WHILE Cavan manager Mickey Graham is hoping to use the Dr McKenna Cup to build momentum for a crucial National League promotion bid, he acknowledges the best laid plans can often go astray. Especially in a plague year.
The Breffni men are aiming to bounce back out of Division Four at the first time of asking in the spring and will have at least two McKenna Cup games against elite opposition to prepare for it, starting with Armagh at the Athletic Grounds next Thursday.
However, Graham admits that, like the rest of the country, his Cavan panel is at the mercy of the pandemic and an outbreak of Covid in the camp could cause havoc.
“The McKenna Cup is a real opportunity to get game time into lads as we would have been going looking for challenge matches if it hadn’t been happening,” the former county star said.
“But we can only take what’s in front of us on a week-by-week basis given that Covid is obviously running rampant at the minute and you can’t tell what the ramifications of that might be.
“It’s been a long season, with the clubs only finishing up recently, with all the injuries that go with that, so if you were to put a Covid outbreak in the squad in on top of four or five lads being injured, then you’re in trouble. It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out over the next few weeks.”
Graham was putting his players through their paces for three weeks before breaking for the Christmas holidays and he has a settled squad which will be hoping to make up for the disappointments of last season’s National League relegation and early Championship exit.
“Our panel is much of a muchness when compared to the summer, although I’ve brought a couple of younger lads in to make up the numbers given one or two injuries,” he added.
“I’m hoping to give people as much game time as possible ahead of the league but when you’re hearing of workplaces struggling for staff given Covid outbreaks, it might be a bit of a surprise if we don’t get hit as well.
“Building momentum is everything going into the league, especially when you don’t have a lot of time to prepare. That builds confidence and gives players the belief they need. But I’ve always said that winter football makes it a level playing field.
“The next four weeks are going to tell us an awful lot about how we land down to that first game in Carrick-on-Shannon against Leitrim.”
