IT doesn’t get any easier for Cavan champions once they head into the Ulster championship.
Outside of the victories over Lamh Dhearg and Derrygonnelly that brought Cavan Gaels to the 2017 final, no club from the Breffni county has managed so much as a single, solitary win in the senior provincial arena during the last decade and more.
The chances of that rotten run of form changing on Saturday evening appear slim. Not just because history is against Crosserlough, but because they are coming up against a Kilcoo side hell-bent on making up for the disappointments of the last two years.
The newly-crowned Cavan champions, however, come in with a bit more motivation than most who have lifted the Oliver Plunkett Cup in recent times, because this is an opportunity that was denied them before.
Back in 2020 Crosserlough ended a 48-year wait for a county title but, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, were unable to test their mettle in Ulster after that year’s championship was called off.
The likes of midfielder Peter Smith, just 20 then, came off the bench as Kingscourt Stars were eventually edged out after a replay. Four years on, he is ‘Lough captain, joining brothers Kieran and James, man of the match in that 2020 decider.
The hugely influential Dara McVeety was in the middle of a tour of South America when the pandemic struck, and could only watch from afar as club and county celebrated momentous days in austere, surreal environments.
With the likes of McVeety back pulling the strings, the powerful James Smith and Conor Rehill in flying form, Crosserlough are a better, more experienced side now under Carrickmore native Ryan Daly.
And that is before you even get to Paddy Lynch.
The Cavan forward - who has proved himself among the best in Ulster - suffered a torn cruciate ligament in training at the end of April, just days after the Breffnimen’s Ulster exit to Tyrone.
Lynch hasn’t kicked a ball since and, despite rumours he could play some part in the county final win over Ramor United, was kept in cold storage. With another three weeks to prepare, perhaps this is the time when he makes his return.
Against a Kilcoo side built on the most solid of defensive foundations, there would be far easier ways to break yourself back into competitive action.
Ryan McEvoy was a stand-out performer throughout the Down championship, as he has been in county colours, popping up at full-back, midfield, full-forward - all to impressive effect.
However, given the relative lack of height throughout the rest of Karl Lacey’s side, he is most likely to be handed the brief of looking out for James Smith.
Kilcoo come into Ulster in the unusual position of not having been fully extended in Down. The county final against Burren was an exhibition in control, and composure. The same against Glenn and Mayobridge in the rounds before.
Their intensity levels will have to crank up another notch but, having been around the block so many times through the years, few know better how to build towards a peak at the business end of the season.
Last year’s quarter-final exit to Scotstown in Newry – and particularly the nature of it, having uncharacteristically given up a commanding position – really stung. Another league success saw Kilcoo lean heavily on the wider panel, with so many key men involved with Conor Laverty’s Mournemen up until the end of the Tailteann Cup campaign in mid-July.
That experience will have benefitted Kilcoo, and the young men too. An 11th Down crown in 12 years was won without the mercurial talents of Ryan Johnston and, while Saturday night may come too soon as he recovers from an ankle injury, he could be an ace in their pack further along the track.
With the possibility of a revenge mission against Scotstown in the last four to come, it is hard to imagine the Magpies will not be lying in wait.
