Cavan performed very well yesterday against an average Armagh team. Cavan supporters need to be both patient with current team and realistic in relation to what this young team can achieve at present. Fermanagh are more than beatable and Cavan have advantage of championship game under their belt.

Aiddel (Cavan) - Posts: 20 - 20/05/2013 21:47:17    1387922

WAITED ALL DAY YESTERDAY TO SEE THE BIG MEN WITH THE BIG OPINIONS ALL LAST WEEK ON HERE TO COME OUT AND JUSTIFY THERE VERY STRONG AND CRITICAL VEIWS ON BOTH TERRY AND THE TEAM I THINK ONE MAN DID AND FAIR PLAY ANY WAY ONWARDS AND UPWARDS GREAT TEAM PERFORMANCE LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER THATS A GREAT ATTRIBUTE IN ANY TEAM GOOD LUCK IN YOUR NEXT GAME BE PROUD LADS YOU DONE US PROUD ON SUNDAY

cavan.wanderer (Cavan) - Posts: 82 - 21/05/2013 08:12:39    1387948

a great and much needed win...and it should work wonders for a young team... boosting the belief in what they are doing

I thought the selection was wrong and Armagh would win ......but two things happened that I was sure would not
- Armagh are much much poorer than thought...and possibly this performance will be the worst in Ulster 2013
- Some of the Cavan lads I thought were vulnerable were very good (Flanagan x 2, McDermott)

But in the interests of realism, lets not get carried away - Armagh were muck and if Cavan play like that again, Fermanagh will win.
In a way that's a good position - we can improve and may well after this.

looking forward and looking at ratings I would think....

Gilsenan .... solid... should stay.....does make me nervous though !
McLoughlin..... super.... will become a key Cavan player
Dunne....ok will stay there....system is great for him...closing out space around (poor old Cavan FBs over the last 15 years being exposed !)....did make a blunder for the goal
Clarke..... Good will stay but may need to move to midfield and give up his place to Hayes.
McEnroe...good....will stay there
Clarke......good... will stay there
F Flanagan...was worried about him.... but his performance and use of possession will ensure he is in next day
O'Reilly..... should be dropped in my opinion...not good enough for this level and Givney needs support
Givney.... Distribution excellent.... helped by Armaghs set up....primary ball winning he was left high and dry, somewhat isolated and then spoiled by Armagh
Mackey...good...with his work legs go at about 50 mins.....so we should act quicker on this....we do have ideal replacements
Brady..did well considering... but will (and should) be dropped for Jack
Flanagan.... excellent ...... I had written him off beforehand.... but work was great and ball use quality...he was a big difference for Cavan
McDermott.... Ok.... could hold on .... Im not sure he is just there yet and could be replaced, is he a little callow still?
Dunne..... perfect day for him, especially considering the start, his confidence should come along now...but he will never get a team to set up to suit him like this...he will expect a different day next time
Keating....he is good alight....key inside ball winner for us.... just a little blinkered again at times ...which could be costly in a tight game..maybe he got fed up of Dunne scoring all !


overall.... some selection tweaking needed (middle third) and we will need to improve

DD10 (Cavan) - Posts: 130 - 21/05/2013 10:48:06    1388009

Agree for most part with DD10.
R Flanagan really surprised me, think he has upped his ante, big time, more positive play from him.
Jack Brady has an injury, will it be cleared up in time?
Keating, strong as an ox, and wins possession one on one, but will need to look about for lads in scoreable positions.
Mc Loughlin, Clarke and F Flanagan and Gilsenan great, these along with Jack have brought a winning mentality to the side, plus it's always good to have healthy competition for places! Hope Mossy will be back for next game, and am sure if they can get the quality ball in ,Dunne will finish clinically.
Lots of work and tweaking to be done in the mean time, but there's a great chance for us this year.

BreffniBlue (Cavan) - Posts: 278 - 21/05/2013 12:40:23    1388117

DD10
County: Cavan
Posts: 13

O'Reilly..... should be dropped in my opinion...not good enough for this level and Givney needs support

I'm sorry DD10 but I can't agree with this. Yes his discipline is poor but he worked tirelessly all day and got as much if not more possesion round the middle as Givney. He is no shrinking violet and all the top teams have a player with a bit of a nasty streak. I think he should stay.

s goldrick (Cavan) - Posts: 5524 - 21/05/2013 15:03:27    1388280

s goldrick

nothing to do with his aggression etc..... just not good enough as a footballer in my opinion.... slow, slow in possession,slow in thought, not good enough in the air for the middle......

if the choice is between some of the recent u21s for half back spots I know what Id do

DD10 (Cavan) - Posts: 130 - 21/05/2013 15:08:15    1388286

Very good post DD10, sums up my thoughts exactly. There was a big difference between us and Frrmanagh in the league in terms of intensity. I thought they were much fitter and stronger and we fell in to their hands by over-playing the cross field hand pass, caught in possession throughout the game. Hope we approach them with the same attitude and application as Sunday. That would even it up a fair bit.

ondforty (Cavan) - Posts: 471 - 21/05/2013 15:26:42    1388301

Breffni blue and dd10

You must have been at a different game to me


Keating ran out and got possession and consistently fed the ball into the scoring forward namely Dunne
In fairness to him he kept doing it after Dunnes shaky start and Dunne kept making the runs

Once he should have given the ball when there was a goal chance on but opted to go himself

All in all he was very unselfish

potnorwindow (Cavan) - Posts: 363 - 21/05/2013 15:59:18    1388350

potnorwindow.....

what did I say that contradicts your keating comment?
maybe read again

DD10 (Cavan) - Posts: 130 - 21/05/2013 16:03:33    1388357

potnorwindow,
I am not saying Keating didn't play well, in fact the opposite, he won every ball and fed Dunne. In a tight game however, we can't waste a single score. There were two occassions at the end of the game when Dunne and Reilly were in side unmarked and he chose not to pass, but it didn't matter at that stage. In my opinion, he should have been on the team of the week for his work rate and sheer determination. Sylvesters is obviously a good move for him too! He'll be playing with very talented players week in week out also. A great asset to Cavan, and wishing him another great game on the 16th.

BreffniBlue (Cavan) - Posts: 278 - 21/05/2013 16:09:34    1388364

Well done to both Cavan teams. I thought the minors did really well to dig out a result. Their mid-fielders must be among the biggest and strongest we've ever had.
Seniors - great win and very badly needed to keep the momentum of the U-21s going. Great response every time Armagh threatened. Some very skillful and strong tackling by the defence and got key scores whe we needed them.

But we need to watch it - a lot of people are using the word cynical to describe Cavan; I never thought I'd see the day - we've been one of the most naive teams in Ireland in recent years with one of the worst defences too. That's changed and fair play to all concerned but we need to look at the fouls again. Still when we fouled it was in full view of the referee - hard to call that cynical play when some of the big teams keep fouling or obstructing players off the ball and keep getting away with it.

In fairness to the lads you can only operate our type of defence effectively if you have the players who are good enough to do it. It's a work in progress.Look how much Donegal improved over 12 months - most Donegal people were disgusted with their negativity at the start but they tweaked it enough to get it right . We have to do the same. We all saw how Fermanagh were set up in Breffni Park in the league. What's more they won the majority of the kick-outs too. David Givney didn't attack the kick-outs last Sunday like he did for the Sigerson Cup games and for Ulster. He was very effective in open play but we got cleaned out all the same. Damian O'Reilly is not a mid-fielder and it's not fair to ask him to field kick-outs cleanly with his height disadvantage but he did a massive amount of hard work and kicked a good point that helped settle things down early on. He's a first-class half back and his physical presence is needed there.

I don't think we'll see the same game-plan for the Fermanagh match. The whole country seems to know how we set ourselves up now. The mentors have to look at other options and I think they'll do that.

RoyalBlue2 (Cavan) - Posts: 198 - 21/05/2013 20:34:14    1388602

Our blanket defence tactic worked well, it makes it difficult to judge individual performances hard to assess. Jamie Clarke was completely surrounded and as such saw very little ball, the goal showed how lethal he is and how important it was to take him out of the game. The setup will have to be different to meet Fermanagh so I expect we will see a change in lineout. Killian Clarke is immensely talented has to be considered for midfield for the Fermanagh game, combined with Givney our midfield would be more solid. Jack Brady and Martin Reilly will also be a big addition.

ny2013 (Cavan) - Posts: 28 - 21/05/2013 21:07:34    1388621