Cavan seek positives after baptism of fire

Damian McCarney

Cavan Ladies have been tipped by their joint manager to bounce back in the Qualifiers after they endured a Senior Championship baptism of fire at the hands of neighbours Monaghan at the weekend.
Ulster Championship favourites Monaghan strolled to a convincing 5-14 to 1-5 win in Crossmaglen on Saturday afternoon as Cavan Ladies got their first taste of the difference between Intermediate and Senior football.
Joint Cavan manager, Gerry Sheridan, was eager to extract the positives from the county’s first match at the highest level. In Monaghan, who were narrowly defeated by Cork in the 2013 All-Ireland final, they found more experienced opponents who were used to playing at a this high level.
Despite the Farneywomen stamping their authority on the match early on, Cavan showed character to respond as best they could.
“Over the last few years Monaghan have been at the business end of the Senior Championship, so they hit the ground running, whereas it took us a while to find our feet,” accepted Gerry.
Cavan fought hard to leave a credible seven points between the teams at half-time (3-5 to 1-4), their goal came from a good passing move up the left wing with centre forward Roisin O’Keefe feeding a hand-pass to Mona Sheridan who drove forward and unleashed a tremendous shot to find the Monaghan net from about 20 yards. Cavan then rallied to score the first two points of the second half to reduce the deficit to five points.
However that was as good as it got for the Breffni contingent. Monaghan replied with a point, and then the referee adjudged Ailish Cornyn’s foul an offence worthy of the sin-bin. Gerry deemed the decision as harsh and claims it “took the wind out of our sails”. In that time Monaghan’s potent forward line clinically capitalised on their numeric advantage and added a further seven points.
“Our centre half back got sin binned, and she was playing well for us at the time and holding the middle well for us and it meant we had to readjust the team and bring in a new centre-half back and that definitely affected us, and she was a big loss to us for that ten minute period.
“Monaghan made good use of the extra player, they kept possession well, they didn’t waste anything and they hit us hard during that ten minute period.”
Monaghan manager John Morrison was “very pleased” with his team’s performance, and the fact that many of his big name players weighed in with goals. Eileen McCarron, Ciara McAnespie, Cora Courtney, all raised the green flag while Therese Scott scored two goals.
“In the last couple of years those four players got All Stars,” noted John. “And then Cathriona McConnell scored eight points, many from play.”
The win sees Monaghan face John’s home county of Armagh in the Ulster Final on Sunday, July 6 in Healy Park, Omagh- a prospect he’s not entirely comfortable with.
“It’s a nightmare,” he joked, reflecting on his time with the Donegal senior men’s team when they met Armagh in Ulster Final in 2002.
“It was a horrible feeling because I didn’t know what way to react and I couldn’t show any signs of emotion because Donegal people were obviously looking at me and every time Donegal scored the Armagh people had their eyes glued on me.”
For the ladies, this will be Armagh’s first Ulster Final since 2010, while Monaghan will be clear favourites going for their fifth Ulster title in a row. He knows a bit about the Armagh set up having trained two of their players for kicking practice.
John rejects any notion his team will be complacent:
“That won’t happen because I don’t do complacency,” insisted John.
Reflecting on Cavan’s performance he was glowing in his praise, stressing that they were “worthy opponents”.
“Cavan can be proud of themselves. They came well organised, both defensively and in their forward line. I suppose the thing that let them down was experience, and probably going into the unknown.”
He agreed that the sin bin was a factor in the deficit in the final score.
“If I was a Cavan person, I would take a lot of hope out of it because that was their taste of Senior Championship football and obviously it’s going to be a learning experience. They are meeting a Monaghan team in their fifth year at that level. At the end of the day - particularly in the first 20 minutes they were the match of us.”
Gerry Sheridan and his joint manager Finian Farrell will be pleased with the overall play of the team, and in particular the performances of Grainne McGlade at fullback, Laura Fitzpatrick at corner back, Claragh O’Reilly, whose free kicking was very steady, and Caron Fay in goals who made some terrific saves.
“From our point of view, when the girls were faced with a challenge they didn’t give in, and they weren’t overawed by the occasion of meeting Monaghan - who would be considered one of the favourites for the All Ireland Senior Championship.
“A lot of our players are well able to compete with teams like Monaghan - they maybe just need a little bit of experience.
“There is a difference in pace between Intermediate and Senior. At least now we know where we have to aim to be.
“I’d say they were probably that bit sharper from having played Senior football. Everything was being done at speed the whole time, and when you step up from Intermediate to Senior you will find that you mightn’t have as much time on the ball without being challenged for it.
“Monaghan are a good team and were unfortunate not to win the All-Ireland last year. They are back-boned by seven of the Donaghmoyne starting team, and Donaghmoyne have won maybe four or five Club All-Ireland Championships, so that understanding that the players have as well is an added factor for them.”
The Cavan Club Championship starts this weekend, so the county management has given the ladies the week of training but they will commence preparation for the Qualifiers.
Next week we will be getting back together and will have a chat to see where we can make a number of improvements or change our game slightly to adapt to what’s happening at senior level.
The draw for the qualifiers will not be made for a couple of weeks.