Bellew sees room for improvement

Hurling

Kevin Óg Carney

Bellew blasts back. Well, he didn’t really but suggestions after last Saturday’s victory that his men won pulling up in the end didn’t cut it with the Belfast Boy.

“We sailed too close to the wind at the end there for my liking,” Bellew reflected after what appeared to many present at Kingspan Breffni to have been a comfortable Cavan victory.

“Monaghan were only eight behind and nearly got in for two goals inside the last 10 minutes but Shane (Briody) made a great interception and then Mattie (Hynes) blocked a goal bound shot.

“We had a bit of a cushion at the end but it wasn’t that comfortable and it definitely wasn’t at the level of performance that we’ve become used to from these lads.”

Bellew isn’t known as a ‘glass half-empty merchant’ but he obviously believed that his men made life a bit too hard on themselves in the wake of a dominant first half at the end of which they led by 2-12 to 0-9.

According to their team-manager, the Cavan players allowed themselves to be “dragged into a dog fight” after the interval. He was disappointed that Monaghan cancelled out (1-5 to 0-8) Cavan on the restart.

“There was a lot of scrappy hurling in the second half; a lot of physical stuff, lots of aggression and negative stuff but from our point of view, we were looking for a lot better return than we got (in the second half).

“It was pretty low scoring stuff in the second half but it was a heavy pitch, there was a wet sod and not ideal conditions really overall but other than the great result, which is the most important thing, the performance left us with a lot of reminders of how we need to improve going forward.”

The Antrim man praised his side’s work ethic on a day in which he felt that “everything pointed towards a banana skin lying in front of us beforehand.”

“Monaghan pushed us out of our comfort zone in the last quarter when we had controlled the game before that but we just didn’t put them away.

“The pleasing thing is that we were very sharp out of the blocks, just like the last day (against Warwickshire) so that’s a good habit to get into but we’ve got to keep it that way.

“Anything can happen in the championship because it only needs the underdog to produce a couple of sucker punches and you have an upset on your plate.

“We know what it’s like to be at the end of a sucker punch; Longford and Leitrim landed those sort of punches on us over the last couple of years.

“As I say beating Monaghan is a great result. That’s two wins from two games so we can’t ask for any better results than that.

“As regards our performance though, we’ll be looking for the lads to be more consistent and to keep getting good starts as well as keeping a high standard of hurling going for the full 70 minutes. “

A ring of confidence must be positioned over the Cavan dressing room now though?

“Yes, we played with a bit of a swagger today and you could almost see the chests puffed out in our lads.

“I’m delighted that we’re playing in a confident way and that there’s a swagger there; that’s what I want to see.

“But that’s what I expect of these lads. They’re intelligent people with good hurling brains and they know themselves that we have the potential to play better for longer.”