CAVAN camogie manager Jimmy Greville believes it will be very difficult for the Breffni Blues to better 2020, the season they re-entered inter-county camogie after a break of more than a decade and a half.
But the Westmeath native is determined that they make their mark once more in 2021.
“When we entered the league and Nancy Murray Cup in November 2019 we didn’t know if we had a team,'' said Greville.
''At that point our main priority was getting enough players to field.
“Thank God, the players bought into the idea and we had more than 30 for training before the National League started in February.”
Greville had coached Crosserlough to back-to-back Ulster club titles in 2017 and 2018.
So his knowledge of Cavan club camogie told him that he now had a team that could be competitive: “I think that is fair enough comment.
''We beat Tyrone and Roscommon and ran Limerick to five points in the league games played before lockdown and we would have been happy enough with that given that Limerick were in the All-Ireland Junior final in 2019.
''When you looked around the squad, we knew we could compete alright.
“There was the uncertainty then over the lockdown, but we came back in the autumn just as strong and I felt that we would win the Nancy Murray Cup. But you never know how players would re-act in a final.”
After a slow start, Cavan got going before the break and pulled away from Tyrone to claim the title in Inniskeen at the start of November.
“That slow start was nerves, but we expressed ourselves better once we got a few scores up,” claims Greville, who was assistant to his brother Johnny as Westmeath made the journey from Nancy Murray through to senior camogie during the past decade.
With the Premier Junior competition re-organised because second teams were removed due to COVID-19 legislation on elite teams, Cavan and Tyrone were given a shot at the higher grade and the Breffni girls gave it a real go by beating Roscommon to reach the final where they lost narrowly to Armagh.
“Inexperience cost us in the final,'' he added.
''If the National League had been completed we would have had a lot more tight games.
''We won all the autumn games with plenty to spare which was a great opportunity to use all the panel of players.
''But you need tight games to gain experience and learn from mistakes.
“Like, we were in a great position at the first water-break. We were four up and had dominated those 15 minutes.
''Then we conceded the next seven points. That was inexperience and probably where the game was won and lost.
“But I won’t take anything away from Armagh – or Ciara Donnelly who was magnificent.”
Looking back on 2020 though Greville sees a lot more positives than negatives.
“Without a doubt. To get to play in a Junior final and come so close was fantastic. I would say the only regret is that the game wasn’t played in Croke Park where the girls could gain more experience.”
While there has been no on-field activity since the Junior final, the plans are already in place for “probably another very strange year.”
“Yeah, everyone is just waiting to see what happens,'' said Greville.
''No-one knows when we will get back on a pitch to train never mind when the season will start.
''The girls have been given a strength and conditioning plan and that is ongoing.
“There are a couple of players had to leave the panel for different reasons and we have added others – as many as 15.
''The new girls will want to impress when we get back on the field and the management will be looking to get the best 30 or so players from the club scene regardless whether or not they played last year.”
Included in the new batch are several dual county players including Niamh Keenaghan to link up with Ciara Finnegan and Róisín O’Keefe who featured in both codes last year: “I am really happy that we have a good relationship with the football management.
''Things worked fine last year between the two codes and players who wanted to play both got the opportunity to do so.”
Something else that happened last year also helped and Greville hopes the Camogie Association has another look at it: “The split between the club and the county season was brilliant. There were no worries about burn-out.
''When the two run together it is a huge issue. Clubs want the players to train and play and you could have them out five or six days a week and it means that you can’t push them harder at county training.
“With no club activity last year when county was running, the pressure was totally removed from the players and there were no phone calls asking for some to be let off county training or asking if others could take it easier.
“I just can’t understand why camogie in their draft plan before Christmas wouldn’t want to continue with that.
''The GAA have seen it, the LGFA look to be going with a split season. Sure it is win, win for the players.”
While Cavan are in a great position to build on 2020, Greville also sees challenges ahead: “Other teams know about us now and will want to take us down a peg or two.
''We are still inexperienced at Junior level and we will need to learn from competitive games.
“Our aim initially will be to get the performance levels up to what they were last year and that will need to happen during the early league games.
''Then I think we need to improve by about 50% if we are to get back near a Junior final.
“We want to develop a really strong panel of players, and I think that will happen if there is competition for places on it.
''At the moment we have nearly 50 players wanting to play camogie for Cavan and they know that it is an open field; prove yourself and you stay on the panel.
“Further down the road, Cavan might look at a seconds team if we can maintain that thirst to wear the county jersey.
“But as I said earlier, 2021 looks like being another strange year. So you can’t plan too far ahead.''
