Football

Cavan must win Tailteann Cup to prove they're good enough for All-Ireland series: ex-Breffni ace Peter Reilly

Peter Reilly has urged his native Cavan to go on and win the Tailteann Cup
Peter Reilly has urged his native Cavan to go on and win the Tailteann Cup Peter Reilly has urged his native Cavan to go on and win the Tailteann Cup

FORMER Cavan captain Peter Reilly has urged the Breffni men to go on and win the Tailteann Cup and prove that they are good enough to play for the Sam Maguire next season.

The inaugural All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship competition is down to the semi-final stages, with Cavan facing Sligo and Westmeath take on Offaly in Sunday’s double-header at Croke Park, both being screened ‘live’ by RTE.

Following their agonising Ulster semi-final exit to Donegal, Cavan made their way into the Tailteann Cup, just like all other counties that competed in Division Three and Four, even though they looked like a team that could offer plenty to the ‘A’ side of the Championship.

The Breffni men have taken the scalps of Down and Fermanagh to reach the last four.

But Reilly, who was a county team-mate of current boss Mickey Graham’s back and part of the Ulster-winning side of ’96, said Cavan needed to show they are too good for the Tailteann Cup by winning it.

“You have to realise the level you’re at,” said Reilly, who enjoyed a successful managerial period with the Cavan U21s in the last decade.

“If Cavan think they’re too good for it, then go and win it. There have been teams that have been senior clubs for years and went down to intermediate, and they think they’re too good for it. If you’re too good for intermediate, then go and win it.

“I know we’re probably as good as anybody in Ulster, but we have to get out of Division Three, you have to push on, and the only way you can do that is win, win, win at the level you’re at.

“The more you win at the level you’re at, the more chance you have. It’s very rare to see a team winning an Ulster Championship from Division Three.”

“Cavan have two ways of doing it: winning the Tailteann Cup or getting out of Division Three next year. I won a junior championship in ’96 and it was better than winning any senior championship because that was the level we were at. We won an intermediate in 2000 and that was as good as winning a senior championship.”

The Knockbride clubman feels that club championships with junior, intermediate and senior should be replicated in the All-Ireland football championship and feels the Ladies game has struck the right balance.

After two decades, the GAA decided to scrap the old back-door system in favour of a secondary competition so that teams had a realistic chance of winning something.

“I think there had to be a change of system,” said Reilly, who won back-to-back Ulster U21 titles in 2013 and ’14 as manager.

“I think the Ladies system of junior, intermediate and senior is the best way. Ultimately it works in every county in the country. People have to realise that. Cavan haven’t played in an All-Ireland final since ’52, and they’ve played in two All-Ireland semi-finals in 50 years or more.

“In any given year there are only a few teams that can win an All-Ireland and there’s an awful lot of them have absolutely no hope, and I mean zero. Give players a chance to play at a level where they have some chance of winning. There are lots of counties around us and in Leinster and Connacht who haven’t competed in their own province.

“Is the Tailteann Cup the answer? I don’t know. But I think there has to be a system where the lower level counties can play for something they can win. And right now, Cavan are in one of those positions.

“They played extremely well against Antrim and Donegal but can we back it up now and win the Tailteann Cup and get out of Division Three and have a good cut at Ulster next year?”