Football

Cavan underdogs bite back to overcome Monaghan

Cavan dogged Monaghan's every step and deservedly defeated them on Saturday night in Kingspan Breffni in the Ulster SFC quarter-final.<br /> Picture by Philip Walsh
Cavan dogged Monaghan's every step and deservedly defeated them on Saturday night in Kingspan Breffni in the Ulster SFC quarter-final.
Picture by Philip Walsh
Cavan dogged Monaghan's every step and deservedly defeated them on Saturday night in Kingspan Breffni in the Ulster SFC quarter-final.
Picture by Philip Walsh

Ulster SFC quarter-final: Cavan 1-13 Monaghan 0-12

EVERY dog has its day – or night.

The little dog which jinked and ran the length of the Kingspan Breffni pitch during the first half, eluding every attempt to lay hands on it, was surely Cavan’s ‘spirit animal’.

Once the hosts’ tails were up, Monaghan were never going to catch them. As Cavan boss Mickey Graham said, for much of this match “I felt we had the game by the scruff of the neck.”

Traditionally Ulster’s top dogs, Cavan have been like whipped curs in recent decades – but the underdogs came out and gave Monaghan a chasing for long periods.

Given a helping hand by referee Conor Lane, Cavan gobbled up the offering, a hugely controversial early penalty expertly converted by Martin Reilly.

Yet from the outset Cavan had torn into their neighbours like starving terriers, albeit with more precision in their tackling. Once they got out in front they never lost the lead.

Graham was like a puppy with two treats afterwards. He showed his teeth with a beaming smile after his players bared theirs and bit back at their tormentors of recent times.

The Cavan Gael stood a man apart from a heaving, happy mass of celebrating players and supporters, although anyone who spotted him offered a handshake or a backslap. They could probably have tickled his tummy and he’d have rolled over and loved it.

It was almost 18 years since they’d beaten Monaghan in senior championship; 32 since they’d done so at Breffni. The bowl was overflowing with delight.

Interestingly, though, Graham’s timeframe referenced the last time they’d won Ulster: “The lads gave it everything out there, couldn’t ask for much more. There’s a lot of hurt there from the past 22 years.

“The lads have taken an awful lot of knocks and criticism over the years and, in fairness to them, they went out and left it all out there. They showed what they can do.

“They played for each other, they played for the jersey, and they played with pride – and that’s all you ask of any group of lads when they take the field and by God they did do that.”

There were, as so often, contrasting views of the penalty incident, following Reilly’s superb kick-pass into Conor Madden, who went down following a slight push in the back from Drew Wylie.

“It was a great move, great vision – we’d a couple of chances like that,” recalled Graham.

Monaghan manager Malachy O’Rourke said: “I didn’t see it. All I can go by is what people said, and they said it was a very, very harsh penalty.

“Unless a penalty is clear-cut it shouldn’t be given because it had a massive bearing on the game.

“It gave Cavan that wee bit of breathing space all through, even when we were coming back and playing a lot better in the second half, they still had that cushion, and it was hard to get over that…If it was a very dubious penalty it’s a hard one for us.”

Typically, O’Rourke was dignified in defeat, accepting that the hosts were worthy winners: “We’re not looking for excuses…Cavan deserved it, they were the better team on the day, we hold up our hands. Just very disappointed with our own display…

“We didn’t really show up in the first half. We wanted to drive at the game from the start but we were very lethargic, never got going, I don’t think we scored a point from play first half. We kept giving the ball, just didn’t have the energy, the drive.

“We just left ourselves with too much to do and we paid the penalty.”

Indeed.

While others danced and sang, Graham was keeping feet on the ground: “We’re just happy to get the win. It’s only one win, our first against a ‘Big Three’ side in a long, long time. There’s no silverware handed out today, it’s back to the drawing board on Tuesday night.”

Still, he was effusive in his praise for his players’ performance: “The lads, the lads, the lads were outstanding.

“All I wanted was a bit of heart and determination. They showed it today. You can have all the skills in the world, but if you don’t have those basics, you have nothing.”

This was about the team, not him, he insisted: “It doesn’t mean anything to me – it means everything to Cavan, because Cavan have been too quiet for far too long.

“We’re a very traditional county but Cavan has had nothing to shout about for a long time. It’s days like this that make all the hard work and sacrifice worthwhile.”

Monaghan must now hope to be the old dogs for the hard road of the qualifiers.

The new trick for Cavan to learn is winning an Ulster semi-final.