I wish cavan seniors and minors well at the weekend, and if we do win it will not be because of Donals genious imput or tactics, it will just be because we have better footballers than Antrim. Tomsmith, i want to ask you, when were Lavey ever a big club provider. The only county players i can think Lavey have supplied in the last 10 years are brief stints from Sean Maguire and Joey Jordan. They are playing division 1 football, as are Mullahoran and Cavan Gaels, so your argument is rubbish.

Brefni Lad (Cavan) - Posts: 107 - 12/05/2008 12:55:59    17951

the cavan team needs me
a free firing goal machine
at 40!!!!!!

on the fence (Donegal) - Posts: 731 - 12/05/2008 13:24:51    17970

TomSmith/Donal Keoghan - I agree that every man, dog, granny, elderly uncle in the county has been tried. This is the problem Tom/Donal - there is no point in trying absolutely everyone as you have been doing. You don't know enough about football to spot the players who can make it at county level and then mould them into a cohesive team unit. When you have a team unit you then need to settle the players into this unit so they know what their job is. When we need to change things before a game we need tactics to tackle different opponents and the ability to change things when the gameplan is not working. What we don't need is panic (taking a player off 10 mins into his first game - if he wasn't able to last longer than 10 mins he shouldn't have been picked). We could all pick the county team and drill them into the best team in Ireland but we need a Manager with experience either of playing at county level for a number of years or managing at a top level for a number of years. So for me - it is tme to go Tom/Donal

opa01 (Cavan) - Posts: 540 - 12/05/2008 13:56:37    17990

Here, here Breffni Lad. Lavey....big club provider??? In the past 10-15 years, at various levels, James Carolan, Sean, Joey, Martin Cusack, Seamus Donohoe, Fionnbharr Jordan. All good footballers and deserve or have deserved their places on County panels but I don't think their contributions were such that Lavey should be considered as a big link in the supply chain!
I reckon most clubs will produce one or two county standard footballers every 3-5 years, it boils down to the individuals as to whether the county makes the most of them.
Tom, while I appreciate that you are entitled to your opinion, I must disagree on this and most of your other contributions to the board.

Joe Biggar (Cavan) - Posts: 71 - 12/05/2008 14:38:59    18032

Tom Smith asked who has not been tried. Well from my club Bailieboro, Declan Reilly, Paddy Byrd, Niall Donnelan, Andy Coleman haven't been tried. David Rooney was given a very limited try out. Surely some of these lads wud be worth a try.

I do agree that the first thing Cavan needs is a new manager

Landini (Cavan) - Posts: 1 - 12/05/2008 18:02:03    18152

OPA O1 I agree with you that aplayer should last longer than 10 minutes.
If you had super teams this amtter would not arise.
What you describe i what I have said all along Super Teams are the way to go and that will catch out ther bluffers

tomsmith (Cavan) - Posts: 4086 - 14/05/2008 11:43:56    18844

Tom/Donal I think you have (again) missed my point. What I was saying is that if the Manager didn't have enough faith in the player so that he would give him more than 10 minutes on the field then he shouldn't have picked him. In this instance I have more faith in the player than the Manager. A Manager with experience would catch out the bluffers in training, challenge matches or irrelevant matches like the Dr McKenna Cup - not in League or more importantly Championship games. What we can't afford is a repeat of last year's debacle where the Championship team had not played together before and the lack of any gameplan/tactics that were evident against Down(twice) and Mayo. Allied to that Grimley is gone which is why we have seen the deterioration in gameplan (none) and relationship with players (how many have decided not to be involved since our Manager was appointed?).

opa01 (Cavan) - Posts: 540 - 14/05/2008 13:02:46    18882

To OPA 01 In your post of the 12/5/08 you state everyone has been tried, well then the players are letting the teaM/County down.
It is nice to see that Donal has some succes with a poor group of players some that are playing junior Club football.
Another feature of Donals management is that each sub he put on improved our performance.

tomsmith (Cavan) - Posts: 4086 - 21/05/2008 22:59:58    21993

Tom - you were up late last night. Bet you needed a good sleep-in this morning. Good to see you back.

I think you must realise that far from poor players there are some very good players in the Cavan squad at the moment - it's the lack of management experience that's letting us down.

The fact that each sub improved the performance highlights the fact that the wrong team started the game. Had it been a stronger opponent we would have paid for these mistakes. Best example is putting young Sheridan out at midfield (not a Junior player as you often refer to) who was clearly out of his depth in this position.

I presume it was a ploy to confuse the Antrim Manager to announce a team and shuffle it around. It only seemed to confuse the Cavan players and Manager.

It was great to see a win at last but you have to admit it was a very poor Antrim forward line which kicked 13 wides and 6 balls into James Reilly's hands. Had they been able to take their scores it could have gone down to the wire - I think Cavan would still have won as Antrim were as poor as I've seen them in a long time.

opa01 (Cavan) - Posts: 540 - 22/05/2008 16:54:02    22469

OPA 01 if what you say was correct no subs would be used.
What I say that the standard of Cavan football is at a low and Donal and his staff are doing great with what is available.
What is required is regional teams / super teams where men play against men that want to play our national game with pride, and when men pull on the blue of Cavan that a shiver of pride runs down the backbone , not as at present where you have Chicago 3 style players.

tomsmith (Cavan) - Posts: 4086 - 24/05/2008 10:48:59    23127

I believe Larry scored 1-5 last night again.... im tellin ya's he is wat we need...

Sean-og (Cavan) - Posts: 87 - 26/05/2008 18:09:24    23873

Fermanaghs victory over Monaghan on Sunday proves once and for all that a few Super Teams are the way to go.
Donal do your best untill we get the system changed.

tomsmith (Cavan) - Posts: 4086 - 26/05/2008 23:50:31    23990

All Cavan Gaels should get behind Donal Keogan and his staff for the vital game against Armagh.
It is important that we all stick together and with the help and experience of the management we will wear the the blue colour of Cavan with pride again.

tomsmith (Cavan) - Posts: 4086 - 14/06/2008 20:53:30    32740

Has to go - can anyone explain the stupid decisions bringing on and off the midfielders, when both are as slow and awkward as each other...

wishfulthinkin (Cavan) - Posts: 1737 - 15/06/2008 17:32:51    32851

christ lads i thought donegal were a poor side till i watched cavan 2day!!! sum of them players look like they"ve never stepped foot in side a gym,the amount of turnovers armagh won because of cavan players not bein strong enough in possesion was like watchin under 12s handing the ball away! look lite years from makin any kind of impact.

inish voice (Donegal) - Posts: 27 - 15/06/2008 18:18:03    32858

Inish I have to agree with you to some extent.

Too light and outmuscled but there was some good performances.......McKeever, Jelly in the second half etc

But as far as Im concerned the biggest problem was the lack of marking at the back. Too loose and Stevie destroyed us. Half back line was opened up at will. We should have learned our lessons after the Antrim game.

I reckon the lads gave it their all but the lack of experience, both on the field AND on the line worked against us. We need an EXPERIENCE manager to come in and put a 4 or 5 year play in place so the current talent in the minor squads over the last few years is fully utilised and not abused

Crash Bang Wallop (None) - Posts: 268 - 15/06/2008 23:44:03    32931

Today was a travesty.. How could Keoghan fall to the level of bringing off a midfielder failing to make any impact and put him back on.. A desperate move by a man out of his depth.
How can 2 strong and fast midfielders not be found from Kingscourt to Shannon Gaels?? Lorcan Mulvey has time and again failed to make an impact at Junior club level, he has no business on a senior county team. Playin players out of minor, Dunne and Watters.. Will either of these be here in 5 years time?? Doubtful... No young player should be played until he is at least reaching the end of u-21's, for the good of Cavan football in the long run. We deserve to have a high profile manager and a board who will search-Thoroughly search (ie not just looking to 4 or 5 clubs) the county for the highest standard of players available and put a manager of the highest standard available in the driving seat. The county board itself must be challenged.. Too many old men set in their ways stalling progress. Keoghan must go to start..

Jecht (Cavan) - Posts: 150 - 16/06/2008 00:05:38    32935

The Mid field sector was a wipe out again, just like Roscommon in Croke in Spring 2007. You can't win in those circumstances. It was all two much for the Drumgoon man, even when he was on the ball in the first few minutes you could see that he could not function. Armagh will never have it as easy again this year in the mid field sector. Mulvey lasted 21 minutes either side of the 15 minute half time break and when he came off who replaced him?

Well done to the minors, poor enough in the first half playing aginst the wind, the mid field did not catch much if any clean ball and the forwards missed 2 or 3 one on ones with the goalie in the first periods. In the second half they completely took over and if they had taken any of the one on ones they would have been out of sight well before the end. Can't believe the Gaels corner forward is not an automatic on the team, played well when he came on and looked a class act in the county minor final last October. The red hand next, best of luck boys!

kildare blue (Cavan) - Posts: 578 - 16/06/2008 06:36:21    32946

The crying shame was Armagh were there for the taking and the Cavan squad was strong enough to do it. What we haven't got is any understanding of county football on the line.

After 22 minutes with Johnstone about to take a free-kick to bring Armagh back to 1 point what happened - panic ensued. He brought on Lorcan Mulvey who made an impression in the last 20 minutes against a poor, tiring Antrim team. Mulvey was never going to last the duration but he also brought big Dermot out to midfield at the same time. Surely if he needed to shore up midfield McCabe would have been enough until half-time. Had we been able to hold Armagh to a 1-point lead at half-time (having the wind with them) we had a chance. Instead after the panic Armagh got 3 points without reply. For all their possession up until this point Armagh couldn't get the scores. Had it remained so until 15 minutes into the second half it would have been Armagh's turn to panic. While Mulvey was on the field, Armagh could have had 3 goals had James Reilly not been in brilliant form, although the Armagh forwards would have been kicking themselves against a better management team as they should have given James no chance with all three.

Then there was Johnstone - a blind man could see he was getting no change at corner forward and would have brought him out the field much earlier.

Why bring on Ediie Reilly - he has had so many tries at county level and done nothing. What price Keoghan's dispensing of Larry - what a difference he could have made if he had been there instead of Ediie Reilly with 20 minutes to go?

Don't blame Keoghan - he did what any Cavan man would have done given the chance and took the job although the way he went about it left a lot to be desired. Blame the County Board and let them know they are at fault for doing things on the cheap again!!!

opa01 (Cavan) - Posts: 540 - 16/06/2008 10:21:26    33006

There were some good performances there yesterday. I have watched Cavan football for a lot of years and something I noticed yesterday that I have never seen before was the lack of guts displayed by at least four players. They dropped the ball through fear on at least seven occasions. Why did management not put a man marker on mc Donnell who continued to destroy his man throughout the game. His man ran alongside him not even touching him. Some players tried very hard but were let down by these "fear factor" players. James Reilly once again showed why he is one of the three best keepers in the land.

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 16/06/2008 10:47:25    33049