Looking ahead to his fifth championship campaign as manager of the Cavan senior footballers, Terry Hyland is hoping to build on the 'progress' of recent years.

The Breffni County celebrated four Ulster U-21 successes in-a-row from 2011-2014 and Hyland expects them to make a mark at senior level in next two to three years.

"We are quite happy with our progress, we are still making progress and that's the main thing," he remarked to The Irish Independent in advance of Sunday's Ulster derby against Monaghan.

"Some people may think it is slow but once it is progress it is always good.

"There is no pressure in Cavan, we have been allowed time to bring these fellas along - provided we are showing improvement.

"As a group we have to look for consistency and that's what we have been getting in the last 12 to 18 months. We need to get that consistency to a level where you don't get the 'yo-yo' factor.

"And if you can get rid of the 'yo-yo' factor and can build on your experience, you can always hope too that one or two more talented players come in from the fringes that we didn't have for that period.

"We're still building that assembly line."

Liam McHale's arrival as a forwards coach has added an extra dimension to their preparations, added the Breffni boss.

"He's a fresh voice, I suppose that is an old cliché but he is that. We have been a little bit more attack-minded in some of the drills that we have been doing.

"We have to be conscious again not to concede too much at the back. We have been building a little bit more on that level and we have been creating more movement in the game.

"Possibly some of the teams we have been playing against in the game now have maybe copied what we have done. They have probably got more defensive. So from that point of view Liam has brought that little bit of a difference to us."

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