McGleenan era off to the perfect start

Competition for places in the Cavan team will be intense following their win over Tyrone today, stated manager Mattie McGleenan, writes Paul Fitzpatrick.

A tremendous first-half goal from Man of the Match Gerry Smith proved crucial as Cavan defeated the Red Hands for the first time in 17 years with a fully-merited 1-13 to 0-12 victory.

And McGleenan was happy with what he saw from the selection he chose, with a number of key players missing out due to injury.

'The Tyrone team is probably similar to ourselves, this is just a feeling-out process for what's coming ahead of us for the rest of the year,' said the Tyrone native.

'This is only the first round, Mickey Harte takes the McKenna Cup very seriously so I would hope to get another game against them later on in it.

'It's a great start. I'm absolutely delighted – the effort of the players there was fantastic. The players that weren't there, well, they have to earn the right to get in.

'The one thing we said before the game started, this calendar year in Cavan, if you get the jersey, you keep the jersey. As an example, Gerry Smith there was outstanding, an absolutely fabulous game.

'If Dara McVeety or Conor Moynagh or Gearoid McKiernan want that jersey, they're going to have to take it off Gerry. And I think he wants to hold on to it.'

Cavan opened the scoring through a tidy effort from Sean Johnston - captain for the day - and were never headed thereafter.