Published: Wednesday, 24th February, 2010 5:00pm

Hurlers pick up brilliant win at home

New Cavan hurling boss Brendan Nelligan enjoyed a winning debut in the NHL Div 4 at the expense of a profligate Leitrim side at Kingspan/Breffni Park.

On a day borrowed from Siberia, Nelligan's charges led from pillar to post and never looked like leaving the ground without both points in the bag.

Seldom before has a Cavan senior hurling team enjoyed such supremecy but, that said, Leitrim's impotency and lack of grit and determination stood out like a lump of coal on newly-fallen snow.

Nelligan's pre-season wish-list included three victories in the league may have appeared overly-optimistic to some observers but, on the basis of last weekend's emphatic result, he may well get his wish.

The Breffni blues had too much enthusiasm, will-to-win and aggression for their visitors but therein lay only part of the reason for their clear-cut win.

Most of all, Cavan's win was down to their big-hitters up front where Clare native Bernard Gaffney and 'erstwhile London star Kevin Downes plundered some excellent scores.

Gaffney's power and accuracy from long-range should proved a tremendous asset to Cavan this season while Downes' touch, vision and experience will surely test the mettle of the finest defenders the division has to offer in 2010.

Leitrim had no such firepower, fluidity about their play or passion either.

And for all the promptings of dynamic midfielder Clement Cunniffe, their finishing was woeful at times and their play wholly inconsistent in terms of effort.

Indeed while Cavan fully deserved the spoils, they were helped on their way in no small measure by the westerners who conspired to record 15 wides in total.

With Downes showing his class early on, Cavan opened up a 0-3 to 0-2 opening quarter lead after Cunniffe fired over a brillant 55 metre point to leave just the single point between the sides.

Cunniffe's mobility and gung-ho approach afforded the westerners a distinct foothold in the cockpit but he was left to plough a lone furrow for large tracts of the game.

Leitrim's limitations up front soon became all too obvious and they too often looked to Cunniffe for incision and vision when going forward.

Ultimately, Leitrim's match-winning hopes crashed on the altar of two spells of stagnation and leakage in spells either side of the interval.

The westerners gave as good as they got for the most part in the opening quarter but then went from the 15th to the 28th minute without scoring.

In that same period, Cavan enjoyed a proverbial purple patch, notching 1-5 without reply to leave them in clear water with Mark McEntee popping over a peach of a point after a move involving Cormac Nelligan and Mickey O'Connell.

Less than a minute later, Cavan got a scare but Mick Burns saw his shot saved first-time by Mark Curry in the Cavan goal and then cleared swiftly in the follow-up by Michael Carr.

However four minutes after Mark McEntee's 28th minute goal for Cavan, Leitrim did find the net.

Hard-working attacker Dave McGovern gave the Connacht side renewed hope when he rose highest in the square to flick Fearghal Carroll's sideline cut to the net.

Leading by 1-9 to 1-3 at the start of the second half, Cavan fairly flew off the starting blocks with Gaffney knocking over four points in a real tour de force inside the opening 10 minutes to put the blues in clear water.

Curry made another good save (47th minute) to keep Leitrim at bay only for Cunniffe's long-range free to go to the net off Curry's stick.

Moments later the best move of the match - involving Daithi Neary, Ciaran Brennan, Gaffney and Downes - ended with the last-named Tir Chonaill Gaels clubman finishing the flowing move with a neat point to make it 1-16 to 2-4.

To their credit, Leitrim refused to cave in thereafter and they did have the consolation of finishing with a flourish with Shane Kiernan's goal in the 66th minute taking some of the bad look of the scoreboard but, in truth, his major had the word consolation stamped all over it.

Cavan: M Curry; D Neary, M Carr, A Sheridan; B Devine, C Nelligan, A Nelligan; P Sheridan, G Brennan (0-1); C Brennan, B Gaffney (0-9, three frees, three 65s), R O'Hanlon (0-1); K Downes (0-5), M McEntee (1-1), M O'Connell.

Subs: J Rosney for R O'Hanlon inj (20); S Og Brady for M O'Connell (66).

Leitrim: P McKiernan; K McGrath, N Guckian, S Guckian; K Boyle, V McDermott, M Poniard; K Connolly, C Cunniffe (1-3, one 65, one free); D McGovern (0-1), I Bermingham, F Carroll; M Hayes, D O'Brien (1-0), M Burns.

Subs: C Burns for M Hayes (30); L Burns for I Berminghan (38); P McWeeney for F Carroll (47); S Kiernan (1-0) for M Burns (55); D Tiernan for K McGrath (65).

Ref: C Groome (Offaly)