CAVAN’S Division One fate may seem ominous at this stage, but with more than half their League season still left to play Killian Brady isn’t throwing in the towel just yet.
The Breffni county currently occupy one of the two relegation spots, along with Roscommon, and sit three points behind sixth-placed Kerry.
They do have a game in hand on the teams around them – against Tyrone on Sunday – and the Mullahoran man is hoping that they can close the gap on their rivals before they return to action.
“No, because we have still four games left,” was Brady’s response when asked was it win or bust at Healy Park.
“It’s going to be very tough, no doubt. We have Kerry and Mayo coming up after it and we have only one home game left (Kerry).
“The Tyrone match is very important but we have four games left to save ourselves. It’s getting tighter but I’m still optimistic about it.
“There doesn’t seem to be as much of a break between the games this year so if we get a win this weekend against Tyrone, we can build up some momentum.
“We are out four weeks on the trot now and a winning momentum can really help you for those games in quick succession.”
The last of those fixtures is away to Roscommon, and it appears that at least one win against the Red Hands, Mayo or Kerry is a necessity to ensure that they have something to play for at Dr Hyde Park.
“Roscommon are at the bottom of the table along with us so I’m sure they’ll be approaching that game with the exact same idea,” Brady continued.
“It’s important for us to pick up a few points before we even get to that stage.
“We’ll be looking to win this weekend and we’ll be looking to get something in the two games after that, away to Castlebar to face Mayo and at home to Kerry, which I feel is a very winnable game as well because they’re having their own struggles.
“Everyone seems to be able to beat everyone at the minute so you don’t know what way it’s going to turn out.
“Staying positive is the only way we can go about it.”
While the home defeat to a new-look Donegal side last weekend may have seemed like a massive opportunity lost, Brady actually pointed to the away draw in Monaghan as the most annoying result of the lot so far.
“The Monaghan game didn’t go the way we wanted it to, we should have got more out of that, and that put the pressure on us going into the Donegal game, “ he said.
“We were definitely confident of winning the game but it just didn’t turn out that way.
“Those results put more emphasis on the Tyrone game this weekend.”
Cavan manager Mattie McGleenan has already managed to get one over Mickey Harte this season following the county’s 1-13 to 0-12 McKenna Cup win in January.
Brady said that the victory healed some mental scars and will undoubtedly help them in Sunday’s rearranged fixture.
“The McKenna Cup is a competition they (Tyrone) pride themselves them on.
“That game was stopping the rut really given the string of wins they had over us before that.
“The last few years, we couldn’t beat them so it was important we got that win from a mental perspective.
“It should definitely give us a bit of confidence going into the match.
“They’ll obviously be very optimistic as well given their great win against Monaghan last week.
“We feel that we can beat any of the teams left there though, and hopefully we can show that this weekend against Tyrone.”
