Donal Keoghan reveals that the step-up from manager of the Cavan minor team to the senior stage is a big one. But he's relishing the challenge. Kevin Carney reports Donal Keoghan is determined not to make his stint as Cavan senior football team-manager just a cameo role. A walk-on part just wouldn't sit right with the audience anyway. The turnover of managers of Cavan's premier team over the past decade is one of the highest of any county in the country and Keoghan has gone on record as saying he's in place for the long haul. One of the most colourful of characters on the Cavan GAA scene, the Denn clubman has set out his stall on making his mark in one of Gaelic football's hottest of hot seats and to have the Anglo-Celt Cup in the bag before he concludes his sojourn at the helm. So far, in virtually all respects of the senior county team's season to date, Keoghan has pushed all the right buttons and the blues are singing all the high notes just nice and dandy. It seems like Cavan began as Keoghan meant them to go on. Just 92 days after being appointed to the job, Keoghan saw his charges chisel out an impressive five points win in the McKenna Cup against Derry at Celtic Park. It was an away win which not alone propelled them off the starting blocks with some vim and vigour but also did the image of Cavan football a world of good as it was broadcast live on t.v. The win over Derry was swiftly followed up with victory (1-13 to 1-11) over Queens University at Kingspan Breffni Park with new recruit Rory Gallagher coming on as a second half sub and notching a point. Cavan's performances in the subsidiary Ulster competition were heart-warming, especially given the lack of match practice which had characterised the blues' pre-NFL season. By dint of Congress' long-standing ruling that no challenge matches were to be staged during November and December, question marks could well have hung over Cavan's sharpness. The rub for Cavan at that juncture was that they were one of the very few counties to abide by the directive from Croke Park. In complying with the directive, Donal Keoghan could have been forgiven for throwing his arms in the air in exasperation. How could a new manager properly assess the strengths and weaknesses of his players without the vehicle of competitive matches? "The McKenna Cup couldn't have come around any quicker," Keoghan explains. "We hadn't been able to get any games together because of the ban and only for the McKenna Cup we would have had nothing to go by." And yet Cavan's early form in the McKenna Cup was enterprising and promising, even if the involvement of a raft of a number of Cavan players in the Sigerson Cup was another serious irritant for Keoghan's regime. However Cavan's bright start to 2007 was tempered by the news that a hamstring injury to regular full-back Darren Rabbitte would keep out the Gaels' man for at least a month. And losing out by 0-10 to 0-14 to Tyrone at Kingspan/Breffni Park in the McKenna Cup certainly helped the blues realise the size of the task facing them in trying to gain parity with the game's elite. On the flip side the appearance of Micheal Lyng on the training field for Cavan in mid-February was a huge positive for Keoghan and his backroom team. A solid unbeaten run in the NFL Division 2B boosted the feel-good factor in the Cavan camp although the team-manager admits that Cavan's 1-9 to 0-10 win over Sligo in mid-March wasn't fully satisfying. "A win is a win but we didn't play well and we lost possession a lot and when we did use the ball, the deliveries were poor," Keoghan admitted from the bowels of Kingspan/Breffni Park. "There was a strong breeze in our faces in the second half but that's no excuse for the way we performed after half-time. "We let them get on top after half-time and it was very disappointing that we didn't make use of the extra man (after Sligo went down to 14 men)." Although he looked far from a man ready to crumble under the weight of expectation following the Sligo game, one wondered whether he really knew what he had taken on? For instance, had he been taken aback by the level of commitment he personally found he had to give in his role as Cavan's football boss? "No, not really because I went into the job with my eyes wide open and I always knew it was going to be a huge job," the successful Cavan town-based businessman confirmed. "It's a very responsible job; a full-time job really because of the hours you put in with the senior team training, matches and team meetings, the under 21s and management meetings or studying videos." It's clear that Keoghan has a very positive attitude to the job though and towards Cavan football too. He's very much a half-full glass man. Criticially the former county player talks as good a game as he once played it. He doesn't lack confidence in his own ability, citing his man-management skills as probably his forte. The fact that he can call on a man who was part of an All-Ireland SFC-winning management to help him cut his teeth in the inter-county management firmanent is a help of course. "I know Paul (Grimley) for a number of years and a couple of years ago he didn't say no to the idea of helping out Cavan some time in the future and that was one of the major reasons why I went for the job (Cavan). "He is one of the best coaches in the country and has been there and done that in terms of winning all-Irelands and national leagues and it's great to have him on board." There's little doubt though that for all Grimley's coaching and football nous, Keoghan is his own man and he's naturally keen to have his signature on Cavan's approach and style of play. Interestingly, he hasn't been taken aback by the quantum gap that has to be bridged in going from county minor management to senior management. "I learned a lot from my time as manager of the county minors but being the manager of the seniors is a world apart," the 42-year old admits. "With the minors you were dealing with a lot of fellas who were studying hard at school or college and were no more than 18 and were just setting out in life. "Man-managing at senior level is a far bigger challenge but I have a good team around me and I think we're making progress on all fronts." Interestingly, despite Cavan's fine league campaign, the Breffni blues' boss isn't prepared to sing the team's praises from the rooftops. In fact, Keoghan says he hasn't been happy with a few aspects of the team's displays to date and there's still quite a bit of improvement needed. "But we're winning matches and that's obviously very important," he concedes, "but the way we used the ball, in the Sligo game, was terrible and the workrate among the forwards wasn't good. "And we had some players playing selfishly and going back to playing as individuals which isn't on because we have to play as a team. "But having said all that we've put together a decent run of results in the league and the attitude among the players is good which mightn't always have been the case. "I don't want any player pointing at a team-mate and blaming him for this or that. "Over the years a lot of players haven't come up with the goods and it can't be that every manager got it wrong so we've asked the players to look at themselves. "I'm glad to say that the response has been excellent and there's a good spirit in the camp and morale is good. "We keep telling the players that they're as good as any in the country when they're fit and on form and it's up to us along the line to help them achieve their potential. "We know that there's a lot of work to be done though and getting them to believe in themselves is one of the biggest tasks we have on our plate." Unsurprisingly, the Cavan think-tank - like so many of their 'ilk in other counties - has availed of the services of a psychologist in the attempt to instill that crucial self-belief into the squad. In effect though, there's nothing the county team-management will eschew in order to give the Cavan players the best possible chance to win silverware this year. "As a team (management) we aim to be as professional as any you'd find in any other county; we believe we're good enough for the job and if the county doesn't win anything, it won't be any fault of ours. "The county board has given us excellent backing and there's huge goodwill coming our way from the supporters but we'd ask them to be patient. "At the same time, over the years too many people have been given too many excuses to be negative about Cavan football. "We'd like to see a situation whereby at the end of the year, there's nothing but positive things to be said about the team." Tweet

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