The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

Shehu having a poor game so far

Their absolute muck

Shehu been arguably our best player today

Well overall that was atrocious…

That might be the worse opening 20 minutes from a Cavan team in the championship that I’ve ever seen… The team selection was idiotic … A very young and inexperienced Monaghan team whom barely got out of third gear must not have believed their luck…. Gearoid coming on after 18 minutes at least gave us a foothold in the match. He was clearly half fit, but he at least competed in the air, We would have been as well starting the Under 20’s duo as what we put out there, to start ,we got completely destroyed. Gearoid and Evan Crowe as a duo in the last quarter despite both clearly not being fit, competed well.

The backline were even more inept than the midfield, Stephen O Hanlon hasn’t a hand put on him all day, Andrew Woods was pretty much ignored by Cavan for the first two thirds of the match,Nobody came near him.

The forward line had no system of play, it was get the ball to Oisin Brady , Lynch and McVeety and see what happens, we kicked some really good scores from play but also had some awful misses. The less said about Paddy’s kicking from the ground the better, You could clearly see that Ryan Connolly whom would have started in goals only for a broken jaw I believe, has taken over that duty.

For all the ineptitude , when we actually ran at them in the second half, we tore them to shreds, missing 3 goal scoring chances. and scoring 2 ,those misses alongside the breaches, were costly.We had no right to be in contention for the match, but we were when we got to within 4 points.

As for individual performances, Emanuel Shehu after a tough opening 10 minutes, was by far ,our best player on the pitch for me.

Ryan Tobin did well for his debut, thought he looked very capable,

Niall Carolan was outstanding in the second half, his piercing runs caused chaos in the Monaghan defence.

Favour Shehu did more in the 15 minutes he was on , than some players did in 50, shouldn’t have done what he did at the end , but his athleticism and speed caused Monaghan problems.

Oisin Brady put in a serious shift, kicked two good scores also.

Paddy kicked some very good scores but also had some bad misses.

Hard to know where we go to from here lads…If Westmeath make the Leinster final , are we Tailteann bound?
I dread what a good team will do to us….

I thought it would be Offaly missing out

To be clear, Wexford miss out firstly as Kildare (relegated) are Tailteann Cup Champs and are certain of a place. Next team to miss out would be Down. Then Cavan. Mind you, we would be better off in the Tailteann as we will be destroyed against a top team. Today was an abysmal display, nothing has changed since the league. No kick out strategy, zonal defense all over the place and our big players look devoid of confidence. Paddy Lynch was very poor, body language looks like a lad that wants to be at home. McCabe is wrecking Cavan. Today Cavan were bet out the gate and Westmeath beat Meath - does anyone in Cavan Co Board understand what is the common denoninator.

We wouldn't win the Denn gold watch tournament never mind the tailteann cup

We will get two embarrassments in All Ireland series, one in the front door and one in the back door.

Pitiful today. Can't pinpoint an area of the field where an effective game plan was evident. I thought the one thing McCabe would bring would be intensity, we showed none.

I listened to Michael Hannons review, what was the "chaos" on the sideline they were referring to? Just McCabe roaring like an eejit again or something else? I also clearly saw Shehu's breach, he was standing on the half way line for a bit and then jogged forward 3 yards before catching himself and running back. He didnt effect play in any way and I thought the new rules made an allowance for that. Seemed a very harsh call from a referee who left his whistle in the dressing room when it came to mauling an opponent in the tackle.

Nothing out of the ordinary (sadly). Usual bellowing and roaring. He nearly went on the pitch at the penalty looking for a black card. One hilariously "McCabe" moment in the first half. Liam Brady put a kick out over the sideline, but there was a push on the Cavan player (i think Gearoid). McCabe missed that the free was called and spent about 20 seconds bollocking Liam Brady even as a free was about to be taken by Cavan under his nose. Embarassing stuff.

Agree fully, players are being let down by tactics. There is no kickout strategy at all and the horrible zonal defending is not working. Not sure how zonal could ever work with new rules. The same problems are there that were there during the league and there does not seem to be any effort solving them. The amount of scores Monaghan kicked with zero pressure was unforgivable.

Paddy Lynch looks like a lad that has zero joy playing for Cavan right now. Which is a sad indictment really.

The last 15 minutes of chaos was nothing to do with tactics or system but more lads having a crack at Monaghan.

Some of our players (who I genuinely think are of inter county standard) are after having a rake of bad games on the trot. That's because (a) we have a completely malfunctioning "system" and (b) they have a roaring bully on the sidelines (no idea what it's like in training but I have to worry). None of them are playing naturally and are second guessing everything they do.

If you dropped Galligan back in there he would get a far better tune of our squad than we have gotten since the McKenna cup. This isn't bad luck. This is a pattern.

What was it Mark O Rourke said about "Dermot's vision for Cavan GAA?". What is that vision? Is what we've seen so far part of "Dermot's vision"? Would be useful if he bothered his hole talking to media that we might get a sense of what that vision is other than roaring on the sideline.

The next few years are going to be "fun" :)

And if you fire him, his successors success is dependent on being competent at his job. You actually couldn't make it up.

Gallagher’s view:

Cavan

Cavan are shambolic without the ball, are extremely wasteful in attack and have a poor kick out plan.

Monaghan aren’t quite shambolic, but defensively they lack organisation.

The game on Sunday lacked intensity and competitiveness at a high level.

Worryingly, they needed Gearoid McKiernan to come on after 18/19 minutes to get any foothold in the middle of field. He should have started. Gearoid is, and has been, an amazing player for Cavan. They haven’t identified a strong enough midfield and the season almost over.

Their kick out plan isn’t at the level needed to get control of a game.

They need to seriously work on defending as a team. 27 points conceded is huge against a team that has struggled for big scores all year.

It’s hard to see them taking out a team ranked higher than them with the form they are showing.

Sign of how far we have fallen in terms of squad depth. Past his prime McKiernan best midfielder we have by a distance. But prime McKiernan years, there were better options for the middle and he was a more effective as a half forward.