Westmeath await as Cavan hope to build momentum

Opinion

Damien Donohoe

Sunday’s win has halted the negative momentum, and it came about as a result of some surgery. In our preview last week, it was noted by some that we didn’t give a forecast for the result. The reason for this was we couldn’t say honestly that what we had seen in the previous two games was going to be good enough to beat Louth but thanks to Cavan’s best performance of the league so far, they got the result and deserved it.

Looking at Louth’s development over the last few seasons, one has to admire their progress. In 2024, they had a 50% win rate across 12 league and championship games but when you look at the teams that beat them and how their seasons went, it shows a relatively consistent level of performance.

Louth’s defeats against Cavan and Meath were their low points last year and they were within a kick of a ball in both games - and they later avenged the Meath loss. They lost out to Ulster champions Donegal twice with the second coming in the All-Ireland quarter-final, having come through a group with Kerry, Monaghan and Meath.

Their only other defeats of the year came against Munster champions Kerry, Leinster champions Dublin and All-Ireland champions Armagh. This all points to a side that aren’t in the top bracket of teams but are leading the charge in the next bracket so Sunday’s win over them is a victory worth noting.

The aforementioned surgery had a dramatic effect on the team and the management should be praised for making bold decisions. The most effective change was relocating Dara McVeety into the forward line where he scored four points and was instrumental in Jason McLoughlin’s goal and had a hand in Gearoid McKiernan’s.

Bringing back in Evan Crowe to do a marking job on Tommy Durnin worked a treat with Durnin scoring a solitary two pointer while Crowe grabbed his first score at county senior level himself. The full-back line was freed up to join the attack and contributed a goal and a point from play while reducing the number of times they were caught without three back to a single offence.

Scoring three goals in any game gives you a strong chance of getting a win but really we should have had more goals, having missed a penalty and not been awarded a certain penalty in the second half. Darragh Lovett showed guts to step up and take the penalty, but it wasn’t hit with confidence which is understandable after the Sigerson Cup semi-final shoot out.

Louth did really well in the first half on their own kick-out but when Cavan got closer in the second half, Oisin Brady and Conor Madden won possessions and Madden showed real quality to finish to the net. The finishing was improved from the opening two games, with a score total of 24 from 30 shots.

Defensively, Cavan looked more at the pitch of the game, giving away fewer frees and forcing more turnovers. James Smith’s tackling was outstanding when he found himself defending one v one while Niall Carolan and Jason McLoughlin’s blocks and last-ditch tackles proved crucial.

Cavan can now look forward to Sunday’s game in Mullingar with some confidence that a corner has been turned. While the fact that Westmeath are managed by Cavan’s own GDM Dermot McCabe, who has an in-depth knowledge of the Cavan players, will make the task more difficult, the players will have to keep control of their emotions because this game, in terms of the season, is huge.

A defeat on Sunday means Cavan finish the weekend bottom of the table and facing a battle to stay in the division. Westmeath will have leap frogged them on the table but will also have Cavan on the head-to-head rule if it was to come down to that after seven games. That head-to-head rule may effect not just Cavan’s league position but whether they play in Sam Maguire or the Tailteann Cup later in the season.

Defensively, Westmeath are the weakest team in division 2 having conceded 6-64 in three games but they are also the fifth highest scoring team with 5-56 on the board. Luke Loughlin is their top scorer with 0-23 to his name in three games but his least impactful performance was last weekend against Cork when he only hit one point from a free.

The Lake County have plenty of other scoring threats in Ronan Wallace at centre-back who has scored 2-4, Robbie Forde in midfield with 1-4 and Sam McCartan at centre-forward with 1-6. Matthew Whittaker has scored 1-2 from wing-back and Danny McCartan announced himself as a scoring threat with three two-pointers against Cork.

We saw with Gowna over the last few years that McCabe puts a big emphasis on kick-outs and he will know plenty about Cavan’s set-up. The zonal press Gowna use to such good effect has already been implemented in Westmeath’s games so identifying mismatches and working overloads with be vital for Cavan to win primary possession.

Against Louth, Westmeath went short with a number of their kick-outs but after Cavan did well in the second half on Sunday when Louth tried to go short, it will be a risky tactic to try. Conor McCormack has come out from goals a lot for Westmeath to join the attack, particularly in the opening half against Monaghan, but he is yet to score so he may be more of a safety receiver or a decoy to create an overlap.

Westmeath have scored 11 two-pointers in their opening three games with Loughlin getting five of them in the first two outings. Keeping Loughlin, the McCartans and Wallace quiet will go a long way to securing a Cavan win and if they were to do that, they’d be going into the Down game with positive momentum.

This is a make-or-break game and the entire season could hinge on Sunday’s result but we saw enough against Louth to say Cavan are good enough to get the win again on this occasion.