After winning the Ulster IFC in 2007, the Cavan ladies footballers will be gunning to at least match that achievement this year. Team-manager Eamonn Lynch is hopeful that further success is on the way. Cavan senior ladies football manager Eamonn Lynch doesn't begin to underestimate the challenge facing the county's premier side as 2008 rabidly gathers momentum. After a year in which the blues' rating once more inched that bit closer to the plateau accomodating the creme de la creme of the game, another season of expectation dawns. In 2007, Cavan's finest showed their growing worth by scooping the intermediate provincial championship in great style. Can they keep the good times rolling? "It's a big challenge but we'll give it everything we've got," says Eamonn. "It's one thing making progress but maintaining it is another thing. "We have enough talent in the squad to build on what has been achieved but we're not taking anything for granted, especially because other counties are getting stronger too." Cavan's cause won't be helped though by the loss of a number of key first-teamers this year, something which the county team-manager says will be a considerable handicap. "It looks likely that we could be without maybe three of our top players but we've a great squad and I'm sure the rest of the girls will work extra hard to make up for those missing. "There's a great spirit among the players and they've been training really hard under Debbie Lee Fox, who used to be a great player with Donegal." Cavan hit the ground running at the start of the 2008 season, beating Louth in their first league match of the year last month while running Donegal to a point in a challenge match. Eamonn and his think-tank are understood to have one of the finest young panels in Ulster at their disposal and few teams will look forward to locking horns with them this year. The squad's esprit de corp, it's proven pedigree and ambition has been cited by mentors from around Ulster in particular as racy of a crew destined to grab silverware of some hue. "The players get on very well, on and off the pitch, and most of them would see each other socially on a regular basis which has created a great bond between them," Eamonn avers. A lot of the players who will compete at the highest level for Cavan this year boast Ulster Under 14 and Under 16 titles while a number featured in an All-Ireland final. "The fact that a good few of the players played against Galway in the U16 All-Ireland final in 2003 shows what they are capable of and the standard they have reached in the past. "These girls know how to win; they've proven how much they're committed to the game and how disciplined their approach has been over the years." With team-captain Aisling Doonan and vice-captain Patricia Lynch leading from the front, Cavan can be expected to make a bold bid for national honours once more. The fact that the blues scooped the Ulster intermediate crown last is certain to make the county one of the teams to beat in the race for the All-Ireland IFC title this year. Run on a league basis, the championship in '07 saw ten teams toe the line at the start of the competition with Cavan making it through to the quarter-finals. "Unfortunately we lost out to Wexford and, in fairness, we had no excuses. They were the best team on the day but I think we underperformed as a team. "There was no shame in going out to Wexford because they went all the way to the final but lost to Leitrim. I think, given a second chance, we'd have done better against Wexford." Earlier in the year, the squad showed the type of grit, determination and resolve that marked them out as likely provincial, if not national, champions. Predictably, it was near-neighbours Fermanagh who were to prove the bane of Cavan's ambitions. Once more, the Ernesiders would make life more than tough for the blues. In the teams' first meeting in the league, the tie ended all-square. The omens didn't look good for Cavan when, next time out in a league play-off, they went under to Fermanagh by nine points. Amazingly, when Cavan and Fermanagh crossed swords for a third time, the Breffni belles made it an 18 points net turnover by winning the final by nine points. And the secret? "There was no secret or magic wand," Eamonn assures us. "We just took a step back and looked at what had been going wrong in our previous matches with Fermanagh. "We learned a lot from our defeat and the sheer determination of the team as a whole and the way our forwards put their backs under pressure worked very well. "In the second half, our girls understandably tired and I was definitely worried when they got to within one point. But we rallied and came strong again in the last fifteen minutes. "It was always going to be close but we felt that if we stuck to our game plan of keeping possession and matching them in the physical stakes, we'd go very close to winning. "We tried to impress on the girls that if we had the ball, they wouldn't be able to score and thankfully Fermanagh didn't get enough possession to do damage." Looking ahead, Eamon has no hesitation in making the team's objectives plain. Targets have been set early and the players know exactly what the plan of campaign is. The county team-management and players, collectively, will be aiming to win the NFL Division Three title, retain the Ulster IFC title and annex the All-Ireland IFC title. Make no doubt about it; Cavan ladies football has been building towards securing a national title for the guts of the past decade and they appear to be right on track. Five years ago, Eamonn and others like Concepta Traynor (Knockbride) were in the vanguard of Cavan's push for All-Ireland Under 16 honours. "The idea then was that if we could develop another couple of top quality teams to come on after the under sixteens, then by the time all those players reached adult level, we'd have a squad maybe capable of winning an All-Ireland," Eamonn explains. "So we're hoping that the players who won back-to-back under 14 Ulster titles, the under sixteens that reached the All-Ireland and the Ulster minor winning team will all gel at some stage and hopefully sooner rather than later." The more one talks to Eamonn, the more the simplicity of Cavan's modus operandi becomes clear. Football is, the mantra goes, a simple game. "We tell the girls that every time they get into a scoring position, we need to make it count. We tell them that we don't want anyone shooting from poor angles. "When one of our players gets the ball, they must look up and give it to someone who is better positioned to take a shot at goal if need be. "Making the best use of possession is what it's all about and if our forwards in particular can find their best form on the same day this year, we could go a long way." In terms of the bigger picture, with regard to the development of ladies football in county Cavan, the county team-manager says there's much work to be done. The Lacken native would dearly like to see greater crowds attending their blue riband finals and more support for the county teams on match days. Ladies football in county Cavan is on a "high" right now, Eamonn says, but there is absolutely no reason for complascency. Acquiring playing pitches more readily and the lack of referees are also issues which concentrate Eamonn's mind. "The big disappointment for me would be the fact that so many former players have retired but then don't give anything back to the game, either at club or county level. "There's no doubt that everyone involved in ladies football needs to be pro-active in recruiting players, mentors and officials at club level. "Ladies football in the county has made a lot of progress in recent years but the potential for further improvement is there and hopefully that will happen this year." Tweet

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