Opinion: Faith in football restored as Cavan continue to improve

Analysis

Cavan’s win in a thoroughly-enjoyable match made this an evening to remember for local football fans, writes DAMIEN DONOHOE.

My faith in football has been restored after Saturday night's game in Kingspan Breffni. Not just because we picked up a vital win but because of the excitement during the game. You couldn’t take your eyes off the game for one second without missing something.

The last few matches have been good to watch and better entertainment than the majority of games I’ve seen for many years now, but this was up with the best games - in terms of engagement -I’ve ever seen. There still were mistakes but those mistakes added to the entertainment and connection for the spectators.

We saw 38 scores distributed across goals, two-pointers and single points and our point total to shots rate was 23 from 33 or 69%, which definitely could be better. That said Cavan did hit 12 one-pointers in the first half. By my count there was no fewer than 62 shots taken with six goal chances in total. We saw the climax of the game reached were everyone knew just how long was left and just what Cavan had to do to hold on before the hooter sounded.

The fear that it would become too easy for the forwards with the new rules was an area I had concern around but maybe we weren’t giving defenders enough credit. One of the interesting features that stood out for me was the art of tackling is now visible and being rewarded because a referee’s view of the tackle isn’t impeded by multiple players around the ball-carrier.

The tempo was set early in the game when Gearoid McKiernan blocked a kick on the Cavan 45 and debutant Barry Donnolly forced a turnover in the same area. Niall Carolan and Brían O’Connell won possession with clinical tackles and the outstanding Jason McLoughlin denied a goal chance for Down with a brilliantly timed and delivered interception.

It’s so great to have McKiernan back on the team and I think everyone now fully appreciates what a generational talent he is. Saturday’s game saw him cross the 400-point total mark and he did it in style.

Cavan were a point down with eight minutes to go and his total was 399. After helping the defence to get the ball back, he was late joining the attack but who else would you want joining it late when there’s a big score needed but Gearoid, who swung that trusty left boot to hit our only two-pointer of the game.

What really impressed me on Saturday was the way we managed to vary our attacking play. Our most common form was running the ball with someone taking on their man or quick hand passes to runners off the shoulder leading to a shot. Barry Donnelly, Ciaran Brady, Oisin Kiernan and Cian Madden all scored points this way.

What was different this week was how we played and used Cormac O’Reilly as a full-forward. The Mullahoran man, in his first start of the year, made runs from the goal mouth out to the D and was trusted to win possession even when his marker was breathing down his neck.

Winning the ball in the centre channel close to goals delivers better outcomes than any other position on the field and Cavan usually ended up with a score. That brought a different dynamic to our attacking play and Down looked like they were caught out by it.

Attacking in two different ways is better than one but three different ways is best of all because it keeps the opposition defence guessing all the time.

Our ‘third way’ was to deliver in the odd high ball to the square when McKiernan or James Smith were in a one v one situation close to goal. I’m not sure this led to any scores directly but what it did was kept other defenders a little closer to goal, ready to come to their teammates’ assistance if needed. That, in turn, gave our players a little space and time around the arc.

That space and time was evident for Cavan’s goal. Padraig Faulkner and Ciaran Brady got to the goal mouth when Oisin Kiernan was given the ball around the 45. Worried about a high ball or an early ball in, Down neglected to pick up Cian Madden, who was free and found perfectly by Kiernan just inside the arc.

Madden’s decision to not take the shot was made by Luke Fortune’s man leaving him free in front of goal and when Faulkner’s direct marker came to Fortune, he left the wrong man free close to goal as Faulkner bagged his seventh Cavan goal.

There were some very good individual performances outside of those mentioned already. Oisin Brady is looking more and more like a player that could deliver on his huge potential. He has pace and power to go by a man and has two good feet to score.

Barry Donnelly also gave a debut performance to remember, scoring two points but generally raising Cavan fans off their seat when he had ball in hand. Brían O’Connell and Oisin Kiernan had to put in top-class defending jobs to curtail the much-lauded Odhran Murdock, Down’s captain, and their top scorer Pat Havern.

All these positives came after the blow we heard before the start of the game that Dara McVeety was out through injury. McVeety had landed a 13-point total in the opening four games and was arguably Cavan’s most consistent performer. Throw Paddy Lynch’s absence on top of that and you must hand it to the management that they’ve built a panel that still packs a punch off the bench with Darragh Lovett, Sean McEvoy, Cian Madden and Killian Clarke all capable of making an impact.

With three wins in a row and six points on the board, Raymond Galligan and the Cavan team look to have secured Division 2 football for another year. Having beaten three of the four teams below us on the table, it would take a freakish set of results in the final two rounds for Cavan to be dragged into a relegation position.

Having lost to both Meath and Monaghan it is also unlikely but not impossible that we end up in a promotion place. It would take two more wins for us and one or both of those sides to not win either of their final two games.

Walking down to the pitch after the game, you could hear the buzz of excitement among the Cavan fans. A couple of diehard Cavan fans stopped to chat leaving the grounds as I was walking by, and one said to the other with a smile on his face “That was football…”

And so it was.