TIME FOR A RETHINK
November 27, 2011A catastrophic season started with the appointment of PJ Martin as senior team manager in January, which at the time had been widely considered as a positive move, given that the Offaly man had been Brendan Nelligan's right hand man in 2010, when Cavan enjoyed progress which saw them finish just short of the play-off places in Division Four of the National League.
A brother of a two-time All-Ireland winner Kevin, who, incidentally, steered Westmeath to Christy Ring Cup success in 2010 after being linked with the Cavan job himself, Martin would take over a reduced side from the one which Nelligan led two wins in the NHL the year previous, with Paul Sheridan, Kevin Downes and Bernard Gaffney all making it known to the new manager that they would not be part of his squad for the coming season. The latter two had been the nucleus of the Breffni men's improves performances in 2010, while Sheridan, who moved to Donegal with his family, had arguably been Cavan's finest ever hurler.
Nonetheless, the Cavan squad, albeit depleted from their previous season, began training soon after Martin's post was confirmed, with Pat Halpin and Philip McDonald on board as his team selectors.
Stern training sessions and challenge matches saw the players sharpen their fitness and skills ahead of what was viewed a crucial league opener against neighbours Fermanagh on February 13. Having pushed the Ernesiders all the way in their corresponding fixture the previous year, Cavan would hope to open their National League campaign with a win against the green and whites with home advantage in their favour.
Played in the freezing conditions at the 3G pitch at Kingspan Breffni Park, the Cavan panel were minus the services of 12 of the 2010 crop but started in healthy fashion as midfielder Noel Hogan sent over three early points to take a 0-3 to nothing lead inside the opening five minutes. Those minutes were just about as good as it got for Martin's charges though, as the visitors took control of the game with a barrage of goals which saw them into an unassailable 4-10 to 0-7 lead.
In the second-half, Fermanagh's superiority began to shine through as they struck for another four majors against their opponents' struggling defence which completely blew away Cavan, who could only claim a late Michael O'Connell goal as consolation.
The alarm bells were already ringing, and the short trip to Ballinamore the following weekend wouldn't help to calm concerns as Cavan would crash to a 3-19 to 1-8 defeat to a Leitrim side which they defeated 12 months earlier.
The winners were in control from start to finish and led by 2-9 to 0-3 at half-time as Michael Lane and Clement Cunniffe did irreversible damage to Cavan from midfield.
In the second-half, the Breffni men managed somewhat of a revival with Michael McEntee netting them a goal, but Leitrim went on to see out a huge victory after a 40th minute goal from Dermot Kennedy.
The defeat rooted Cavan to the bottom of Division Four with a scoring difference of -53 after just two games.
It wasn't about to get any better for the Breffni men either, as a 4-23 to 1-6 hammering by league leaders Tyrone at Kingspan Breffni Park, where a stand out performance from centre-back Brendan Devine was the only positive for the hosts, kept them licking their wounds.
Martin's men failed to stop the rot seven days later as they were handed a 6-23 to 1-1 trouncing by Longford (again, a side they had come within two points of in 2010) at Pearse Park, where Eoin Donnellan struck an impressive 0-17 tally. The visitors were out of contention by half-time and make matters worse they had to play the closing stages with 11 men after Diarmuid O'Reilly, Anthony Baxter, Peter McKiernan and Brendan Devine were all sent off, while Longford were also reduced after John O'Brien saw red.
In their last outing of the league campaign, Cavan hosted a strong South Down outfit looking to seal their place in the NHL Division 4 final at Kingspan Breffni Park's 3G pitch.
The result was never in any doubt with Liam Deegan's goal helping the visitors to a 1-9 to 0-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Cavan were given a lift when Conor Drumm netted in the 18th minute and Jamie Rosney followed up with a brace of points, but the Mournemen quickly regained control and went into the break leading by an unassailable 3-22 to 1-2.
In the second half, the visitors continued to run the one-way traffic with goals from Eoin McGuinness and Liam Deegan in the 56th and 72nd minutes securing a comfortable victory which saw Cavan finish Division Four pointless with a score difference of -155.
Cavan (NHL v South Down): M Curry; P McGuigan, M Carr, M Fay; A Baxter, J Rosney (0-3, 2f, 1 '65'), D Reilly; J McMahon, K Reilly; M Doheny, R Murphy, P McKiernan; A Mulcahy, C Drumm (1-0), K McKiernan. Subs: L McKenna for P McGuigan (44), K Fitzpatrick for D Reilly (44), F Bird for K McKiernan (50), K McGoldrick for A Mulcahy (58), P Baxter for K Fitzpatrick (inj, 66).
Martin looked to move on from a regrettable league campaign and turn attentions towards the Lory Meagher Cup, but by the time April 23 came around Cavan had handed opponents Fermanagh a walkover.
The decision was taken the previous night after Martin and his selectors realised that they wouldn't have the sufficient numbers to make the trip to Enniskillen, and in the days afterwards the Cavan county board confirmed that they would be pulling out of the Meagher Cup campaign for 2011 - just six months after a leading GAA official in the county had caused a storm when he suggested that they should disband their senior team and concentrate on promoting the game at grassroots level.
In the days after Cavan's withdrawal from the competition, county board chairman Tom Reilly told RTE radio that a plan was in place to develop hurling at underage and club level in the county, while he also dismissed reports that they would not be participating in competitions at senior level for five years.
"We made a decision to withdraw from the hurling competition this year," Reilly explained. "We are putting a five-year plan in place. We are following the line that (GAA President) Christy Cooney mentioned in his address at Congress. The proposals under Liam O'Neill are at management level at Croke Park at the moment.
"They are looking at county participation when the club structure is very weak within counties and maybe counties haven't got the necessary players to play. That is where we are going to follow the proposals that the incoming President has put to the management in Croke Park.
"We are going to develop hurling at underage and we are also going to develop a club structure where it will be more club competition based and counties will have to prove that they are capable of taking part in the National League.
"The President did mention that at Congress and that is what we will be doing. We aren't withdrawing from senior hurling as such, and we will definitely be looking (ahead). Our plans when competition had finished this year was to look at everything."
Reilly went on to outline the events which led to the team's eventual withdrawal from the Lory Meagher Cup.
"The manager told me that he was very concerned last week going to Enniskillen because he had seven players injured and with seven players injured in Cavan that is just too much," stated the Shannon Gaels clubman.
"Twelve players didn't come into the hurling panel at all. We have only two clubs in the county so to compete at national league level you are only talking about 60 players. We actually only have one registered fully affiliated club (in) Mullahoran. We have tried to make up combinations of clubs for hurling competition every year.
"From now on we have set up a structure at underage which is working at a regional basis with a number of clubs together and it is starting to work. People are working very hard on the ground at the moment. Together with Croke Park we are going to come to a solution." Tweet
