Football

Madden on Monday: Ulster SFC Cavan vs Armagh

Cavan&rsquo;s Gearoid McKiernan breaks away from Armagh&rsquo;s Aidan Forker during yesterday&rsquo;s clash<br/>Picture by Colm O&rsquo;Reilly
Cavan’s Gearoid McKiernan breaks away from Armagh’s Aidan Forker during yesterday’s clash
Picture by Colm O’Reilly
Cavan’s Gearoid McKiernan breaks away from Armagh’s Aidan Forker during yesterday’s clash
Picture by Colm O’Reilly

THEY say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Whether it be sport or even comedy, you will always find someone or some team copying the best.

Back in the day John Linehan used to ring into BBC radio pretending to be a comical old lady who went by the name of May, also first name of his mother-in-law.

One day back in 1989, the presenter asked May what her second name was. Totally stumped, he frantically grabbed the Irish News from the kitchen table and saw a headline that led with a story about Antrim hurling Allstar Olcan McFetridge. At that very point in time John started to move away from his career as a mechanic and the hugely successful character May McFetridge came alive.

What most people wouldn’t know was that John was actually imitating a big fella he worked with who went by the name of Paddy Griffin, or ‘Big Patricia’, who sadly died far too young. But nobody outside of his group of friends had heard of big Paddy, or knew of his comic genius, therefore May was the original real deal.

They say that once you copy a team who have already had success with a particular style of play then you are already too late to the dance floor.

Imitation tactics don’t work and, as we look back on yesterday’s encounter, it is fair to say that one team stuck to an original gameplan they have been implementing for a few years, while the other looked to be playing off the cuff and trying something that they really didn’t understand. 

Breffnimen had too many dimensions as Armagh struggled with gulf in class 


WE can look at the missed penalty as a turning point, but in fairness that would only be papering over the cracks as the gulf in class yesterday was evident. An excellent kick-out strategy, a good counterattacking game, an effective pressing game, and lots of scoring options in attack.

These were all things that Cavan certainly had, but sadly from an Armagh perspective they were badly lacking. In the modern game you will rarely see a team with just three scorers win a match.

Stefan Campbell fought a lone battle but, in truth, Cavan had just so many different dimensions and carried a much bigger scoring threat throughout their attack.

Orchard plan was passive and lacked organisation


WHAT was the Armagh plan? It was difficult to understand why Armagh retreated as quickly back into their defensive shape, when not in possession of the ball.

But what was harder to fathom was why they allowed Cavan to have the ball 40 yards from the Armagh goal before they attempted to make the first tackle.

It was passive, disorganised and lacked accountability. When you bring so many players back behind the ball and still concede 2-16 then you have to question the defensive system or the lack of one.

In the individual match-ups the Armagh defenders nearly all struggled to contain their men. Johnston and McKiernan were superb and Givney always carried a big threat, but why did Armagh not man-mark Cian Mackey, the catalyst of it all? 

Perhaps they didn’t think the Cavan playmaker would start the game, but ‘once bitten...’ springs to mind. Offensively, Armagh lacked options with Stefan Campbell the only quality forward on show and the direct running of Mark Shields the exceptions.

Although a tad fortuitous, the first Cavan goal depicted alot. Initially, a 50/50 nothing ball was kicked into the Armagh full-forward line.

Cavan scooped up the break, broke at pace and fed the unmarked playmaker Cian Mackey. As he miskicked the diagonal pass it bounced awkwardly but still managed to take out all nine Armagh defenders, six of them ‘marking space.’

In the build-up there were no tackles made, just players marking space.

Blues were sharper in the scoring zone


THE only defender who struggled to contain his man was Killian Clarke who had a tough job keeping tabs on Stefan Campbell.

Tony Kernan hit a couple of superb scores from range but Armagh lacked the scoring threat of their counterparts.

Bar a brief comeback in the second half, Cavan had the Armagh attacking plan completely tied up.

Where Armagh allowed the Breffnimen inside the 50 before they began to press, Cavan were making the first tackles five and 10 yards outside the 50 in lines of three, four and at times five men, ensuring Armagh were under severe pressure before they made it into the scoring zone.

Unsurprisingly, where the ball found itself so did the tenacious Cian Mackey, who was the man closing up the centre when any gaps appeared.

But it was going forward where Cavan really held the edge. An ability to run the ball or kick it in long, to put it simply they had better forwards who played with a better structure. 

Kick-out strategy showed signs of hard graft


IN an era where very short kick-outs are generally that, I was mightily impressed by the Cavan approach of kicking long placed balls to the advantage of their player, often the half-forward.

That doesn’t happen through luck and you could tell Ray Galligan and his outfield players have put serious work into it. Remarkably, the 1-2 Cavan scored at the start of the second half all came directly off their own kick-out.

Martin Reilly won the first two and the third one which led to the goal was fetched by Conor Moynagh on the run. These were all training ground moves that reaped serious dividends. If Cavan’s kick-out was profitable for their side, there was a period in the first half when Armagh’s own restarts were destructive for them.

The three points on the spin Cavan got to make it 0-7 to 0-3 all came directly from winning the Armagh kick-out and driving at them. The impressive Gearoid McKiernan got two with Seanie Johnston grabbing the other. This was a critical period in the game when Armagh badly needed to win their own restarts.

Eight-point gap was far from flattering for Hyland’s troops


WHEN you get time to absorb the statistic that Cavan had eight players on the scoresheet to just three for Armagh, it does help you understand why an eight-point gap was by no means flattering to Terry Hyland’s men.

Seanie Johnston oozes class and his time away has seen him mature into a better team player. Gearoid McKiernan is big, strong, exceptionally quick, but more than that he can score from range off either foot. I’m a big Cian Mackey fan as not only does he do a sterling defensive job as a half-forward, but he is the man making things happen when his team go on the counter.

In David Givney and Michael Argue, they had players who will win their share of direct ball close to goal which gives the balance between going long and the running game. Cavan will cause Tyrone lots of problems and hopefully a good game is in store.

Three years ago when Paul Grimley took the steps of apologising to the Armagh supporters, the county were in a state of shock at the defeat. This time around most people were expecting it.