Mostly football cavan gaels can make history by winning ulster

 

Michael Hannon

Cavan and Fermanagh are the only two counties never to have won a senior Ulster Club Championship. It’s not exactly good reading when you put it like that.

Last Sunday a St Galls team, who are not the force they used to be, after a blistering start got reigned in by Monaghan’s Clontiberet, who by all accounts were probably lucky to come out of Monaghan this year. The consensus being that Scotstown were the best team in the county only they capitulated in the final. Clontiberet, even with the talismanic Conor McManus in their ranks are beatable and now find themselves in the Ulster club semi-final. There they are joined by Omagh who were getting well beaten by Crossmaglen, losing 1-09 to 1-02 at one stage, until fate intervened. Two red cards for two Crossmaglen players swung the tie in favour of Omagh and they won the game 2-08 to 1-09. They too should also be beatable given those circumstances.
If you’re in the Cavan Gaels camp right now you have to be realising that this is an opportunity like no other. First up is the Derry champions Slaughtneil. They were beaten by Ballinderry at some stage of the Derry Championship every year for the last four years. The feeling in Derry being they were close to being the second best team in the county for some time. Having beaten Ballinderry in the final that feeling hasn’t changed. Many inside Derry still view them as inferior to Ballinderry but benefited from a scrappy and lucky goal at the death to sneak that final 1-08 to 0-09. I say you make your own luck but what was telling about that goal was it was the first they had managed to score against Ballinderry in all of those games over the last four years.

Intriguing game
They are apparently defensive team and will not put up a huge total. If the Gaels can prevent them from scoring goals, and they’ve been relatively solid this year at the back, then they are in with a great chance. If this was Ballinderry I’d strongly be putting the Gaels as underdogs. Ballinderry, last year’s Ulster Champions have one of the most threatening forward lines in Ulster. Slaughtneil do not.
The return to form of Seannie Johnston in the county final, and the fine performance of Michael Lyng in that game gives the Gaels a great chance. Martin Dunne will have shook off some of the cobwebs from his injury forced layoff and, however Peter Canavan and his management team decide to use him, will still take a fair bit of watching. Even if he comes off the bench there will be a reshuffling of Slaughtneil’s defenders to get their match-ups right.
It promises to be an intriguing game. Home advantage has probably swung the tie in the eyes of the bookies towards the Derry side. But I just don’t see it as a decisive factor. I have a good feeling about this from a Cavan perspective. If their free takers are on song, and they can move the ball quick enough from defence to attack to get Slaughtneil scrambling a little at the back, then the Gaels should win enough frees to keep it close. If the inside full forward line can’t get on the ball because of the presence of one or two sweepers the Gaels will require a plan B. If those boxes have been ticked in training with their coaches then I fancy them to sneak this one.
And like I’ve already pointed out, with none of Ballinderry, St Galls, or Crossmaglen in the competition a new team will win this year’s championship for the first time since the Loup in 2003. If ever there was a time to start writing your own history…