Hurlers keen to make crucial winning start

Hurling

Kevin Óg Carney

“The championship is a different ball game compared to the National League and we like to think we’re in a good place right now and well placed to give the Lory Meagher Cup a good rattle.”

Cavan senior hurling manager Ollie Bellew couldn’t be more pleased with the recent upturn in the weather, on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Ahead of this Sunday’s opening round (championship) Lory Meagher Cup tie with Warwickshire at Páirc na h-Éireann, Birmingham (12.30pm), Bellew makes no bones about what featuring in the championship means to his think-tank and his charges:

“It’s always been our number one goal,” the Belfast native declared.

“We got to the Lory Meagher Cup final in 2021 but lost out (to Fermanagh) that day and we’ve wanted to get back there ever since.

“We’ve come up against some teams in the league this year who’ll be playing at a higher level in the championship (Nicky Rackard Cup) this year and that’s been great preparation for our Lory Meagher Cup campaign.

“We’ve worked hard since last December for these upcoming championship games and playing against the best opposition possible is the best teacher of all and in that regard the league has served us well.”

However, Cavan’s National Hurling League Division 3 campaign this year finished on a disappointing note with the blues ending up being relegated following a season which had a mini glow of promotion about it ‘till things went belly up down the back straight.

Cavan’s 2-20 to 1-18 victory over Wicklow in the fourth round of the league made it four points from four outings and the win spawned some whispers across Breffni about an outside possibility of promotion.

At the very least, the Cavan camp firmly believed that the win over the Garden County had made the retention of the squad’s place in the third tier for 2026 a realistic possibility with two rounds left to play.

Sadly, a 0-19 to 1-19 defeat away to Roscommon in the penultimate round plunged Cavan deep into a relegation dog fight.

Going into their final game of the league season at the end of March, Cavan knew that victory over Armagh (a repeat of 2024) at Kingspan Breffni woud ensure that Ollie Bellew’s squad would retain their place in the third tier for 2026.

Cavan were again out of luck against the Orchard County, losing by 2-15 to 2-21, and thus depositing the team, along with Sligo, through the relegation trap door.

The hope among the blues is that competitive games against much more highly rated teams like Armagh, London, Wicklow and Roscommon will prove to be perfect preparation for his weekend’s tilt with Warwickshire.

For their part, Warwickshire haven’t been without their travails either in this year’s national hurling league.

The Exiles plied their skills in division four, finishing in fifth place in the seven team competition with just Lancashire and basement bottom side Monaghan trailing behind them in the table.

Cavan’s hosts this Sunday did record an impressive win (4-14 to 0-7) over Leitrim on March 22nd last but, aside from draw against Lancashire, they failed to pick up any other points in the campaign.

Warwickshire’s season mirrored Cavan’s league campaign in terms of its erratic nature with their 0-15 to 3-19 defeat to Monaghan and their 2-7 to 0-25 walloping by Louth big downsides to their campaign.

The fact that Warwickshire played in Division Four of the NHL this year and Cavan - albeit ultimately suffering relegation - competed in Division Three means that the Breffni boys will go into this weekend’s encounter as favourites.

In fingering a likely winner of this weekend’s clash, Cavan’s 2024 Lory Meagher victory (1-21 to 2-13) over Warwickshire is also a pointer.

On that occasion, Cavan had to dig deep before finishing with a flourish to get their championship campaign off to a winning start at Kingspan Breffni.

Warwickshire went into the game as recently crowned 2023 NHL Division 3B champions but Cavan consolidated their impressive league campaign by gaining revenge for their Lory Meagher defeat (3-15 to 0-22) to the Exiles in the corresponding fixture in Birmingham in April 2023.

Warwickshire led by a single point going into the last 20 minutes of actual playing time in last year’s championship duel.

However, an increasingly confident Cavan camp showed their true colours when most needed, turning on the burners to out-score their opponents by 0-7 to 0-1 down the home straight.

Not for the first time this season, Cavan produced a lethargic opening quarter display and their opponents galloped into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after seven minutes with stand-out Nicky Kenny Cavan’s sole scorer at that juncture.

Kenny was to be the blues’ lightning rod up front, constantly punching holes in the visitors’ defence from frees and open play, aided and abetted up front in particular by Ballinagh native Sean Keating.

Cavan’s penchant for starting games slowly has been their ball and chain far too often for their own good and a decent start for the side in Birmingham will be a major bonus as the team tends to play its best stuff in the second half of games.

Last year, Cavan lined out against Warwickshire in the Lory Meagher Cup with a team not unlike the one that is expected to start this weekend.

Former Longford county ‘keeper Conor Gallagher is expected to gain his championship debut in Birmingham while it is hoped that recently injured Enda Shalvey will be fit enough to start at centre-full back.

Star man Liam O’Brien has shown all year why he was such a highly rated player in his native Waterford before transferring to Cavan last year and while he also has been sidelined through injury in recent weeks, it is expected he will be fit enough to start at centre-back.

Elsewhere, former Kilkenny county minor Canice Maher is another pivotal figure in the spine of the team while the aforementioned axis of messrs Kenny and Keating will be the go-to players in attack.

All told, Cavan will likely feature 12 of the team that started in last year’s corresponding tie with Warwickshire.

In a round robin system, a good start is half the battle. Cavan have the talent and hurling nous to make a good start with a vital victory.