The Ulster MFC of 2001 offered Cavan yet another opportunity to bury an almighty bogey. Yet again though, the county fell short of casting an increasingly weighty monkey off its back. Kevin Carney reports In Gaelic games parlance, the word millstone can be over-used. However, the ongoing failure of Cavan's minor county teams to bite the bullet and win the provincial championship is, without doubt, creating a real, not imaginary, millstone around the necks of players and mentors as they search for that as yet oh so elusive winning formula. In the same way that the Anglo-Celt Cup win of 1969 haunted successive Cavan senior teams right up until that glorious win over Derry in '97, the county's last success at provincial minor level in 1974 is fast gathering that millstone-like appearance as yet again in 2001 the Breffni Blues failed to realise their undoubted potential. Whatever about the negative psychological impact that win in '74 has had on successive under 18 squads, the memory of that heartbreaking defeat to Derry in the 2000 Ulster MFC at Breffni Park hadn't gone away in the minds of mentors and supporters alike as the 2001 campaign swung into action. Of course the post-mortems from that defeat to Derry were still reverberating on the fringes of the camp as the first round of the 2001 provincial championship loomed large on the horizon. However, a lot of observers failed to take into consideration that Cavan started that fateful encounter against Derry without eight first team regulars, including the likes of John Tierney, Philip Smith, Eamon Reilly and Adge King. Not even a decent run in the Ulster Minor Football League - which yielded wins over Monaghan and Fermanagh - could fully erase the memory of how Derry blasted Cavan out of last year's championship with a devastating last minute fisted goal. Fortunately though the injury situation in 2001 wasn't nearly as bad as the previous year. Hopes were heightened of a good run in the championship. A morale-boosting win over Monaghan in the Magheracloone tournament did help morale, particularly for the half-dozen survivors from the 2000 campaign. In addition, Cavan's performances in the O'Donoghue Shield helped confidence greatly with wins over a talented Westmeath side, a comfortable victory over Sligo and a trouncing of Longford pot-marking their Shield win. Thus everything was geared towards getting off to a get good start in the 2001 provincial championship. A win over Down in Casement Park on May 27th was required. To the delight of everyone in attendance and those listening to the match on their radios back in Breffni territory, the young Blues played fantastically well in executing a none-too flattering 4-13 to 0-8 win. In conquering the challenge presented by the 1999 All-Ireland minor champions, Cavan won the game in real style. Indeed, for many of the attendance, the result was a foregone conclusion by half-time at which stage the Blues led by 2-7 to 0-6. With great gusto and no little skill though, Cavan proceeded to firmly rifle home their advantage gained from most sectors of the pitch by recording another two goals courtesy of man of the match, James Clarke from the Killinkere club. Even though Cavan started the game in somewhat nervous fashion and conceded two early points, a wonderful goal by Castlerahan's Sean Brady just four minutes into the game steadied the Cavan team. Thereafter, the Blues didn't look back. Cavan's second goal in the 13th minute was another peach with Sean Maguire doing the necessary after some fine build-up play from Gavin Daly and James Clarke. Cavan continued to push forward at every opportunity and points followed from Sean Johnston and Mark McKeever in quick succession. Although the Blues got a scare in the 15th minute when Aidan Cunningham had the ball in the Cavan net, it was disallowed and the writing was really on the wall for Down as they went into the dressing-room at the break, trailing by seven points. It was a case of deja vu on the restart as Cavan dictated the pace for long periods and again found the net with aplomb on two separate occasions. Reflecting on the win over Down, Cavan team-manager Brendan Nelligan says that the Down game was significant in more ways than one: "Of course at the time we were all delighted to have won the game, and won it in such impressive fashion. We played well but we also felt Down weren't as strong on the day as Down teams traditionally are when it comes to the championship. "We were particularly pleased that things had went the way we had planned them in the sense that we made plenty of room for ourselves down the middle of the field for James Clarke to run at the defence and for Mark McKeever to play to his strengths just behind the midfield pairing." But? "Considering the way Darryl McConnell was harshly sent off against Derry in the 2000 championship, the sending-off of Andrew McGovern against Down was another refereeing decision which was hard to take. Anthony's dismissal was the only thing that tarnished the win over Down though. "Having said that, the manner of our win over Down ended up working against us though. If, for instance, we had won by just a couple of points in a closely-contested game, it would have been much easier for the lads to remain grounded and focussed on the next game. "We had a difficult task trying to keep the lads' feet on the ground and making sure that they didn't become complacent about their chances of beating Monaghan. "We knew that we had played Donegal in the Ulster minor league earlier in the year and they had trounced us, yet Monaghan went ahead and beat them in the championship. "It was obvious to us that Monaghan were going to be very difficult to beat. Maybe it wasn't that obvious to the players and perhaps they took their eyes off the ball a little after the big win over Down." In the couple of weeks between the win over Down and the semi-final meeting with Monaghan, Brendan and his selectors worked overtime to counsel the players on the need to focus in on the challenge which lay ahead. "We weren't afraid of Monaghan but we respected them, especially after their win over Donegal. Players such as Paul Finlay were familiar to us but we believed that the style of play which we had adopted so successfully against Down would hold us in good stead against Monaghan. "We felt that the players needed to show the same commitment and attitude on the day if they were to beat Monaghan," the Cork-born team boss explains. Injury worries to Patrick Brady of Gowna and Drumgoon's Michael Hannon didn't help preparations for the Monaghan tie in Clones on June 24th but, nevertheless, the Cavan camp were quietly confident of advancing to the final. The inclusion of Australia-based Cavan Gaels clubman Nicholas Walsh and Niall Madden at the expense of Eamon Costello and Andrew McGovern marked the only changes to the Cavan side which did so well against Down. Whatever about the changes, there wasn't to be the same type of assured, positive display from the Breffni Blues this time around unfortunately as Monaghan, strengthened by the inclusion of a number of the All-Ireland winning county vocationals team, proved to be the better team on the day. Cavan were a disappointment in more sectors than could have been realistically forecasted prior to the game. A significant statistic from the team's eventual 1-7 to 0-13 defeat is that only two forwards, James Clarke (1-1) and Sean Johnstone (0-2, both frees) got on the scoresheet. Others to score were defenders Mark McKeever, Joseph Jordan and Sean Maguire. Cavan did get off to the kind of start the team-management could scarcely have dreamt of when James Clarke goaled after just three minutes following good work by Keith Fannin and Colin Gumley. Cavan visibly grew in confidence after their goal and further points from Johnstone and Clare left them leading by 1-2 to 0-1 after 20 minutes of play. Powered forward by the influential Finlay, Monaghan gradually worked their way back into the game and by the 26th minute were only a point adrift. That deficit was eventually wiped out by the onset of the short whistle, leaving the teams on level terms. Monaghan came roaring out of the blocks on the restart and two quick points gave them a much needed impetus. Although Sean Maguire replied for Cavan with a point, it could have been much better as Brendan Nelligan recalls: "I thought Sean was very unlucky minutes later when he had a goal chance but his shot was cleared off the line. I think if that goal had went in, we would have went onto win the match." As things transpired, Monaghan finished the stronger of the two teams. Damien Larkin and man of the match Finlay pointed to put Monaghan four points in front with just four minutes left to play. Cavan showed admirable guts and ambition to rally in the dying minutes. They put Monaghan under severe pressure but they needed two goals to rescue the situation and, in truth, those majors never looked a likely possibility. Instead, the team had to make do with a from right-back Joseph Jordan. In the aftermath of the game, team-manager Nelligan was philosophical in his view of the result and its importance in the context of a much bigger picture: "Of course, you're always going to look for crumbs of comfort when things don't work out on the day but there are some 12 lads of the 2001 panel eligible again to play in 2002 and while Tyrone were always the strong favourites to win the title in 2001, I can't see there being any strong favourite for the provincial title in 2002. Cavan should have a good chance of doing well in the coming championship." For the record, the Cavan minor team, scorers, and subs, which bowed out of the Ulster MFC at the hands of Monaghan (1-7 to 0-13) on June 24th last at Clones was as follows: Danny Kelly; Joseph Jordan (0-1), Fergal Brady, Terry Hyland; Niall Madden, Mark McKeever (0-1), Gavin Daly; Paddy Brady, Sean Maguire (0-2); James Clarke (0-2), Keith Fannin, NIcholas Walsh; Colin Gumley, Sean Brady, Sean Johnston (0-2). Subs used; M. Cunningham, N. Collins, M. Hannon, E. Costello. Tweet

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