Cavan Gaels selector Eamonn Reilly says the club is buzzing ahead of its first Ulster club SFC final in 40 years.

The Cavan champions are currently preparing for Sunday's provincial showdown with defending champions Slaughtneil in Armagh, where they'll look to upset 4/1 odds, and their former six-time championship winning captain says they're well aware that it's "a hardened team" they'll be facing.

"We're back in the Ulster final for the first time in 40 years and there's a real buzz around the club, particularly after last year when we were fighting relegation," Reilly told The Irish News. "Basically, we shouldn't have been fighting relegation last year because the same players were there all the time. I think it was a once-off.

"People got together in January and said: 'We're way better than that and we haven't become a bad team overnight'. So we knuckled down, there's been a great team spirit, no back-biting and Jason (Reilly, manager) has brought a real positive attitude to it. Anything he says, he's bringing the players along with him and it's kind of snowballed from that."

The ex-Gaels skipper added: "I know Slaughtneil are a hardened team and always seem to come out the winners of tight games, so we're under no illusions. We're going into this final as firm underdogs but it's a great position to be in - we're in the final and 60 minutes away from possibly winning the competition."

Tweet

Most Read Stories