AS the number two flashed up on the fourth official’s board deep into stoppage time, Jason McLoughlin jogged towards the sideline and was met by a hero’s call.
The Cavan support rose to its feet in acclaim at a performance that gave them all they needed. McLoughlin had a sticky first five minutes while he worked Stephen O’Hanlon out, but beyond that he gave a masterclass in corner-backery.
Perhaps what the crowd loved the most was that he bled for the cause. Standing on the pitch afterwards, he sports a cut on his chin that forced him off for a few first half minutes, though he quickly returned.
Monaghan had gotten the better of Cavan in recent years, and for McLoughlin a lot of it was down to their willingness to bleed.
Cavan matched that this time, but they did it in the right way.
“We had to do something different than we’ve done the last few years. In fairness to Monaghan, they’ve always put their bodies on the line where we maybe haven’t done so in the past few years.
“We just wanted to come off the field knowing we left nothing out there, and I think we probably did that. We’ve a lot to work on, but it was about getting over the line and nothing else.
“You have to play with your head as well. You can throw yourself into tackles and it can look good, but you can leave space open so you have to be smart. It was about playing on the edge but playing with our heads as well.
“We were doing that for a big part of the game, second half we’d maybe be a bit disappointed the way we played. Monaghan pushed up a wee bit and we made a few silly errors on the ball to keep them in it.”
Of the sticks to beat Cavan football with the last while, you could have taken your pick. No Ulster title since ’97, a failure to build on the U21 successes to the point of having won just three Ulster SFC games this decade prior to Saturday evening.
The last statistic in particular was one that the Breffni players were well aware of.
“Yeah, and from outside the group as well. We’re well aware of it. Cavan has a great football tradition. We need to be back up there competing and we hope this will not be just a flash in the pan.
“There’s been a lot said about the underage [U21 successes] in recent years but we have a good age profile now, so I don’t think we can use that as an excuse any more, that we’re too young.
“I don’t think you’re ever too young, you just have to go and play the opposition. We’ll get our heads down and focussed on the semi-final now because we can’t get carried away with this win either.
“We’ve let ourselves down in the past against the Monaghans, the Tyrones, the Donegals. We’re going in to a match against Armagh in two weeks and they’ll hold no fear to us.
“You see what it means but we have to keep our heads down for two weeks. As good as this evening is, we have to try and get back and put in another performance.
“There’s no point saying we’re not delighted to get that win. It means a lot. We haven’t won our first round in a couple of years, so we’re delighted to be in the next round.”
The Shannon Gaels clubman, who made his debut back in 2012 but is still only 26, believes that conquering last year’s All-Ireland semi-finalists will far from represent the end of their journey, and he expects them to be back in the mix as summer goes on.
“Monaghan have been a fantastic team and they’ll still be there or thereabouts at the end of the championship. There’s fantastic players, there’s a few more to come back in, and they’ll be knocking around at the latter stages again I’d say.”
