What will posters regard as a successfull season ahead? I personally think survival in Div 2 would be classed as an improvement . Not really worried about the championship yet but a winless league campaign would be a disaster. We would be right back at square one despite our underage success. We need to show we can compete in Div 2.

dirtybag (Cavan) - Posts: 242 - 17/12/2014 11:29:29    1679054

I agree, maintain Division 2 status is a must. We are well capable of doing this. Westmeath, Down, Meath, Laois, Kildare, Roscommon and Galway we are capable of beating on any given day. In saying that the same can be said about the other teams beating us. A good start to the campaign is the key I feel. Everyone cant his the ground running in Division 2 and Galway and Laois were very lucky to avoid the drop last year. Likewise Westmeath whom we beat last year in the qualifiers had a awful run in Division 1, need to pick themselves up also.

cavan97 (Cavan) - Posts: 369 - 17/12/2014 12:05:19    1679069

Stay division 2 and win a few games in Championship. Better performance than the Roscommon debacle.

doratheexplorer (Cavan) - Posts: 1467 - 17/12/2014 14:18:53    1679105

Cavan lost to westmeath last weekend or recently theres no hope of anything positive this year, although I believe having a challenge game this time of year is ridiculous!!!!

Dr.Phil (Cavan) - Posts: 109 - 17/12/2014 19:53:41    1679209

There has been very little word coming of the Cavan camp and with the McKenna Cup coming up, jut wondering does anyone have any information on the squad and panel. It seems like the debate about Seani has gone quiet again, and while I think it is the wrong decision, we must move on. It is clear that several players have stepped back from the panel, and one must see this as a response to the disastrous Championship had and the tactics used. Toastie and Givney are huge losses, and lets hope their shoes can be filled sooner than later. It is a capable McKenna group and it must be used to try out new players. The Division 2 league table is going to be tough, and lets hope Cvan can bring on new players in this competition looking ahead to the summer. Joe Dillion would have been a great new factor to the team but is another huge loss through a back injury. He was unstoppable against Dublin, with little ball, till the Tipp ref's dodgy black card. Cavan have plenty of talent, but the players who hid and did not shine last year must step up now! An Ulster final, the last one maybe ever in Clones, is very achievable this summer!

Terrystigers15 (Cavan) - Posts: 6 - 18/12/2014 10:26:27    1679259

Lads Seanie is after having major ankle surgery and is not in contention for the county and if he was asked in my sources tell me he wouldn't go back in.he might not even play football for the Gaels in 2015.

Cavan hammered by westmeath last week,played very defensive yet again.what's new.Peter Donnelly a huge loss to Cavan football.he has never been replaced either.sad to be honest.

gaelsutd (Cavan) - Posts: 602 - 18/12/2014 11:46:29    1679279

Well at least that puts an end to the speculation about Seanie. It sounds like we have more pressing problems facing us getting a team to play a bit of decent attacking football but then what can you read into a challenge game in this time of year?

RoyalBlue2 (Cavan) - Posts: 198 - 18/12/2014 15:43:53    1679337

Cavan did not play Westmeath last week or at all this term so do not know where that info is coming from. They played Louth however up in Darvar last week and won convincingly

BootIt (Cavan) - Posts: 136 - 18/12/2014 18:18:13    1679371

Seanie injured, what a shock.

Who cares about a challenge game in December. Stop being so bloody negative all the time

fredflint (Cavan) - Posts: 1483 - 18/12/2014 20:57:26    1679411

I see the usual suspect(s) are posting inaccurate information again. Genuine posters please ignore this ruubish.
As for the Cavan squad David Givney was going to miss the McKenna Cup and League because of his very bad ankle injury so he really has not walked off the squad.Heard this from a mate of his in Ballymun. So David will be rarin to go come championship time.
Hope there is a few new recruits and the loss of Alan Clarke has been offset with the emergence of Conor Moynagh. The great thinh is that there is lots of lads capable of stepping up and the Junior All Irl win proved that.
I expect Cavan to be pushing for promotion and these young players have the hunger to succeed.

BreffniDub (None) - Posts: 377 - 19/12/2014 11:01:57    1679461

If we can stay in Division 2 I would see that as a success .
Championship is harder to quantify as it can boil down to the bounce of a ball or the luck of the draw but we need to at least perform at a high level win lose or draw . It would be fantastic to contest an Ulster final this year and if we can beat Monaghan then the path is open for us . I never bought into the talk that we should win an Ulster title in X amount of years . You need an exceptional team to be able to guarantee an Ulster title regardless of the draw you get . IMO if we are to win Ulster it will be from a draw like the one we have got this year so we need to take the bull by the horns and give it one hell of an effort come May . We may not get another chance for years .
Would be nice to see a good run from our minors and U21's as well . Looking forward to the Hastings cup , three great games in store with Kerry , Roscommon and Meath .

Hardtimes (Cavan) - Posts: 1056 - 19/12/2014 17:07:29    1679530

Well said BreffniDub
It's years since we had such a collection of decent quality players around the place and it's hard to believe that lads like Michael Argue and Liam Buchanan are still under-21 in 2015. I'm looking forward to seeing new faces this coming year and I expect some of them to make the grade.

RoyalBlue2 (Cavan) - Posts: 198 - 19/12/2014 17:44:46    1679534

Howya lads,

It's going to be very tough to stay in division 2, realistically the only team you'd be somewhat confident of beating is Westmeath who haven't won a game in over a year, the rest is anyones guess. It all depends really on how much has changed. Playing style needed to change, some players have departed, others have come in. It is disappointing when you see Givney not committing, one of the brighter prospects from our good underage teams the last few years. But we need to address why our underage success is not translating into senior success in comparison to the likes of Roscommon.

2015 really is a step into the unknown. The tactics drilled into the players over the last few years could have done more damage than you think. The biggest task may be getting them to ditch the old habits and start playing football again. McKenna cup will reveal a lot more.

Ned_Stormcrow (Cavan) - Posts: 1071 - 19/12/2014 17:47:42    1679535

Ned_Stormcrow
County: Cavan
Posts: 504

1679535
Howya lads,

It's going to be very tough to stay in division 2, realistically the only team you'd be somewhat confident of beating is Westmeath who haven't won a game in over a year, the rest is anyones guess. It all depends really on how much has changed. Playing style needed to change, some players have departed, others have come in. It is disappointing when you see Givney not committing, one of the brighter prospects from our good underage teams the last few years. But we need to address why our underage success is not translating into senior success in comparison to the likes of Roscommon.

2015 really is a step into the unknown. The tactics drilled into the players over the last few years could have done more damage than you think. The biggest task may be getting them to ditch the old habits and start playing football again. McKenna cup will reveal a lot more.

Givney looked a good prospect at U21 but let's be honest here, Givney won 2 games at U21 level for Cavan. We've lads there that have never lost a game in 3 years at that level, he's struggled for form and has been hampered by injury. Perhaps playing at a higher level with Ballymun will help his game but for now he's a bit down the list as far as key players in the panel go.

Can I ask how Roscommon are translating their talent into senior success? Granted they won a Connacht title back in 2010 but Sligo had already taken out Galway and Mayo. Nothing else worthwhile at Senior Level since.

People need a small reality check. We are picking from a small pool of players in comparison to the big hitters in Ulster, and at the moment our pick of scoring forwards is limited. The attacking play needs to be expanded and we need to commit more players going forward, Hyland has admitted as much himself, but our strength lies in defence. To scrap the defensive unit we've built completely would be madness.

If we can stay in Division 2 and get to an Ulster final we will have done brilliantly. I've full faith in Hyland to continue to help the team improve.

Inactive x5 (Cavan) - Posts: 1452 - 19/12/2014 20:44:33    1679557

We are probably too good for div 3 and not good enough yet for div 2. So it will be a major achievement to stay up.

dirtybag (Cavan) - Posts: 242 - 20/12/2014 09:55:19    1679571

Down have lost Dan Gordon, Amborse Rogers, Benny Coulter, among others though retirement. Martin Clarke returend from Australia but won't be playing County football in 2015. Caolon Mooney returning should be a boost though

Galway will be without Paul Conroy though injury for a good part of the league, Sean Armstrong has retired and James Kavanagh, plus they will be without the Corofin lads aswell for early stages of the league

Kildare have lost Sean Hurley and Paddy Brophy to the Afl. Both regulars in 2013.

No real reason to fear any team in the League in 2015, one game at a time

FoolsGold (Cavan) - Posts: 2763 - 20/12/2014 14:16:16    1679591

Cavan are too negative and will slide back down to division 3. Seannie had an operation on his ankle he will be back training in 4 months. If he performs to the standard that are expected off him he will like any other player in the county be considered thats it in a nutshell, as hyland said the door is alway's open. I can tell you however he was not considered for recall to the county panel regardless of what one might have read on this forum.

mowbar (Cavan) - Posts: 452 - 21/12/2014 19:12:46    1679701

Kevin Donwnes and Mchale are not going to have negative football. Downes wasn't going to be involved if it was going to be like what it was.

They didn't play Westmeath either. Beat louth well.

FoolsGold (Cavan) - Posts: 2763 - 21/12/2014 20:24:03    1679711

The Roscommon game in Breffni was an all time low and I think Terry and the backroom staff realised that. The team will never progress if we continue with the blanket 13 men behind the ball. As I said before the Junior Final against Kerry showed what we are capable of and I dont agree with Posters who keep on harping about Cavan not having natural forwards. That day in Portlaoise Cavan ran at Kerry and lads like Hession, O'Connor, Conroy, Enda Reilly and Tom Hayes were brilliant.
I think with Keating, Mackey, McDermott and Dunne playing a similar style the scores will flow. These u21's will be a year older and stronger and well capable of taking on the Galways, Kildare etc in the League.
We need to be aiming high and planning to win this division. Lets go out and take them on and with Downes and Mc Hale bringing new ideas I expect to be challenging.

BreffniDub (None) - Posts: 377 - 22/12/2014 20:21:22    1679827

We won't win the division not that I'd want us to anyway because we'd take a lot of hammerings in Division 1. Survival is the aim for now.

Hardtimes (Cavan) - Posts: 1056 - 22/12/2014 20:54:04    1679833