OPINION: Time to shout stop before bright future is squandered
The main reason Cavan have slipped so far off the pace in Ulster is the epidemic of player drop-out. This needs to be addressed urgently, writes PAUL FITZPATRICK.
A Wednesday night in Enniskillen, eight years ago. Cavan U21s, the pre-match favourites, have just lost out to a Michael Murphy-inspired Donegal in the Ulster final.
On the pitch, Terry Hyland, Cavan manager, was asked for his reaction.
“We came, we fought, we weren't successful but we'll be back,” said the Lacken clubman, sounding a bullish tone.
“There are only so many times you can be told 'hard luck, there's a next time' – there comes a time when you just have to turn around and become the victor rather than the vanquished.”
If those words seemed hollow that night, in time, they proved prescient. Hyland would lead the county to success in the grade in the following two years and Peter Reilly then took up the baton and guided the team to two more titles. It was unprecedented for Cavan and had only been achieved once before in the province and pre-empted a truly great era for Tyrone.
Understandably, Cavan supporters were delirious with excitement because, in this county, there was a long tradition of sporadic underage success following through at senior level. Now that we had put together a sustained run, surely a golden senior era was inevitable.
Needless to say, it hasn't happened. While league form has been relatively decent, a recent study in the Irish Times found that Cavan's overall championship record in recent years has been the 20th best in the country.
Since the first of the U21 teams made the Ulster final in 2010, the county has won just two matches in the Ulster Senior Championship. We are currently on our longest-ever run without reaching the Ulster final, with every other county in the province having played on that stage since Cavan last did 17 years ago. How depressing.
Peering over the county boundary, Monaghan's courageous, thrilling win over Tyrone in Healy Park last Sunday encapsulated everything that Cavan's performance against Donegal a week earlier was not: they were powerful, aggressive, confident, laced with real class.
By the end of that game, the Farney had five players over the age of 30 on the pitch. They have kept their panel together, as we wrote last week, improving incrementally each year to the point where they are now a genuine top three or four side.
Looking on, then, eight years after that breakthrough and the question must be asked: how did we screw it up so badly?
While there are many who make the argument that a defensive style of at U21 level did not facilittate the development of forwards, that is a minor quibble in the overall scheme of things. It's hard to argue with the point that the underage structures in the last eight years have been among the best in the country.
Where things have gone wrong is further up the line, particularly in the last 18 months.
A scan through the archives paints a sorry picture. From 2010 through to 2014, Cavan played in five Ulster U21 finals, winning four; in that time, the county's record at U21 level in the province was played 16, won 15.
In those 16 matches, Cavan used 73 players, only a handful of whom are not still playing club football in the county. The oldest of those would be 29 this year, the youngest 23.
Of those 73, shockingly, just 10 were on the panel for the Ulster SFC clash against Donegal 10 days ago.
Now, some players are stronger than others, naturally, but no bad player not only makes the county U21 panel but breaks into the match day squad and is trusted enough to be handed a starting jersey or be brought on.
Those Cavan sides were undoubtedly the best in the province and among the very best in the country so it's fair to surmise that the 73 players used were for the most part, outstanding.
How could any county be expected to achieve senior success when 63 of its best footballers, in the prime 23 to 29 age bracket, are not involved.?The well is not deep enough to sustain such losses.
Mattie McGleenan has shipped plenty of criticism, in this column as much as anywhere, but, as we wrote last week, I don't think it is unfair to state that he does not have the strongest panel to work with.
In sport, the individual or team who perseveres often comes out on top. In 2016, Cavan had everyone on board and were maybe one year away from that big breakthrough. Instead of going forward, though, they slipped back.
Players left - and were allowed to leave. This year, more followed.
Yes, it's a free country but the question must be asked, what is being done to cajole, coax or inspire – whatever is needed – the best players in Cavan to do what their counterparts in Monaghan do and commit to the cause?
Managers will come and go but while the personnel will change, Cavan county board are the constant in this equation. They have a duty of care to the sport in the county and it is now incumbent on them to investigate the causes of the player drop-off which now threatens to squander a golden, once-in-a-lifetime generation of talented underage footballers.
Above: The 2010 Cavan U21s.
Each of the players who came through the U21 system should be contacted and asked a few simple questions: are you willing to commit to the county panel, if not, why not and what would it take to change your mind?
Some we have spoken to feel it's not worth the enormous effort when there is not a realistic chance of winning something. Others are injured or busy with work or college. Others still have fallen out of love with the game.
Those are all valid reasons but until the powers-that-be identify just what is going on, it cannot be addressed and there is no reason to believe that the next wave of talented players coming through will not be lost in a similar fashion.
Otherwise, the hundreds of thousands of euro being spent on preparing the county teams each year, the huge efforts of volunteers at county board and development squad levels and the lengthy hold-ups to the club programme are all, essentially, in vain.
THE PAST IS BLUE: U21 STARS MISSING IN [SENIOR] ACTION