FORMER Cavan captain Alan Clarke - now in his third season away from the county set-up - has heaped praise on the current crop donning the famous blue jerseys.
The Breffni men are through to the Ulster SFC semi-final, having comfortably beaten Armagh, and they will, of course, mix it with the best teams in the country next season in Division One.
"They are a big strong, fast, powerful team," said the Kingscourt man.
"Cavan are motoring well...I saw some of their league games. The turning point was the Meath game - but sometimes something just clicks and luckily for Cavan it clicked at the right time.
"They’re a fairly consistent team. I suppose [there are] no stand out performers. The usual suspects – Martin Reilly, Gearoid McKiernan, Seanie Johnston – they’re all going well."
"They have a great bunch of players that is willing to die and play for the county which is amazing.
"The U21 success bred success and hopefully they can get a reward at senior level. That’s the big thing."
The acid test is coming down the track very shortly though.
A last four clash with Mickey Harte's Tyrone is a fascinating duel in prospect. After losing out to the Red Hands by just two points in the opening league encounter at the end of January, many observers quietly fancied Terry Hyland's men to cause an upset in the Division Two decider. It wasn't to be. Tyrone held their opponents fairly easily at bay in Croke Park.
Sunday week offers another chance.
Clarke was keeping his cards close to his chest as regards an outcome but asserted: "I think they’ll close the gap."
However, when pressed as to whether he believes his fellow county men can beat the favourites, he confidently and immediately replied: "Yeah...shore it up at the back and they should match them."
Clarke, who is still playing for Cavan champions Kingscourt Stars, believes the commitment required to play the inter-county game is at breaking point. Asked if it was sustainable, Clarke (30) insisted: "No – not a hope,"
"You’ll have retirees early because there is no way that you can keep it going. County football suits some people and it doesn’t suit others.
"Boys will either get burnt out playing football or they’ll end up taking jobs that they have to actually work at the jobs, but if you’re training four nights a week or heading off to away games...taking the whole day out of it – it’s unsustainable.
"Sure you can’t work a Saturday, you can’t work a Sunday – so it will only suit a certain person who is not working, say, shift work or who is not working particular jobs in construction.
"I wouldn’t say there are too many lads in construction [on the Cavan team]. Tomas Corr rings a bell there – he’s an electrician.
"So if you want to play any football – you have to line yourself up with a job that suits.
"I’d love nothing more than to be playing with them but on the [playing] days – you’d love to be out there, but on the training and all the effort that they put in – what goes on behind the scenes is unbelievable.
"And it’s only when you’re involved that you realise the time and the commitment that those boys are putting in, so anything they do will be reward for them because they’re putting in some hours."
