ONLY a matter of seconds earlier, Raymond Galligan had been standing, hands on hips as the Cavan players formed a circle towards the town end of Kingspan Breffni Park.
A disappointing performance had just seen them lose to an under-strength Roscommon but, worse than that – much worse – a dramatic late fightback from Laois against Fermanagh consigned the Breffnimen to a second consecutive relegation, and the prospect of Tailteann Cup football in 2021.
While Roscommon captain Enda Smith delivered his speech to an empty stand after receiving the Division Two trophy, Mickey Graham stood in the middle of the deflated bodies in blue, trying to rally the troops.
The message was clear – this is done, it’s gone. But as he trudged from the field, county captain Galligan was still trying to make sense of what had just happened.
“We weren’t,” he said when asked had the Cavan players been aware of what was unfolding
45 minutes up the road in Brewster Park as they tried to reel in the Rossies.
“We were just out to do our own job and get the result, it was just there at the end we got word that results hadn’t gone our way.
“Preparation wasn’t ideal going into the Kildare game. We had numerous bodies missing, you can see the difference in the panel, there’s probably nine or 10 changes to what had been previous.
“But we had no excuses coming here today, we have a strong panel, we created enough chances there to win the game. Missed opportunities, balls hitting the post or dropping short - we had the chances so we can’t use preparation as an excuse. They were the better team on the day and that was it.
“Ah look, it’s extremely disheartening, going down to Division Three, especially after being in Division One last year… it’s a tough one to take to be honest.”
Coming just a week before Saturday’s Ulster Championship showdown with neighbours Monaghan, the Breffnimen won’t have much time to lick their wounds – and the Cavan captain believes the short turnaround could be a blessing in disguise.
“Absolutely,” he said.
“Unfortunately, what has happened has happened. We can’t change that. We’ll have to reflect, but for now we just have to draw a line under this and prepare for the Championship - no bigger game than Monaghan, so we have to get back at it and prepare for that.
“It’s Championship football, it’s up to us now to give a good account of ourselves next week and hopefully that can be good enough to get a result.”
Although Cavan come into Saturday’s Championship off the back of two disappointing defeats since the restart, they can take some comfort from the fact Monaghan haven’t exactly hit the ground running either.
An opening day loss to Kerry was followed up by a draw with Meath that saved their Division One skin on Sunday, though Seamus McEnaney will have been longing for Saturday and a first taste of Championship action with his native county’s senior side since in a decade.
It feels a lot longer than 17 months since Cavan stunned Monaghan at a packed Kingspan Breffni en route to a first provincial final in 18 years.
Now they must repeat that feat at an empty St Tiernach’s Park or their season will be over - and Galligan admits the absence of a crowd really comes into play when games hang in the balance.
“It’ll be a bit surreal.
“We all play to represent our clubs and our families, you want to have them having them supporting you and you want to do your best for them as well. For them not being able to be here today, and to not have anybody inside a great stadium like Breffni Park, it’s tough.
“Even in that last 10 minutes there when we were chasing the game, those are the times when the crowd can really lift you and maybe have an effect on your opponents. It would have been a massive help today, so you miss it in that sense because players feed off the atmosphere.”
