Lynch: U21s are in fine fettle

Paul Fitzpatrick

 

It's game day for the Cavan U21s, who face a do-or-die Ulster U21 semi-final against high flyers Donegal tonight (Brewster Park, 8pm).

The Tír Chonnail men, managed by 1992 All-Ireland winner Declan Bonner, come into the game as red hot favourites (1/4), with Cavan rated as 7/2 underdogs.
But the Blues have prepared well, says manager Niall Lynch. Having had the opportunity to watch Donegal up front in their quarter-final replay against Tyrone, the Cuchulainns man admits he has been impressed by what he has seen.
“Training has gone very, very well and we also got the opportunity to go to Ballybofey and have a wee look at Donegal. That’s unusual at our level because the games generally happen concurrently and you’re only looking at a video of the opposition. It’s hard to say how much we learned form that night because they had six changes to the drawn game and they changed their style to adapt.
There was even a fair difference between the first half and the second half but being at home in Ballybofey certainly suited them the night we watched them.
“What style do they play? It’s unusual in that they can at times have 15 men inside their own half and yet when they attack they seem to have plenty of options and they definitely have a number of players who can occupy a traditional full-forward position as well.
“It’s very hard to pin it down to one style of football, I’d describe them as a very adaptable team.”
A sub-plot to the story is that Donegal senior manager Rory Gallagher has been playing a number of key U21 players in National League matches in the last fortnight. Eoghan Bán Gallagher, Micheál Carroll and Jamie Brennan will be starting their fifth big match in 15 days tonight, having played Tyrone three times and Monaghan once, while Michael Langan (who scored 0-7 last time out) and Mulligan have featured off the bench in both senior games.
“We’d like to think it would be a factor in that there might be an element of tiredness but when you’re winning games, young lads probably don’t feel tired,” stated Lynch.
“We’d hope that they would tire as the game goes on but I’m sure they’re coming in battle-hardened and they’re delighted to have played those games, I would suspect.
“Donegal have had plenty of games, that group of players played the McKenna Cup so I’m sure they won’t be found wanting for games. Which is better preparation, a 10-day break or having to play three games in 14 days? I don’t know which is better. We’re happy with our preparation. Training has gone very well and we’ve had that little bit of extra time and we’re looking forward to the match on Wednesday night and we’re looking forward to a very good performance.”
The subs who came on for Cavan in their cakewalk against Fermanagh a fortnight ago impressed, with Conor Bradley - who would be a cedrtain starter were he not based in France due to college commitments - getting some game time. However, choosing the starting 15 was a hard job regardless, insisted Lynch.
“It doesn’t really make the picking of the team any more difficult than it already was. We have everybody fit, the team will be picked in order to go our and do a job and I think what we showed against Fermanagh was that we have, within our group, a lot of players who are capable of doing a job for the team.
“It was good to play well. We don’t know about the quality of the Fermanagh team.As it turned out on the night, they didn’t raise a very big challenge to what we were trying to do but we were happy with the second half, we had a few things to work on and we would feel that the second half was better than the first. We have prepared as well as possible for this game.”
Definitely out will be Ballyhaise man David Brady, who has almost recovered from an arm injury but “isn’t quite ready”. Otherwise, there are no injuries to report.
“We trained on Sunday morning and everybody got through that,” said Lynch.
Having guided Mullahoran and Kingscourt to SFC titles, Lynch, a PE teacher by trade, is well-versed in preparing teams. At underage county level, though, the approach has to be tailored.
“Every single team is different. The benefits of training a county panel is that you don’t have to worry about the smaller things like getting everybody there, having people on time and things like that. When fellas are invited into a county panel, football comes first in everything that they do. Lads of the age that we’re dealing with, they’re in a privileged position – a lot of them are full-time students, there are only a few guys on the panel that have to hold down a full-time job.
“That makes it different as well. In answer to the question ‘do you treat it differently’, it’s nothing like a club team at all, it’s a level or two above that. It’s a pleasure to be working with a group of talented footballers. On a club team, not everybody is at the same level - if you have a county player, then he stands out a lot.
“We’re working with a panel where everybody is at a very, very good standard. The other thing is we have access to coaches like Micheál Lyng, Michael Hannon, Ronan Carolan and Dermot Sheridan and more recently Alan O’Mara and they bring a wealth of knowledge that wouldn’t necessarily be available in a club set-up.
“I think the best teams have a very good team ethic and there are definitely a few players in this group who have the ability to play for the Cavan senior team. But I think that overall, the talent in this team is based on how well they work together as a team and as a group but how do you compare them to other teams, I don’t know.
“I think they have had a lack of success at minor level. Some of them went two campaigns at minor and two at U21 without winning a match so we’ll just take it step by step.
“But overall we’re very happy with the panel that we have and the talent that’s available to us.”