All-Ireland SFC Qualifying round 2A: Cavan v Carlow (today, 5pm, Kingspan Breffni Park)
THE job of rebuilding Cavan’s confidence in the aftermath of last week’s shellacking in Clones begins today – with a home tie against Carlow about as favourable a return to action as they could have asked for.
Tyrone ran in five goals en route to victory in the Ulster semi-final replay, and could have hit the back of the net another three or four times in a hugely one-sided contest. For periods during the second half, the Red Hands were firing balls over the bar at will.
The 10 points that separated the teams at the end flattered Cavan, not Tyrone, as the Breffnimen delivered a performance so wildly out of character – particularly after the break when they lost their defensive shape time and again – that Terry Hyland will hope to write it off as a bad day at the office.
Since the Lacken man took up the reins four years ago, Cavan have become an extremely well drilled outfit - a model of disciplined play where every man knows his role and executes it to a tee.
Overly defensive in the early days, they have added a cutting edge this year, with the likes of captain Gearoid McKiernan, Seanie Johnston, David Givney and Martin Reilly forward players of real quality.
Their progress was rewarded with promotion to Division One, a straightforward Championship win over Armagh and a draw with Tyrone at the first time of asking.
That made what transpired last Sunday all the more difficult to comprehend. It was not the Cavan we have come to know.
For Peter Harte’s first goal, Cavan were cut apart by a simple ball into the square. For his second, Tiernan McCann ran unchallenged for an age, with Harte running free off his shoulder. The third saw Connor McAliskey run half the length of the field unimpeded before firing home. By the time the last two goals were scored, Cavan were a beaten side.
Much of this week will have been spent getting back to basics. Reminding the players what they do well, what got them back to Gaelic football’s top tier and saw them match the Red Hands a fortnight before the replay debacle.
Picking his players up off the floor after such a harrowing experience is the difficult part for Hyland - especially as they know bigger challenges lie ahead, whether that’s this year or next.
The Breffni boss has made four changes for the visit of the midlanders, with Seanie Johnston coming back into the fold having been dropped for the Tyrone game. He replaces Givney after a nagging hip injury forced the Mountnugent man out of last week’s replay just 26 minutes in.
Padraig Faulkner and Ciaran Brady come into defence in place of James McEnroe and Niall Murray, while Liam Buchanan comes back into midfield alongside Tomas Corr, with the versatile Killian Clarke switching to the half-forward line in place of Martin Reilly.
Taking on an improving but limited Carlow, especially at Kingspan Breffni Park, should ensure they get back to winning ways without too much fuss. The bookies certainly think so, with the Breffnimen 1/33 to advance to the next round of the Qualifiers.
That said, the Barrowsiders will come in full of confidence after defeating Leinster rivals Wicklow in the Qualifiers last month, and in Brendan Murphy and Sean Gannon they boast a formidable midfield pairing.
Indeed, former Aussie Rules player Murphy bagged 1-4 in that victory over the Garden County and Cavan will need to limit his influence where possible.
But Carlow have never won a second round Qualifier game in their history and, despite Cavan’s fragile confidence, it is unlikely that will change this evening.
Cavan: R Galligan; K Brady, R Dunne, P Faulkner; F Flanagan, C Moynagh, C Brady; T Corr, L Buchanan; D McVeety, G McKiernan, K Clarke; C Mackey, E Keating, S Johnston.
Carlow: TBC
