CAVAN can take inspiration from Roscommon’s impressive showing in Division One this year after booking their return to the top flight last Sunday, according to Breffni ace Killian Clarke.
Between league and Championship, Cavan and Roscommon have met six times in the past three years. And the Breffni men have watched with interest as Kevin McStay’s men - tipped by many to go straight back down to the second tier - defied the bookies’ odds to take the scalps of Kerry, Cork, Donegal and Down en route to this weekend’s Division One semi-final date with the Kingdom at Croke Park.
The Rossies, Clarke believes, have proved that anything is possible: “You see Roscommon there - we always had a good tussle with them in the last few years and they’re up there mixing it with the big dogs, not a bother to them," he said.
“People put these Division One teams up on pedestals and you think you’re miles away from them. From my own perspective, playing a bit of International Rules and training with them, everyone’s the same. We’ve the calibre of player that Dublin have, they’re maybe just a better unit or a better team altogether. But we wouldn’t fear any team in Division One at all.”
Victory in last Sunday’s winner-takes-all battle with Galway led to jubilant scenes at Kingspan Breffni Park and Clarke insists promotion to Division One is the realisation of a long-term plan for Terry Hyland’s young side.
“It’s a goal we set for ourselves two or three years ago and it’s all coming together now,” said the Shercock clubman, who lined out at full-back last Sunday.
“It obviously means a lot to a lot of the older boys - they maybe never thought they’d see the day when Cavan were back in Division One. The pressure was on in that last five or 10 minutes, there were long balls coming in and you don’t know where they’re going to end up.
“It was a bit of a backs’ day - I was glad top see a bit of rain myself. It didn’t affect us too much, boys’ first touch was still excellent… I was checking [David] Givney’s hands for Pritt Stick there at the end, but they were clean. There’s a lot of people going home happy today and hopefully we’ll have a few more days like this.”
Meanwhile, Breffni boss Hyland confirmed the absence of Seanie Johnston from last Sunday’s starting line-up was nothing more than a precaution after he tweaked a hamstring against Laois a week earlier.
The Cavan Gaels forward, who was replaced by Jack Brady, will be fit for the Division Two decider against Tyrone on April 24: “We probably could have played him, but we felt, going forward, if anything happened again it could put him out for six or eight weeks and that wasn’t a risk worth taking,” Hyland said.
