OUT of the Ulster Championship, into the Tailteann Cup… The Cavan players will be sore for a while, says skipper Raymond Galligan, but they’ll regroup and refocus to throw everything at the second tier competition this year.
Last Sunday the Breffnimen were the better team in the first half and they were still in the game after an hour until Donegal pulled away to dash their hopes. Defeat was a crushing blow for a talented, but inconsistent, side but Galligan is confident that better days lie ahead for his county.
“We have to take it on the chin like men and come harder the next day,” he said.
“We didn’t set our stall out at the beginning of the year to have a go at the Tailteann Cup; our plan was to hit the Ulster Championship hard and get to a final and we’ve come up short. We need to go away and improve on and then attack the Tailteann Cup hard and aim for a bit of silverware.
“At the end of the day, this team is too good to miss out on opportunities in the All-Ireland series and if it means trying to push to win the Tailteann Cup and secure the top 16 next year we’ll do that because this is a great group of lads.
“We’ll be sore for a couple of days, have no doubt about that, but we’ll regroup and push hard.”
Being part of the Cavan squad is certainly never boring. Over the past four seasons, the Breffnimen have had three relegations (from Division One to Division Four), a promotion (back up to Division Three this year) and won the Ulster Championship in 2020. Throughout all the turmoil, the players have stuck together and it’s important that the group remains intact throughout the summer.
“This team has been through a lot in the last three years,” said Galligan.
“We’ve had high highs and very low lows but one thing about the lads, no-one has copped out, no-one has taken the easy option of quitting, so I have no doubt that we’ll stick together.”
With Paddy Lynch and James Smith outstanding in attack and Thomas Galligan and Gearoid McKiernan supporting from midfield, Cavan opened up a three-point lead in the first half at Clones last Sunday. But Donegal got to grips with the Breffni push in the second half and, when a loose ball fell to substitute Conor O’Donnell after an hour, Declan Bonner’s side seized control of the game.
“We had two goal chances and we didn’t take them,” Galligan observed.
“They half two half-chances and got two goals and that’s the difference in Championship football – you just have to take your chances.
“But you couldn’t fault the lads for effort or desire, their workrate, the amount of turnovers in our defence… It was an unbelievable man-for-man performance,
“But that’s Championship, a crappy goal… It hit his (O’Donnell’s) shin and went into the back of the net and that was the difference.”
The goal came courtesy of Jamie Brennan’s mishit shot and the Cavan defence couldn’t clear the ball after it dropped into their goalmouth.
“Michael Murphy was in front of me, he’s a big man but me and Killian Brady both got a bit of a touch on it and boxed it out and he (O’Donnell) pulled on it,” said Galligan.
“It could have gone anywhere but it went into the back of the net and that gave them that cushion to be able to see out the game but it’s disappointing because we came to win.”
