Cian Mackey in action against Down.

Real action starts now as Cavan head west seeking promotion

Paul Fitzpatrick

After Cavan beat Cork last month, manager Mattie McGleenan expressed his annoyance at the fact that his side were rated as underdogs travelling south.
“I suppose it's like everything else, people still don't give Cavan [the credit]... Cork were tipped to win and I was disappointed in that and I felt it was maybe about sending a wee message out that we haven't gone away and we're going to stand up and fight this year,” stated the Tyrone native.
McGleenan bristled at his side being written off and he had a point; Cavan were also heavy underdogs against Clare (going off at 3/1) and grabbed a draw. In the other games where they have been favourites, they have won, against Louth, Meath and Down.
This weekend, Cavan are the outsiders again when taking on a fancied Roscommon outfit. The Rossies are in fine fettle and have a remarkable record against the Blues – in eight league and championship matches going back to 2012, Cavan have plundered just one win (see below).

Where can Cavan 'get at' the Connacht champions? Up front, certainly. There is a suspicion that Kevin McStay's side are vulnerable to teams running at them; Clare enjoyed joy there, with Eoin
Cleary particularly influential, and that might suit the likes of Gearoid McKiernan.
Wily corner-back David Murray has been parachuted in at six in the absence of the likes of Sean Mulooly and Ross Timothy, while full-back Niall McInerney is also out for the home side.
At midfield, Roscommon have not been brilliant in terms of ball-winning, although Compton and O'Rourke did well last time out. They are fine ball-players essentially and Cavan will need huge games from Killian Clarke and Bryan Magee to physically dominate here.
Up front is where the story is very different – Roscommon were top scorers in the country last weekend, joint top the weekend before and are firing on all cylinders. Conor Devaney is wing forward, joint captain, and having a brilliant year, influencing the play from all angles. 
McStay spent the first half of the league bringing Donie Smith off the bench but has changed tact since Smith scored 0-7 (all from play) in half the game off the bench against Louth. 
He started against Clare and bagged 0-9, 0-7 from play. With Diarmuid Murtagh also going well and Cathal Cregg back in the fold after a year out (he landed a goal last week), their attack is functioning very well.
Roscommon will want a shoot-out and it's intructive that when Cavan have beaten them in the last six seasons, it has been in a relatively low-scoring game.
Cavan are unlikely to freewheel past the home side in a free-scoring thriller, although the Rossies' inexplicable nervy showings at home - since the 46th minute of the game against Meath, they've played nearly 100 minutes of football in the Hyde and scored 1-8 in that time – could play into Cavan's hands.
McGleenan's men are in a great position but they will be well aware that the real action starts now and they will likely need to be beat either Roscommon or Tipperary to go up. Let's hope the bookmakers have this calculated one wrong, just as they did Cavan's tussle with Cork.