Hyland and Reilly eye the big one

A year older, a year wiser. The raucous aftermath of the 2010 Ulster Under 21 semi-final win over Monaghan will live long in the memory; while this year's penultimate hurdle was negotiated with a few more inches to spare, the absence of the pitch invasions and back-slapping of last year sent out a clear message. This was seen as a means to an end, a point which Barry Reilly made on the pitch after the game. "We set out our stall early on in the year that we wanted to go one better than last year, and we're on that ladder, we've two steps taken and we've another one to take," said Reilly. "It was a big disappointment to finish up last year with a loss in the final but for five years before that, we hadn't had an Under 21 championship win. Last year was another step on the ladder, and this year we're going that one step further and hopefully we can win it the next day now." The 19-year-old talks the talk to match his laid-back on-field swagger. In interview, he was cool as a breeze. "We knew from last year that they play this sweeper defence where they drop ten and 12 men behind the ball and it's very hard to play against but in fairness to Terry and Anthony and Joe and all the boys along the line, they set out a plan for us and thank God we executed it. Alright, it was tough out there but that's what you want," drawled the Man of the Match who, having received his memento, questioned what match the selection panel - the members of the press box, as it happens - were watching. "Everyone was a man of the Match there, they must have picked it out of a lucky hat because I don't know how I got it," he smiled. "We got sloppy up in the forwards and we dropped a few balls short and I'd say if the defenders were looking up at us, they'd have been cursing us. I would have given every one of them a Man of the Match, they were absolutely magnificent." Once Cavan got to grips with Donegal's horrible approach, they were far and away the better side. Reilly, a county senior medallist in his debut full season last year, was adamant that Cavan have no qualms about pundits talking up - or down - their chances. "Last year we were underdogs and nobody knew about us and we drifted into the final, but unfortunately we were beaten, this year everyone knows about us but we want that, we're not afraid of the pressure, we'll burst on and hopefully now we can go on and win it." His manager concurred. Hyland, who has managed teams to four provincial finals in the past 16 months, shipped plenty of criticism when Cavan lost to Donegal at this level last year, but he was magnanimous here. While his tactics were spot on, he chose to heap praise on the players and their spirit de corps. "In fairness, they all worked very, very hard," he said. "They were given jobs to do and they all stuck to the jobs they were asked to do. I did say that if we could beat the Donegal system, we would beat them - we did. It took us a long time, we had a lot of attacks in the first half where we shot from different angles, we probably didn't use our heads and I think we got in at half-time, we got them re-grouped and got talking to them and realised that we were good enough to beat them. "This group is getting a little bit of belief that they can go on and play their own style of football, their own game and not really have to worry overly about the other team." What was so refreshing about Cavan's win was the manner of it; their discipline was exemplary, not just in the obvious way of avoiding the referee's notebook, but in fighting the good fight and taking the right option at all times. Regardless of what happens in the final, this is one Cavan team which cannot be faulted for the honesty of its effort. "They have a work ethic about them," admitted Hyland. "They are a group of young fellas who have come through. They were a little bit miffed at minor level, they didn't get through to an Ulster final at the time and they have a little bit of lost ground to make up. They have worked very hard and you couldn't ask them to do any more. You have to be proud of them. I thought Kevin Meehan, Packie Leddy... There were some great performances there. Kevin would be one of the quieter players on the team but I thought he was outstanding tonight in the back-line." A couple of moments stood out as game-breakers, he said. "A diagonal ball went into Jack Brady about ten minutes from the end and he had no right to win it and he won it between two or three Donegal fellas. And it just epitomised the spirit of the team, that's what's carrying them on, the spirit. They just seem to have this little bit of belief in themselves that they can go out and if they work hard enough, they can win it. They keep the ball moving and they are good footballers. We produce good enough players in Cavan but sometimes we just don't get the heads working along with the bodies and we don't get that little bit of belief and I think these guys might have a little bit of belief in themselves." Cavan supporters turned out in large numbers to get behind this team and, with another provincial final to look forward to, the hype will grow between now and April 13. Not that you can please all of the people, all of the time. Trudging out afterwards, two battle-weary Donegal supporters bemoaned what they saw as their bad luck. "Classon was useless, hi," lilted one. "Ach, Molloy was far worse sir," retorted his companion, his head shaking with disgust. A Cavan supporter, listening while filing out behind and still high on the brilliant, battling performance of his team, piped up. "And did we not play well, no?" he finally snapped irritably, to an outbreak of guffaws from his own travelling amigos. The Donegal men exchanged glances before breaking into wide smiles which seemed to say "maybe it's better to let Cavan have this one". Maybe it was. If Cavan can have the next one - a tilt at either Monaghan, Tyrone or Down - then the celebrations will properly commence. Until then, though, it's fingers crossed.