Published: Wednesday, 30th June, 2010 5:00pm

Magic Johnston sends us Leeside

Micko shakes hands with Tommy Carr prior to his final game in charge of Wicklow.
Pic by==: 97

Sean McMahon

reports from Breffni Park

The most sensational comeback ever witnessed by Cavan for many a long day was what we saw on home turf in Breffni Park on Saturday evening. But we have now come back down to the world of reality with the news that we are off to the banks of the Lee to play Cork in the second round of the qualifiers. We may have surmounted a large hill on Saturday night, but now we are facing a towering mountain against Cork on Saturday, July 10 in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Picture the scene - 7 points down five minutes into the second half and reduced to 13 men. Even the most optimistic Cavan supporter or player were thinking at that stage that another devastating exit from the Championship was staring us violently in the face.

Then enter Magic Seanie Johnston, Mark McKeever, Martin Cahill and Dane O'Dowd, and almost immediately the old adage of 'put them under pressure' was applied by the 13 Cavan players now on the field. As the Breffni points tally soared, the Garden County men went all defensive. Prospects had looked very bleak for Cavan after Thomas Corr had picked up a second yellow card near the end of the first half and Lorcan Mulvey received a straight red just after the start of the second half.

Slowly but surely the tide began to turn and the Wicklow team packed back in defensive mode and almost invited Cavan to come looking for scores. They seemed to concentrate on Johnston to no avail with three men shadowing him on occasions and totally forgot how to use their extra men.

The astonishing come back got under way when Sean Johnston showed all his class to lash over an inspirational point from an acute angle on the right wing after just five minutes of the second half.

Wicklow seemed to immediately forget they had 15 men on the field and concentrated on Sean Johnston. Their midfield pairing of James Stafford and JP Dalton who had a storming first half faded from the scene in the face of the torrent of Cavan pressure and awesome tackling and work rate.

As Mick O'Dwyer said to The Anglo-Celt after the game, "we kept Seanie under wraps last year, but he got his own back on this occasion - those were just astonishing points that he scored tonight - he is an exceptional player".

Players will have to recognise that this is a team game and that they do not select the team, and walking away because you are not selected on the first 15 will have to stop. Hopefully the fact that Cavan untapped new reserves of spirit and passion to wear the jersey with pride on Saturday night, will assist the Manager Tommy Carr in eradicating this petulance.

Sometimes in adversity people and indeed players can uncover a latent force to propel them onto new levels of endeavour.

Cavan have to build on this tour de force performance for the next round, and banish the hard luck stories.

Cavan played for a full 35 minutes with 13 men before an attendance of 3,653.

Cavan were struggling badly when they lost Thomas Corr courtesy of a second yellow card, when he tangled with Sean Furlong and were behind by 2-5 to 0-4.

The Garden County were the masters for the most of the first half and looked like winners when they went in at the interval leading 2-6 to 0-5.

The Wicklow goal came from a penalty in the 10th minute from Leighton Glynn, after touring midfielder JP Dalton was adjudged to have been fouled in the area. Cavan had great inspiration points along the way in the half from Eoin McGuigan, Alan Clarke and Gareth Smith.

Wicklow were devastating going forward and when big full forward Sean Furlong smashed in a second goal in the 26th minute after a defensive error, things looked ominous for Cavan.

The picture got even a little darker two minutes in to the second half when Lorcan Mulvey was dispatched to the line by Meath Referee Cormac Reilly with a straight red card after side line incident with Leighton Glynn.

Then Tommy Carr played his trump cards and onto the field strolled Seanie Johnston, to be followed by Mark McKeever, Martin Cahill and Dane O'Dowd.

They dug a new spring well and the points flowed like arrows from all directions from Johnston, - six in all and the one from the side line in the 59th minute will long rank as one of the finest even seen on this famous ground. The points from McKeever and Gareth Smith were also exceptional.

The manner in which Gareth Smith converted the 45 meter kick off the ground was sublime and the Johnston winner was fired into the town goal with the swagger of a genius.

Cavan: Fintan Reilly, Dermot Sheridan, Thomas Corr, Michael Hannon, Michael Brides, John McCutcheon, Alan Clarke (0-1), Ciaran Galligan, Lorcan Mulvey, Ronan Flanagan (0-2), Gareth Smith (0-4,1'45, two frees), Eoin McGuigan (0-1), Cian Mackey, Michael Brennan, Martin Reilly.

Subs: Sean Johnston (0-6) 1 free, for Cian Mackey (41); Martin Cahill for Martin Reilly (45); Mark McKeever (0-1) for Eoin McGuigan (58); Dane O'Dowd for Ciaran Galligan (65); and Cian Mackey for Ronan Flanagan (70).

Wicklow: John Flynn, Steven Kelly, Dara O hAnnaidh, Alan Byrne, Ciaran Hyland, Brian McGrath, Darren Hayden, James Stafford, JP Dalton, Leighton Glynn (1-0, pen), Tony Hannon (0-5, 4f), Nicky Mernagh (0-1), Paul Cunningham (0-), Sean Furlong (1-0), Paul Earls (0-1).

Subs: Stephen Canavan for Nicky Mernagh (ht); Paddy Dalton for Brian McGrath (42).

Referee: Cormac Reilly from Meath.

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