Reilly urges Cavan fans to make home advantage count

Damian McCarney

The Cavan County Board chairman is urging the Breffni support to turn out in large numbers to ensure home advantage is a factor for the Westmeath clash, despite the match being fixed for Saturday afternoon.
Local GAA administrators fear that the inconvenient timing of the game for farmers, busy trying to make use of the good weather, and others with the usual work commitments associated with Saturday afternoons, will result in very low numbers filing through Kingspan Breffni Park’s turnstiles.
Tom Reilly assured The Anglo-Celt that he had lobbied for the crucial first round qualifier to be fixed for a more convenient time-slot, but competing interests from both the Leinster and Ulster Councils, who wished to have their Championship matches uncontested in order to secure the largest possible TV audiences. As a result, the Cavan game has been shoe-horned into an unfancied Saturday 3pm slot.
“We tried to get the game changed to the Sunday match, but the Leinster Council wanted no match against their semi-final on Sunday. And the Ulster Council didn’t want a late match against the Ulster semi-final on Saturday evening, so it was fixed for 2pm, but then they moved it to 3pm which isn’t great.
“Home advantage is no good to us without having home support - who are always great supporters. I understand it is inconvenient for Saturday at 3pm but I would be appealing to them on this occasion to come.”
Team manager Terry Hyland agrees that it is not an ideal time or day for a Championship game.
“All you have to do is look back to last week with Fermanagh and Laois - an early afternoon game on a Saturday - the crowd was very small. For rural communities in the middle of summer there is a lot of work going on from that point of view, so it probably isn’t ideal for the supporters. “As regards the two football teams - their job is to go out and play football no matter what time it’s fixed for.”
Hyland does not believe that Westmeath’s poor record in losing all of their Division 1 matches is a fair reflection of the threat they pose his outfit.
“I expect a different proposition, in fairness they probably hadn’t a good run in Division 1 but you must remember they only got promoted from division 2 the year before, so they don’t just suddenly turn into a bad team over night.”
While Cavan enjoyed an unbeaten run in Division 3, they came unstuck in the league final against Roscommon and again in the scrappy Championship opener against Armagh. He rates it “very much a fifty-fifty game”.
“The lads have worked hard since the Armagh game, training has been going very, very well. I think the lads have responded on the training field to that defeat - they’re sore so they have to make sure they respond properly on Saturday evening.”
From that Armagh match they will be without Feargal Flanagan and Martin Dunne - both suspended, and Dara McVeety will also not be available, having chosen to travel to Boston this summer.
“We’re down a few, but then we’ve always talked about the strength in depth of our panel, and that’s what it’s all about on Saturday evening - the strength in depth of our panel and we’ve lads willing and able to step up.”
Tickets for Saturday’s match cost €10 and €15 and can be paid at the gate.