ....

What goes around comes around ....

So your hypothesis is that Kerry intentionally played poorly so that they could get to the all Ireland by other teams taking them for granted?

Long range shooters are vital with the new rules. Donegal didnt get any 2 pointers and left it very late before they even tried any. Kerry got 5 which is an extra 5 points. Kerry with the age profile should be capble of putting back to back All Irelands.

No games this weekend?

Yeah or start them this weekend rather than last weekend. Read an article there about all the club championships in Ulster and the journalist said a bit strange when Cavan final is, a full month before the winner out in Ulster.

I’ve heard some mention that the divisions should be split in two, like they do at say underage minor, and teams play every two weeks. Week on week is too much.

I’ll go back to it over and over again. We’ve too many clubs. Look at underage football. You’ve teams amalgamating all over the place yet their level is still only Division 3 or 4. In some cases these are amalgamations of 3 or 4 clubs.

But it’s not twelve games in six months. The league starts end of March and ends by July so it’s more like 12 games across 3 months.

You also talk about club seconds. A lot of clubs are having lads playing both senior and junior. Playing numbers are falling across the board as a club player now basically has to act like a county senior did a decade ago.

Reserves also expected to play on a Sunday. Not fair on them while first team players get their Saturday night. Go back to double headers wherever possible and treat the junior b with some respect.

Why the County Board Wants Our GDM as Manager:

• Cost-effective: He’s a cheap option, which seems to be the primary concern.
• Avoids awkward questions: His appointment helps the CB sidestep embarrassment over last year’s debacle against Westmeath and deflects scrutiny over their failure to properly manage the GDM's involvement with another county.
• Covers past mismanagement: It’s a convenient way to paper over years of reckless handling of the underage development squads. (Ulster advertising for an understudy speaks volumes — best of luck to whoever signs up for that mess.)
• Low ambition, clearly signalled: Asking clubs to nominate a manager highlights just how limited our ambition is. Compare that to Louth under Peter Fitzpatrick, who only wanted the very best. Meanwhile, we go for what’s convenient — just look at the interview panel = convenient.

Concerns with the Second Candidate:

• Lacks recent inter-county experience.
• Uncertain player buy-in: Will the whole squad respond to him?
• Limited track record: Success at junior level doesn’t always translate to senior success. His brief stint with Kingscourt and in Longford didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

We seriously need to grow up as a county. If we want to compete at the highest level, we need to widen the net, think bigger, and target the best candidates available — not just the easiest ones to appoint.

Tyrone don't start their League until May. They play regional Cup competition as a warm up before the league. I think County players are available for the majority if not all the fixtures in their league. The league up there dictates where a team plays the following year in the championship.

With the split season the league doesn't need to be starting in March in Cavan.

Kerry have regional league and championship competitions too on top of their main league, club and county championships.

It's a format I like. For us to decrease the number of teams in our main league competition, we'd need to introduce extra competitions for club matches during IC season.

Why our GDM will be the next county manager: because he runs everything in Breffni.

Would be nice to see a Cavan team make inroads in that competition.

Championship starts tonight with a local derby. You'd feel the champions should win this but they're unsettled ATM and quite a bit off their very best. They'll be looking to get some players back to full fitness and grow into this competition. Great opportunity for Castlerahan to ambush them and get off to a good start themselves.

Lady luck can be huge in this format especially if you lose and she turns against you in the fixture draw.