Three areas Cavan must focus on to beat Tipp

If Cavan are to win on Sunday and gain promotion to Division 1, what will they need to do? Here are three areas we feel that Mattie McGleenan’s side will look to focus on.

1: Avoid a shoot-out
Last July, when Cavan played Tipperary in the qualifiers at Kingspan Breffni, the home side looked to be in complete control when they led by double scores, 0-12 to 0-6, at half-time.
By the time the long whistle sounded, however, the Munster men had added 2-9 to their total. Key to this was their introduction of the electrifying Michael Quinlivan from the bench. 
In their five games to date, they have racked up 3-16, 3-9, 2-15 and 2-17, with the only outlier the 0-11 they bagged in the draw with Clare.
Those tallies, along with the 2-15 haul against Cavan in last year's qualifier, suggest their attack is the strongest line, which is no surprise given the presence of the likes of Conor Sweeney and Michael Quinlivan as well as the razor sharp Liam McGrath.
Cavan have lots of firepower too and have routinely had a spread of nine or 10 scorers per game (11 against Cork) but the feeling is that they will look to keep it tight.
While the Blues have kept clean sheets in their last two matches, it took some extraordinary goalkeeping from Ray Galligan to keep out Down and Roscommon at times. If the match is relatively low-scoring, Cavan should win.

 

2: Improve on their own kick-out
Michael Hannon, writing in his Mostly Football column this week, had the following to say about the defeat in Hyde Park last Sunday.
“People will look at the last ten minutes and wonder how Cavan threw away a one-point lead while playing with the breeze but the key period of this game happened in the first half. Roscommon, from being 0-5 to 0-1 down, outscored Cavan 0-8 to 0-1 over a 20-minute period, with four of those scores coming off Cavan kick-outs. 
“The variation in strategy is what keeps opposition team guessing. Cavan didn’t have any and haven’t really had much all year. 
“Tipperary are a massive team, with big players across all lines of the field. After they defeated Louth their manager Liam Kearns spoke about how they really try to focus on pressing the opposition kick out. 
“Once he sees the video of last weekend’s game he’ll be repeating that message to his troops.”
That says it all.

3: Grab at least one goal
It’s the oldest cliché in the book but it’s no less true for that – goals win games.  It's hardly cutting edge analysis to say that Cavan must look to put the ball in the net but hear us out.
Cavan landed seven goals in their first three matches in this league campaign but subsequently drew a blank against Cork, Down and Roscommon. Okay, so they won two of those games but Tipp will probably represent a step-up again and given the nature of the fixture, this is as close to a championship match as it gets.
Why have Cavan’s goals dried up? It’s hard to say. Maybe McGleenan’s men are not releasing the ball inside as quickly since Gearoid McKiernan – who has been excellent – has returned to the side? Maybe it’s just bad luck or poor shot selection?
It’s hard to call but there is a lesson in the back door game against the same opponents last summer. Cavan landed 0-18 but no three-pointers and it wasn’t enough.