REACTION: Carr praises "commitment and attitude"

IN THE raucous aftermath of Cavan"s sensational win over favourites Down in Newry, Cavan manager Tom Carr was his usual straight-talking and level-headed self. Carr is about the most articlulate manager in the game right now, but that doesn"t mean he gets carried away with sound bites. Asked if his team was driven to their unexpected victory by the widespread criticism of their performance against Tipperary, Carr, to his credit, refused to gloat or indulge in oneupmanship. 'We"re not surprised at any criticism we received, we would criticise ourselves for the way that we played in the two games to date,' stated the manager matter-of-factly. 'But that"s justified and any team that goes out and under-performs is going to get criticism, that"s the nature of sport at this level today. We were looking for workrate and heart, there were no big tactics, it was just "let"s roll up the sleeves and get stuck in",' said Carr, who singled out a number of players including David Givney and Cian Mackey for praise. Cavan, for so long labelled as a 'nice' team which was too light to compete with the big northen counties, tore up the script with a passionate, powerful performance and Carr hailed the physical commitment of his side. 'There was a physical presence,' he said. ' I thought Ciaran Galligan was outstanding. Eugene Keating came on to the 40 and did very well, a fine footballer. But again it may look like that but really what happened was fellas decided to put their bodies on the line, to go and win ball. It might have looked like we were a bigger team, but we weren"t any bigger, we were just stronger and more hungry.' What next, then, for Cavan? 'I think it"s about consolidating, I think it"s getting another two points the next day if that"s possible. I would have fancied Limerick to gain promotion from this league to be honest with you, they have played huge football over the last few years and certainly played in a number of Munster finals so they"re a team that could be in Division Two as well.' Carr"s final answer, when asked to sum up the difference between his side"s performance in Pairc Esler and the showing against Tipperary, was concise and profound. 'Attitude, pure and simple,' he said. 'Attitude. That"s it.' You"re right there, Tom.