Lidl National Football League Division Two semi-final: Cavan v Meath (Tomorrow, Kingspan Breffni Park, 1pm)
CAVAN and Meath will battle it out for a place in the Division Two final tomorrow afternoon in Kingspan Breffni Park.
It has been a superb start to Gerry Moane’s tenure as Breffni boss with three wins from three games and a league final spot to fight for and even he admits that just how well things have started has surprised him a little.
“To be honest we probably are a lot further on that Barry [Grimes] and myself thought we would be at this stage given we’re only in the job properly, back training six or seven weeks. The players though have put in a lot of hard work before that and in top form when it comes to strength and conditioning and fitness.
“Barry and I have just been concentrating on the football and the players have shown huge drive, ambition and commitment,” said Moane.
“We have just been concentrating ourselves and taking each game as it comes. The three games we have had so far have all been very different, have presented different challenges and that has been good for us as a team and Meath will provide yet another different challenge on Saturday.”
Cavan are appearing in their sixth straight Division Two semi-final, an achievement in itself for consistent performing as they look to reach their first final since 2018. They stormed their Division 2B group, finally getting one over their adversaries Monaghan in the opening game of the season, a first win over the Farney at senior level. They followed that up with a win over Tyrone and then Armagh to remain unbeaten going into tomorrow’s semi-final.
It was a hard fought win over Armagh but one that will stand them in good stead for tomorrow’s game. They didn’t do things the easy way, trailing by two points at half-time and finishing the game with 13 players thanks to late two sin bins, but they held out for a one point win. However, they saw key experienced played Roisin O’Keeffe go off injured while Aisling Gilsenan is also out.
Meath gained promotion to senior championship level at the third attempt last year winning the All-Ireland intermediate title. They won the 2019 Division Three final gaining promotion to this tier and last year before the league was postponed, were sitting in second place in the table with their semi-final hopes in their own hands. They did, however, lose to Cavan in one of two places they dropped points, with the Breffni side winning 3-10 to 2-5.
They qualified in second place putting their opening day defeat to Kerry behind them to record victories over Wexford and Clare.
