Division 3

So after 2 games it seems impossible to say who will stay and who will go up or Down in this Division..

Cavan and Westmeath shared the spoils yesterday in Cusack Park largely thanks to a fortuitous goal from Johnston which the Westmeath keeper should have handled.. The much talked about McKiernan kicked 2 points in injury time to bring away a point for the Breffni men who kicked a huge amount of wides and balls into the goalie's hands. Great to see Givney back too..

John Heslin may be left to seriously regret his strike out at Johnston in the dying minutes as it leaves him out of the U-21 Championship game in Portlaoise on Wednesday..

Wexford have got off to a flyer so far and after Limerick's championship performances last year few would have expected them to be footing the table after 2 games. Louth look like a good bet to get to Division 2 this year and if Cavan don't get a home win against Waterford next weekend they would be favourites to drop especially with so many tough away games to come. A lot of games to be played yet though.

Cavan certainly have plenty of options round the middle with Givney and McKiernan both rejoining the panel after pre-season provincial competitions, and the precocious Cullivan could start to deliver on what he's been promising for a few years. Anything but Lorcan Mulvey and Ciaran Galligan, that's for sure. Pierson is a healthy addition in the forwards too. You know a lot of Cavan folk would put him in a bracket with Jelly Johnston. Dark horses for an Anglo Celt Cup in my opinion.

Meath have been making a habit out of not playing u21s the week preceding the u21 Championship. Normally, that means missing just one game as we're yet to negotiate the first round in three years. Can't understand why Westmeath wouldn't adopt a similiar policy and looks like they're going to pay the price. I notice the Dubs played a risky strategy too by starting a few of theirs against Cork.

Westmeath took that approach last year and it helped get them to a Leinster U-21 Final. Big mistake there from Pat Flanagan.. Lynam and Heslin should not have been in the squad for Sunday..

Terry Hyland said that Cavan U-21s would not appear for the Seniors until after their competition was over, they went back on this after the Offaly defeat and have played 4 U-21s in the past 2 games. Cavan aren't in action until mid March so hopefully good sense will prevail and they won't be risked after the Waterford game..

Cian Mackey back into the Cavan squad for Sunday's game. He's been training all winter for this..
McKiernan is named at wing forward but will surely work from the middle. Givney still on the bench which is strange. Podge Reilly and Fannin out for Nesty and Givney and that's probably our team v Donegal/Antrim.
If we lose to Waterford with what is 70% of our Championship side we may give it up altogether.. Memories of 2006 still haunt us..

Louth have to faves to go up..
Least we have a win on the board...
Cavan for sam!

Is Mickey Lyng back in the Cavan set-up?

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:Is Mickey Lyng back in the Cavan set-up?

Not that I am aware of but we will see if he is or not now that DCU are out.. Personally I wouldn't have him. I think the Antrim game was his last game before quitting and he was more interested in getting involved in off the ball incidents than playing football. A supreme talent that never realised his potential and is now ravaged by injury. With a Gaels attitude to boot.

An in-form forward division of Givney - McKiernan - Nesty - Lyng - Reilly / Flanagan - Pierson - Cullivan - Jelly would be very dangerous to even the most organised of defences.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:An in-form forward division of Givney - McKiernan - Nesty - Lyng - Reilly / Flanagan - Pierson - Cullivan - Jelly would be very dangerous to even the most organised of defences.

Prescient observation here....A lot of counties would be happy with a pick of that potential.....Issues at the back must be the problem.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:An in-form forward division of Givney - McKiernan - Nesty - Lyng - Reilly / Flanagan - Pierson - Cullivan - Jelly would be very dangerous to even the most organised of defences.

Givney and McKiernan and Barry Reilly all untested at senior level, potential in abundance but I've learned that, especially in Cavan, potential is rarely realised. (Barry Watters, Ado Cole, Conor Smith, Enda Gaffney, Walsh etc etc..) But these 3 are closer than those I have mentioned so perhaps they will not be lost.

Pierson is a puzzle. As Loyal rightly says he is viewed by many to be as good as Johnston.. But he is a strange man and while it's great to see him committed again his last quality Championship performance was against Armagh in 2004. He played 70 odd minutes v Waterford and only once was he able to catch turn and score.

Come Championship time it will be the same old story.. Johnston the only real threat in a mediocre forward line. Poor defensively and not committed enough overall to challenge anyone other than the bottom quarter of the teams. Until the Club scene improves drastically and the drink culture can be tamed we will remain a long way down the pecking order I fear..

Well Givney has played senior intercounty for 2years I think hes the real deal...
Mckiernan I have my doubts about but he does have the size and will be intersesting how he plays with the 21s without givney, can he be a leader...
Reilly wonderful potenial could be as good as jelly will need to fill out more but has the brains to be a serious player..
Keating another man who should come good but not near the other 3 questionable attitude..
The list you gave jonsmith watters might come good from what i heard the lad went through serious personal problems and may come back.
Smith and ado have not got the pace and were not even on the u21s team.( Smith played u21 for 3 years and could not get near the team last year)
Defense too nice id have gaynor there for pure badness if you can get his head right, alan clarke a man who can also hit hard mcutchon is a player im a fan off...

A game plan is a must I still cannot see one developing...

Typical from Cavan.. losing by 5 points at halftime, back level with 4 minutes left and give away a goal and get a man sent off.. No defenders apart from McCutcheon, no composure in the backs at all. Lyng and Keating appearing for Cavan..
I'd rather drop to Division 4 than the usual clinging to Div 3 by our fingernails..

Wasnt at the game jonsmith had a club challenge
Any positives or good peformances?
Hopefully a win wed will cheer us up!

scoopmine wrote:Wasnt at the game jonsmith had a club challenge
Any positives or good peformances?
Hopefully a win wed will cheer us up!

I wasn't at it myself Scoop, only got to listen to it on the radio, it wasn't Tynan though so I got some idea of what was actually going on as opposed to each players parentage.. I suppose a positive is that we were 5 points down at half time and our Midfield and forwards won enough ball in the second half to level things up going into the last few minutes, they didn't lie down. All their good work was undone by a terrible defence though who let in a goal every time we got to level..
Givney missed an open goal at the beginning of the second half, Johnston was kept scoreless from play.. The biggest problem is the fullback line. We have no tried and trusted full back or corner backs.. Limerick strolled through them time after time. Same old story and no answer in the pipeline either, any decent U-21 talents are all attacking players, and Rory Dunne is injured.

Wednesday will hopefully lift the spirits but Fermanagh will be tough to beat.. I think Down annihilated us in a challenge last weekend which doesn't bode well for our chances in Ulster..

From what I heard we beat down by a point!
I agree completely about the defense..
The best full back in the championship tommy wakely is not on the panel granted he is not a long term solution but id have him there if hes fit..
The idea of playing alan clarke corner back is not right half back only place for him...
Is tomas reilly a idea played well u21s wing back and has played full back with the club..
The big man debate on the HS is something i laughed at!
I expect to win wed and might throw a few quid on them dangerous I know!

Well my source was far from reliable on the Down game! My last comment on the big man argument didn't get published and I'm not wasting my time writing in again about it.. I shouldn't have bothered to reply to the man who called Ray Cullivan "small and dumpy"

I'd be very wary about betting on U-21 football, especially Cavan! But here's hoping..

Thinking a mon cavan and donegal bet...
Won on 2 races today so worth a punt!
Haha there is some awful wums there was hoping to see a reply for a laugh!

Just thought I'd click into this thread.

Familarise myself with the place and all.

My my, it's lonely enough down here - just Jonsmith and Scoopmine for company.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:Just thought I'd click into this thread.

Familarise myself with the place and all.

My my, it's lonely enough down here - just Jonsmith and Scoopmine for company.

And neither of them will be there with you next year, the way Cavan are going!

Comprehensively defeated by Wexford.. Two point margin flattering Cavan in the extreme and we now sit at the basement of Division 3 with home games to come against Louth and Tipp to avoid relegation and wins required in both. So we are odds on to be in Division 4 next year.
Some people think it would be a terrible scenario but personally I think it might help dispel any illusions of grandeur that seems to be in some players heads, if this squad are responsible for Cavan dropping to the bottom Division (for the first time?) then they might face up to the reality of the commitment required for progress..
2 wins would probably keep us up so our fate is still in our own hands at this point.. I'd like to think that they can do it.

We have it tough!

Good win last night louth have been on a slide ever since the elections
U21s all played well
Least there is hope!

We had to do it and we did. Helped by Louth being absolutely terrible but a win is a win. The U-21's all played very well from what I heard. Tipp is a must win game now too..

Good win and a good performance all round from Cavan today, made hard work of things in the end but were never in any real danger. Johnston really showed his class today, Eugene Keating was fantastic in patches. Givney completely controlled the midfield for a long period in the second half giving us the platform to get well ahead and was unlucky to get sent off by the atrocious referee. Cheer of the day was for the return of the prodigal son Anthony Gaynor, if he has matured he could provide some aggression to our struggling defence..

It's encouraging that when they were backed into a corner needing two wins they came out and got them, in terms of the squad and the attitude they are showing, I'm more encouraged now than I was at this stage last year. This week was the most important for a few years in Cavan, got the win today now let's see if the 21's can pull off a minor miracle in Brewster.

Youtube video of hyland after the game is good. He was on about the style of football cavan play... sthhhhhhhhhyle!