Cavan hope to lower the Banner

Paul Fitzpatrick

Writing in The Anglo-Celt this week, Clare-based journalist Joe Ó Muircheartaigh recalled the long established links between both counties.
"I know," he wrote, "it’s true that the Breffni bequeathed Shercock’s Micheál McDermott to the Banner and apart from leading Kilmurry Ibrickane to a Munster title in 2009 and all the way to an All-Ireland final the following St Patrick’s Day he also managed the county senior for three years and in 2012 became the last man to guide them to a Munster final.
"And there’s more thanks to a couple of players from Cavan’s gilded generation of the 1930s and ‘40s once coming to Clare’s rescue at a time when the impartiality, fairness and competence of local referees could never be taken for granted on county final days.
It was 1945 when Big Tom O’Reilly agreed to referee the final between Cooraclare and Kilmurry Ibrickane — the Cornafaen man was busy that year having captained Cavan in the All-Ireland final defeat to Cork, while he was also a sitting member of Dáil Éireann, so maybe it was Leinster House business that eventually came between him from making the long journey to the final venue in Miltown Malbay that year.
"Not that he left Clare in the lurch. Never. Being the gentle giant that Big Tom was, he sent a sub in fellow member of the All-Ireland winning classes of 1933 and ’35 in Bailieborough’s Patsy Lynch to ensure that the West Clare gathering was more than just a faction fight and there was actually some football played."
The ties that bind go back a long way, then, and while Clare is not exactly a neighbouring county, there are so many Banner exiles here among the drumlins that they have their own society!
That may mean some loyalties on the terraces today will be divided but that's okay; that's always the way, in fact. 
Clare, funnily enough, have never beaten Cavan at senior level but they probably should have done when the sides met in February 2018 in Cusack Park, Ennis.

READ MORE: Banner view? Cavan hold the upper hand

Despite hitting the net with their very first attack, Cavan found themselves six down and staring down the barrel on the home stretch.
The Blues dug it out, though, and came back up the road with a point. Cian Mackey came off the bench to kick a couple, Dara McVeety bagged a goal and a late free from Bryan Magee secured the draw. By the end of the campaign, an unlikely promotion had been achieved.
This time around, things looked fairly bleak early on in the campaign too but the players have shown more faith than a lot of the fans and (hands up!) some of the media. They stuck with it and have been rewarded with three successive wins.
It's actually quite rare that Cavan win four league or championship matches in succession. From 2010 until the end of that decade, it happened just three times, the 2014 NFL Division 3 (seven wins), the 2016 NFL Division 2 (five wins) and 2018 NFL Division 2 (four wins).
So to string together a hat-trick in Division 2 represents good going and a fourth win would be outstanding. And Cavan are rated as hot favourites (2/5) with the bookmakers to make it four victories in a row this Sunday (2.30pm, Kingspan Breffni).
The Breffni men should win but Mickey Graham will have to guard against complacency, which has caught Cavan teams out in the past (who can forget Waterford?).
Cavan deserved their win in Brewster Park but the breaks did fall their way, with Fermanagh missing so many chances and giving up two soft goals at key times in the second half.
Worryingly, Ciaran Corrigan's pace caused problems for the defence at times but as a unit, they did well. Conroy and Kiernan were magnificent, with the Lavey man using the ball brilliantly and Kiernan now playing like he does with his club, tearing forward.
We made the point last week that a win against a mean Erne side would probably depend on Gearoid McKiernan chipping in with scores to take the pressure off a starting attack which had not been banging over that many from play.
The big man did just that and if he continues in that vein of form, Cavan will win. If not, it could be tight against a team who will be raging against the dying of the light and with two narrow one-point losses, are better than thei record suggests.
For the record, of the 21 players used against Clare in January 2018, just seven remain on the panel two years on.

The Cavan team which drew with Clare in the National League in January 2018 was: Raymond Galligan; Donal Monahan, Padraig Faulkner, David Phillips; Darragh Kennedy, Ciaran Brady (0-1), Oisin Kiernan (0-1); Killian Clarke, Jack Wharton; Enda Flanagan, Dara McVeety (1-1), David Brady; Caoimhin O'Reilly (1-1, 0-1f), Bryan Magee (0-2f), Conor Madden.
Subs: Conor Moynagh for Jack Wharton (23), Cian Mackey (0-2) for Darragh Kennedy (half-time), Niall McKiernan for Conor Madden (half-time), Adrian Cole (0-1), for David Brady (41), Ryan Connolly for Caoimihin O'Reilly (63), Conor Brady for Niall McKiernan (69).