Football

Pointless Cavan can trump the Royals at Pairc Tailteann

Cavan have welcomed Eugene Keating back into the fold for this year
Cavan have welcomed Eugene Keating back into the fold for this year Cavan have welcomed Eugene Keating back into the fold for this year

ALMOST inevitably, when discussing Cavan football these days, talk will turn to how they should be winning senior titles.

This is the county, after all, that rattled off four Ulster U21 titles on the spin from 2011 to '14 and an Ulster minor for good measure in 2011. And there are quite a number of players who have made the tricky enough jump from those underage grades to the senior ranks.

Players such as Killian Clarke, Fergal Flanagan, Gearoid McKeirnan, Dara McVeety and Conor Gilsenan, to name but a few, are all now established county performers. But it is not quite yet happening for the Breffni Blues.

Having lost by a single-point to Monaghan in last year’s Ulster Championship, they beat London before falling to old foes Roscommon in the second round of the Qualifiers. League-wise, they spent 2011-14 in Division Three and finished a mediocre fifth in Division Two last year. They are experiencing the harsh reality that underage success is a guarantee of nothing in the senior grade. 

2016 has begun in mixed fashion. A middling McKenna Cup campaign has been followed by narrowly losing their first two league games to Tyrone and Derry. But although they are pointless ahead of Sunday’s clash with Meath, those opening two games have offered a modicum of encouragement.

At Healy Park on January 31, they lost out by two points, with the difference in a hard-fought game played in awful conditions being Tyrone’s greater scoring prowess. Although Cavan were resolute and competitive, they only managed four points of their total of eight from open play.

In the Derry game, they again threw up their wall of steel but, ultimately, their failure to match that determined defending with keeping the scoreboard ticking over cost them.

But there are positives. The return of Eugene Keating and Seanie Johnston gives them both muscle and guile up front, while with David Givney back, they have regained a classy midfielder.

In addition, high quality performers like McKeirnan, McVeety, Flanagan, Conor Moynagh, current U21 star Tom Hayes and the diamond that is Cian Mackey can be expected to give Terry Hyland’s drive and cutting edge as the season goes on.

They have a great chance of taking the points on Sunday against a Meath side who beat Armagh in their first league tie before disappointingly losing out to Fermanagh in their second.

Although the Royals will fancy their chances of getting out of the division this time around after finishing third in the last two campaigns, the suspicion remains they are lacking in real quality.

In thrall to the imperious might of the Dubs in Leinster, they appear to have lost a little of their fearsome reputation of late. They are very reliant on the free-taking of Michael Newman and only scored six points, two from play, against Fermanagh at Brewster Park.

We can be certain Cavan will be very difficult to break down and, if they can add a dash of attacking panache to that steel, they can win convincingly at Pairc Tailteann.