Success in the Ulster MFC eluded Cavan in 2005 but everyone involved in the bid to recapture former glories can be proud of their collective efforts. Success at Ulster championship level for Cavan at minor level remains at a premium. It's now 31 years and counting since provincial championship success at under 18 level was celebrated Breffni-side. 2005 promised much but, ultimately, it was the same old story with Dame Fortune being marked absent and perhaps a degree of mental toughness escaping what was a brave and talented group of Cavan starlets. Last year's county minor squad was reputed to have been the most talented Cavan minor crew to take up a position on the starting line for many years but heartache was to be their lot by season's end. Expectations at minor level in Cavan have been rising like sea levels around the world and knocking on the door has become a beaten docket for analysts of the county minor expeditions of recent vintage. in 2003 Cavan minors lost to Antrim but lost to eventual champions Tyrone in the semi-final while in 2004, the young blues were knocked out by Down in the first round at Casement Park. Woe upon woe. The 2005 Ulster Minor League campaign offered quite a bit to chew upon where a draw first time out against Derry was followed up by a big win over Fermanagh before Monaghan were ousted by four points. Although winning the league has never been on the top of the priority list for any team management, the subsequent defeat to Donegal was disappointing but a timely reminder also that all was not just perfect. In 2005 former Denn and Cavan player Donal Keogan was in charge of the Cavan minors and he along with his selectors set out to leave no stone unturned in trying to achieve perfection. They were to go very close. The end of May saw the young blues take the first of the hoped-for steps towards the annexation of a first Ulster MFC title since 1974 with a championship clash against Antrim at Kingspan/Breffni Park. The first quarter of the match played in bright sunshine saw a lot of sparring taking place and the sides shared four points after 17 minutes of quite open and entertaining football. It continued to be nip and tuck right up until the half-time whistle with Raymond Galligan nicking a point just four minutes before the short whistle to give Cavan the lead by the odd point in seven. The third quarter saw Cavan produce a more potent display and the Cavan forwards got plenty of possession, helping Enda Gaffney, Ronan Flanagan to increase Cavan's lead to 0-9 to 0-3 with 15 minutes left to play. And while Antrim stuck bravely to their task and nicked a goal to cut the deficit to three points with 17 minutes of the second half played, that was as good as it got for Antrim and Cavan eventually won by 1-13 to 1-5. One of Donal Keogan's selectors in last year's set-up was Colm McEvoy from the Crosserlough club and he is succinct in his summary of just how close the team came to nirvana. He recalls the Antrim game. "Cavan supporters would have expected us to win so it was really a no-win situation so the game was all about the result and getting into the semi-final and, all credit to the lads, they succeeded in doing just that. "There was a good crowd in Breffni Park that day so the pressure was on those young lads to pass the test but they coped well with the conditions and did everything that they had to do on the day," Colm opines. Colm says he personally wasn't surprised that the Antrim challenge was professionally dispensed with because he knew the squad was made up of talented players and showed obvious potential in the Ulster MFL. But the focus among the Cavan minor contingent in '05 was always on the blue riband championship fare and, for the players, the Leaving Cert. as well of course. By the advent of July both were out of the picture. "Once we got over the Antrim game we had four or five weeks to prepare for the Down game which wasn't far off being an ideal length of time to have between a first round game and the semi-final of the championship. "We had time to get us whatever injuries might have been picked up in the league or around the time of the Antrim game and get a settled team in place too," the former Cavan College of Further Education explains. With competition for places on the starting XV razor keen and cohesion and confidence growing by the week, everything was going to plan as the date with Down in the semi-final loomed large on the horizon. "They were as good a bunch of players as I've seen at minor level and they were physically and mentally ready for the Down challenge by the time it came around so we went into that game in confident mood. "Preparations were spot-on and I don't think any of the lads went into the game against Down conscious of the fact that expectations were so high or of the fact that it was so long since the last title was won. "We definitely felt the lads were good enough to win, especially having travelled to see them (Down) play Tyrone in their earlier match which Tyrone looked like winning for most of the match," Colm reflects. And with raging hot favourites Tyrone ousted from the provincial championship, a window of opportunity could be eyed by Cavan, Down et al left in the running for the Ulster title and, perhaps, much more besides. "People involved in Cavan football over the years would tell you that Cavan teams could always handle Down sides so we thought Tyrone going out of the competition was maybe the best result from a Cavan angle. "I went to Omagh to see Down beat Tyrone and I felt that Tyrone had much more room for improvement but they only played in spasms and paid the penalty when they were caught at the death with a late goal." Not that Colm - manager of recent highly vaunted Crosserlough minor teams - ever felt that the Mourne County youngsters were going to be pushovers in the battle to make the provincial final: "They never gave up the chase against Tyrone even when they looked certain to run out of time; they kept plugging away and their winning goal by James Colgan was no more than the team deserved on the day. "Beating Tyrone was a huge scalp for Down because Tyrone have been dominating at colleges' level over the last few years and as defending champions had a lot of experience in their side and a lot of talent too." The current Chief Executive Officer of Cavan Vocational Educational Committee looks back on the Down episodes in philosophical and reflective mode and with an unwavering belief that a win could have been nicked. "Luck just wasn't on our side, I'm afraid, which was a shame because the players put in a huge effort but I think we left it behind us the first day when we should have beaten them in Crossmaglen," Colm maintains. "A few little things didn't quite go right for us and a bounce of the ball here and there just didn't happen when we needed it most but that's life, that's football." It looked like Cavan would snatch victory but Down came back twice to deny the blues; first to force the game into extra-time with a point from half-back Gerard McCartan two minutes from time and then when it seemed as if Cavan had finally contained the Down challenge and were defending a two point lead four minutes from full-time in extra time. But the blues were to pay dearly for their fourteen wides tally. One minute into injury time, Down's outstanding attacker Martin Clarke pointed the levelling score to make it 1-12 to Cavan's 0-15 at the close of play. It was an archetypal game of 'what might have been' for Cavan. The blues had raced into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after just eight minutes but were pegged back to 0-4 apiece after 19 minutes in what quickly panned out as a real humdinger of a match. A Clarke goal later eased Down into a 1-5 to 0-7 interval lead but as the action proceeded to see-saw from one end of the field to the other, a draw came all the more clearer into sight and so it transpired. The replay at the Crossmaglen venue was no less exhilarating or tension filled and again the game was to be very frustrating for Cavan as they failed to make the most of their opportunities at the business end. Cavan again started the game well and were 0-4 to 0-1 in front by the 13th minute but given the degree of possession they commanded in that period that lead ought to have been even greater. By half-time, Down had come back to gain parity at 0-4 apiece and with 20 minutes left to play, Cavan looked out of sorts as they trailed by 0-5 to 0-9 and in bad need of leadership and inspiration. But a Killian Sheridan goal after 13 minutes seemed to turn the tide Cavan's way but chance after chance was lost by Cavan before captain fantastic Colgan pointed the winner for Down one minute into added on time The final score of 1-9 to Cavan and 0-13 to Down will long be etched in the memory of everyone with a Cavan hue who attended the replay in Crossmaglen on that balmy night in early July. "There is an argument for saying we were possibly the second best minor team in Ireland last year on the basis of what Down went onto achieve but that's purely hypothetical though," Colm says seven months on. "But we had played Mayo (would-be All-Ireland MFC finalists) twice in challenge games last year and beaten them on both occasions so you'd wonder at how things might have went had we beaten Down. "I've no doubt but that our lads would have improved in every respect, especially confidence-wise, had they beaten Down but that's another story too." How disappointing was that defeat to Down in the replay then? "We were all as sick as you can possibly be after the final whistle. "Sometimes if you're well beaten in a match, it can be fairly easy to accept it and get over it but when you're beaten in a replay when you know you were good enough to win the tie, it's a really hard pill to swallow. "Nor was it was a massive consolation to us that they (Down) went onto win the All-Ireland. "Of course in every game there has to be a winner but it's just a great pity that the lads didn't just get that bit of luck to carry them over the finishing line in first place." And what of Cavan's chances at minor level in 2006? Well sin sceal eile according to Colm. And given the vagaries of football, especially at underage level, who could blame the midlander for keeping his counsel on that score! Tweet

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