Galligan: 'Every man did their job'

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After successive losses against Monaghan and Meath, the vista for Cavan appeared quite bleak but things have turned around radically in the last month, with three successive wins propelling Raymond Galligan’s men up the table.

Barring a freak set of results, Cavan’s status in Division 2 has now been secured and Galligan and his team are looking upwards with two rounds to go.

“We knew two weeks ago, after we got the result against Louth, that it was only the first step of a three-week block, and yeah, look, they ground out a result there today. Look, the players really, really stood up. Each and every man that graced the field today just did their job. And yeah, we're delighted just to get the two points,” Galligan said.

Cavan capitalised on a crucial period just before half-time, building up a three-point lead which would prove crucial in the end.

“Look, we were delighted to be going in three points up because I suppose that wee five-minute window just before half-time kind of gave us the gap that we felt we deserved. You know, we probably felt we should have been a little more ahead. We missed goal chances and key opportunities, but our intent was about getting forward, breaking lines, supporting the man off the shoulder, and I thought, look, to a man they did that very well.

“We constantly tell them to keep backing themselves and keep taking the shot, and look, there are days that they will go wide but from a management point of view, we can't be changing our tune. We want lads taking those shots, and look, some days they go wide and so be it. That's what training is about, to tidy that up. But yeah, it was lovely to see. And as I said, the second half was a different animal altogether.”

Asked about the performances of debutant Barry Donnelly and Cormac O’Reilly, who was making his first start of the campaign, Galligan was fulsome in his praise.

“Absolutely, both guys I thought were immense. Cormac presented really well, he got a great score before half-time, he just tired in the second half so it was great to kind of get him off healthy.

“Barry Donnelly, to me, was just outstanding tonight. Barry is a great fella, he came in really hungry and it’s a testament to the work that's gone on over the last number of years with him because he's really fit and his cruising speed really is top class. And we gave him a job on Daniel Guinness today to be defensive-minded, but I think he really hurt Down breaking lines and fair play to him.”

Galligan also highlighted the importance of squad depth in this league campaign.

“It's great now, because that's what the league's about. It was putting the trust in the young guys, throwing them in and seeing how they go because we don't want to finish the league having worked on the same 20, 22 players.

“We need to get depth, and we need to be able to go into the championship knowing that we've got really, really good players that are going to push and drive that competition. So for those two guys, I'm delighted, and you know, lots of other younger guys have stepped up over the last couple of weeks, which is nice to see as well.”

Injuries remain a concern for Cavan, with key player Dara McVeety, who had been in superb form, missing out on this match.

“Dara picked up a knock against Westmeath and, to be fair, he kept playing through – I suppose, the character of Dara, it's all about the team, but it just left that he had a wee quad injury.

“We're hoping two, three weeks, it will be touch and go for round six. But it was just great to get through today without having to push him. Because we could have maybe tried to push him in there, but that opportunity arose for the likes of Barry, and he grabbed it with both hands, which really strengthens our hand going forward with more options in different areas of the field.”

Cavan targeted kick-outs and aimed to work better as a unit in that area.

“Yeah, well, I suppose we probably were a little bit stagnant on our own kick-outs last weekend. We probably just didn't work together as a pack, so we just kind of put a little bit more emphasis on just kind of getting in for that breaking ball and working together as a pack.

“And, yeah, look, we identified players like Murdock and Havern that would be big jumpers for them. And it's funny, Oisin Kiernan was detailed on Pat Havern today. And we knew it would be a mismatch in the air, but we just knew we'd have other guys that would do that job.

“But I thought Oisin was immense on him today, he really kind of did his job. The kick-out now is really a breaking ball contest, and you have no four warriors – the likes of the Faulkners, Hollas (Ciaran Brady), Oisin Kiernan, Niall Carolan, Jason McLoughlin – these lads are just immense. And you know, we should be very proud as Cavan people to have these lads just week after week coming out and putting in huge performances.”

Cavan's next test comes against a formidable Roscommon side, who have generally had Cavan’s number over the last 15 years.

“Well, look, we know Roscommon is going to be a huge battle. And historically, Roscommon have given us lots of headaches because they've a fantastic team. But I think for us now, over the next two weeks, it's really about just knuckling down and tidying up lots of areas. Like our scoring efficiency was poor today, we can definitely tidy that up.

“Down got through for 1-18, we'd probably be disappointed with that. They missed lots of opportunities too, so both defensively and in attack, we have lots of areas to improve, we are by no means the finished articles. So we'll work on our fitness, we'll put the head down. We'll do a nice piece of work this week, and then look, we will just take the weekend to really fine-tune our own game. But certainly, we won't be putting a whole pile of focus on Roscommon because I think with these new rules, it's about just keeping your own house in order and keeping working on it. So that'll be our primary focus over the next two weeks.”

Paddy Lynch's Road to RecoveryOne notable absence from the Cavan squad is Paddy Lynch, whose recovery from injury remains a priority. The Crosserlough man has not played since sustaining an ACL injury last April.

“Unfortunately, as I said a few weeks ago, Paddy had a wee setback there about three or four weeks ago, and it probably is just a little soon in the sense of thinking, will he be back in two, three weeks? Probably not, to be honest.

“With Paddy, I don't want to rush it, management and medical team certainly don’t. We have to respect Paddy, we have to think of the longer game, and the easy thing to do would be trying to push him into a situation where he's just not ready or comfortable. So we want to make sure that when he comes back, he is bulletproof and that he is really, really ready to go, and unfortunately, he's just not there.

“But look, he's been fantastic around the camp, driving players and standards on, so hopefully, we might see him by the end of the league, but I'd say Roscommon just may come too soon to be totally honest.”