Just a quick message from a visiting Down supporter at Breffni last night. Regardless of the result, the Cavan fans were knowledgeable, good humoured and a credit to the association. It was great to see Cavan's first GAA president inaugurated earlier in the day and Breffni is always a place where a fine atmosphere is guaranteed.

In terms of the game, the weather conditions were so extreme, with a gale force wind and driving rain throughout, that it would be impossible to judge either side properly. Down won because we made marginally fewer mistakes than Cavan, and also because we had six different scorers from play while Cavan had only two. This is a very tight division, and the promotion and relegation issues are not likely to be settled until the final round of fixtures.

MourneRising (Down) - Posts: 238 - 01/03/2015 14:36:49    1697914

At least I say it as it is hardtimes....not like you and your cronies, afraid to put a bit of criticism Terry's way...ps my username hasn't changed!

deanmartin (Cavan) - Posts: 643 - 01/03/2015 14:40:58    1697915

Its not rocket science, to win games, you need to score, with and against the wind, Down always looked to play the ball forward, we didn't, again, too many players turning back. Flanagan gets a lot of praise on this forum for being a sweeper, a sweeper just doesn't break up play, he creates play as well, and Flanagan is far too slow releasing the ball, in fact, I don't think he has the vision.

deanmartin (Cavan) - Posts: 643 - 01/03/2015 14:46:19    1697920

I think this is the first game in a long time Cavan had no fight in them ,I will admit were doing well with in all fairness is a very poor forward line ,a target man went out the window when keating opted out and I find it hard to believe we can be as good with out him ,were lucky in recent games the scores are coming from elsewhere ,but Division 1 was never a target for me as we wouldn't cope there, but we should be pushing to stay in div 2 , but in recent posts I did say down and Galway are two teams I didn't think we can play well against,i would like to see the forward line tinkered a bit as I think were at our worst there.

bisto kid (Cavan) - Posts: 492 - 01/03/2015 15:12:11    1697926

Have to agree with deanmartin here, until we can criticise constructively the Cavan management we are not going to see improvement and on last nights performance 95% of players on show gave only a fraction of what they are capable of, I think far too many players guaranteed their place no matter how they play so they have no motivation to improve, that is a management issue. Mc Loughlin was best for Cavan IMO he looked good and scored a good point, but was far too loose on Mc Laverty who got on the ball as much as he wanted to and was very influential. I agree also on the sweeper , value to the team very overrated , gets on the ball but not creative at all. Down made significant substitutions in timely fashion, Cavan made three subs in the dying minutes of the game, were they asleep.? Watching iit on the recordin of it back it looked even worse than it did on the pitch and if all the analysis and stats people are capable of lookin at that performance they have to admit that they re not gettin the best out of the players.

shannon414 (Cavan) - Posts: 228 - 01/03/2015 16:43:01    1697971

I have no problem giving criticism or praise deanmartin as I see fit. Unlike you who only posts when we lose. Same old predictable nonsense from you now that we've lost a game - sack the manager . You sound like your typical premiership follower . Like I said before, you'll have to change your username again if we beat Kildare .

Hardtimes (Cavan) - Posts: 1056 - 01/03/2015 17:02:04    1697986

Management this, management that. But at the end of the day lads, we can't sign players. We have to work with what we have. Keating should be begged to come back in. Monaghan will have no trouble keeping us quiet up front.

Ned_Stormcrow (Cavan) - Posts: 1071 - 01/03/2015 17:53:08    1698007

Westmeath winning now topping the table is there a glimmer of hope we can beat Kildare next Saturday. My main worry here is Kildare have lost again and it's win or bust for them should they loose it's division 3 for Kildare. The other two matches postponed anyone know why. ??

mowbar (Cavan) - Posts: 452 - 01/03/2015 18:17:46    1698019

Dean Martin, you truly are the epitome of all that is wrong with these forums.

Last time we heard from you you were telling us that you didn't blame Seanie for transferring counties. You've had nothing to say, positive or negative, during the league campaign to date. But as sure as Tom Smith will start a new thread about divisional teams there was no doubt that you'd weigh in with your bull once Cavan lost.

You see, to be taken seriously, you'd have to at least try to make a balanced post. But all we get is the same old sh***.

At least it's obvious that Tom Smith's posts are tongue in cheek.

Skelling (USA) - Posts: 289 - 01/03/2015 19:23:22    1698059

Skelling, the last time you saw Cavan play was when? Hardtimes, have a look at my posts post the Roscommon match, which we won. I live in a world called reality, and Ive been to mosts matches this year, so Im certainly entitled to my opinion. And again, if theres people out there that think we've improved leaps and bounds under Hyland, then theyre deluded. One win against Roscommon and youd think we were all Ireland champions by the way some people went on. There were people who took positives from the McKenna Cup, apart from one half against Monaghan and one against Tyrone, it was abysmal football.
So Skelling, if you don't already know, this forum isn't a praise Cavan forum, its for supporters to give honest opinions. Might see u in Breffni next weekend.

deanmartin (Cavan) - Posts: 643 - 01/03/2015 19:48:57    1698075

Cavan poor last night. Awful conditions but Down handled it better. I dont know how Martin Dunne lasted 70 mins. And I dont know why Mackey was brought on after 33 mins. Give him 10-15 mins or dont ply him at all. Hopefully a blip and we can move on and learn from it. The 2 week break didnt do us any good, as the performance was nowhere near the level of the first 2 games

Crash Bang Wallop (None) - Posts: 268 - 01/03/2015 20:21:37    1698086

Good man dean martin. I thought you'd be back today since we lost. Fair play to you going to all the games but I thought you might have noticed we drew with Roscommon, we didn't win. I suppose that's the most positive thing you have ever said on here so well done for that.

fredflint (Cavan) - Posts: 1483 - 01/03/2015 20:33:27    1698090

I don't agree with the "sack the manager " posts ,as where were we before terry took charge ? ,but I would love him and the management team to be sharper with subs ,look where were not performing and make the changes straight away, swap men around - do whatever needs to be done ,and I would like them to be more open minded about new players ,as our full forward line is bad ,or get a natural ball winner and learn him to score,and for movement values and running on to passes martin Dunne should be playing a half forward roll as chances to score would be greatly increased I think. hoping we can pick ourselves up after this .

bisto kid (Cavan) - Posts: 492 - 01/03/2015 20:50:05    1698095

Congrats to Down last night. The slightly hungrier and better prepared team took the points in woeful conditions. I was gutted for the lads who seemed to have got back in the game just before the sending off. Great to see Mackey back in the Breffni Blue. We have to dust ourselves down, get our heads together and prepare ourselves for Saturday night. Keep it up lads. This is where we want to be. Down are a dogged team that have lots of experience in the top two divisions. I see the naysayers ard back. Hey you guys I missed ye!!

cavan97 (Cavan) - Posts: 369 - 01/03/2015 20:51:32    1698096

We're going nowhere with small, weak and timid forwards. Apart from Mc Dermott the others didn't want to know.

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 01/03/2015 21:23:35    1698114

Have to hand it to the Terry supporters, they'd find positives in every situation no matter how bad we perform.
Remember all the pre Down posts, Down are rebuilding, we should beat them in Breffni. Fact is, Down looked head and
shoulders above us, they played positive attack minded football even though the conditions were terrible. Cavan, at times,
looked clueless in possession, gave away far too many passes, serious inability to kick scores even with a strong wind behind us.
Fact is, Terry is in his 4th year with Cavan and we are no better off than his 1st year.

deanmartin (Cavan) - Posts: 643 - 01/03/2015 21:56:01    1698130

Cavan97 - this is where we want to be you said? where exactly do we want to be? losing at home to Down?

deanmartin (Cavan) - Posts: 643 - 01/03/2015 21:57:39    1698134

"positive attack minded football"??? with 13 men behind the ball?? come off it, I love and respect the Mournemen for their contribution to football over the years but to say that about Saturday nights performance (and they were the better team) is fanciful at best.

ramor101 (Cavan) - Posts: 289 - 02/03/2015 09:05:26    1698148

Ramor101 - you can have 15 men behind the ball, but still be attack minded. My point being when Down had possession, they were always looking to move it forward. They had players running off the shoulder, into space, looking for the ball. When Cavan were in possession, they were too slow to release it, resulting in the ball going back and back again.
Anyone that knows Gaelic Football should know that a ball should only go back once, and then either forward or left/right. If its played back, then the player in possession should play the ball forward or left/right. If it goes left/right, then that player needs to make sure it goes forward.
Cavan are trying to play a game that they simply dont have the players to do it. Donegal, Tyrone all have the players capable of playing this type of game - Hyland needs to find a game plan to suit the players he has at his descretion. In other words, go back to basics.

cavanblueman (Cavan) - Posts: 636 - 02/03/2015 10:15:59    1698181

There have been some very good posts recently on our progress. I agree with those who say it's too early to be super negative, but posters have every right to call it as they see it. That's what this forum is about, opinions.

At the end of last season I posted that I felt we were stalled at our current level. Since then we have seen changes. Peter Donnelly is gone ( I think that was a pity, but when Tyrone came calling for him, it's understandable that he responded.) Joe McCarthy is also gone. (Again, I think that's also a pity because I rate his football knowledge and instincts.) We have introduced a new influence from the West. ( that's welcome and hopefully that influence will bear fruit this year.) There is also some recent evidence of a desire / attempt to change our style of play, particularly our forward strategy. ( that's also welcome, if not yet convincing).

One thing that hasn't changed, so far, is the poor use of the panel during games. We introduced two subs in injury time, and attempted a third with 15 seconds left to play. I don't see the logic in this and wouldn't expect to see it at club level.

What also hasn't changed is the number of players who seem to get more opportunities than their performances merit .Once the McKenna cup finished, and everyone was available again, the team became very predictable around players who always seem to start under current management, or get introduced, and those who don't.

In my opinion, there are at least five players on the management A list that have had plenty of opportunities to deliver and have failed. The fact that you had a good game two or three years ago shouldn't mean that you keep getting selected in the hope that you'll eventually reproduce that performance. I can't help concluding, on the basis of what I see, that there is one assessment rule for one group of players and another for a different group.

To finish on a positive note, it's great to see that Cian Mackey is on the mend. He is a special player who doesn't need a script and can make things happen all by himself.

ondforty (Cavan) - Posts: 460 - 02/03/2015 10:40:36    1698200