Keeping her eye on the ball

When Adrian McGovern took the reins as Cavan ladies manager at the end of last year, he told this newspaper that he was thinking big for the coming season. Now - four months on - his team have seven wins from their first seven outings and sit pretty at the summit of Division Three in the Bord Gais NFL. Those who appointed the Templeport man to succeed Hugh Donnelly for 2010 could not have asked for much more than that, but his fellow native and top-scorer knows that all the good work done by Cavan thus far this year could be undone this weekend if things don't go according to plan and defeat is suffered to Wexford at Crumlin. Aisling Doonan is someone who does most of her talking on the pitch, but when she spoke to The Anglo-Celt this week there were certainly a sense of caution in her tone ahead of her team's meeting with the Model County in the capital. "We're confident in ourselves, but the last time we played Wexford it was a tough physical game and we had everyone available to us," said Doonan. "We have a few injuries at the minute but the panel is strong enough to carry us through. It's just a matter of focusing on ourselves now to get prepared for the game." Cavan's biggest injury concern for this last four clash is young rising star Donna English. The Arva defender burst on the scene last season with some brilliant performances for her county in the half-back line and so far this year she has made the full-back position her own, while also helping to steer DCU to O'Connor Cup success. If the Breffni women are to overcome Wexford on Sunday, it will more than likely have to be without the services of English, who is hindered by a knee injury, and "one or two others", according to Doonan. While last month's contest between these two sides saw Cavan stroll to a 1-12 to 1-3 victory at Kingspan Breffni Park, the absentees and a trip outside the province could make this a trickier fixture for McGovern's charges this time round. However, it has to be said that many of the team's performances in the campaign so far have left their opponents licking their wounds afterwards, and Wexford were no exception just over six weeks ago when Doonan, Grainne Smith and Roisin O'Keefe all helped to tear the Slayneysiders to shreds, with an outstanding performance in goal from Mary-Rose Kelly preventing a massacre for the visitors. "I don't know what it is really. Training isn't even overly different, it's just more the way it is being brought across and the attitude has changed completely," Doonan said of Cavan's form so far this year. "It's more positive and everyone is kind of pulling together. Everyone seems to be more relaxed playing and enjoying it more which, I suppose, is what it's all about." On the influence of Adrian McGovern towards the players, Doonan says focus and attitude has improved overall in the camp: "He's changed everybody's focus to team-based. With him it doesn't matter who's playing so he's changed everyone's attitude, basically. It's all positive and there's no negativity at all. "He helps to get everyone to get their head right first and then the team just try and pull together that way. So I think he's just changed attitudes and bringing everyone together." A win on Sunday may set Cavan up for a final date with rivals Fermanagh, who they could have potentially played four times by the time this season is out, having beaten them already in the league, being in the same grade in the Ulster Intermediate Football Championship and the same group in the All-Ireland IFC. However, those are the games that Doonan feels the Blues need if they are to remain on course and achieve their golden goal of All-Ireland glory. "We want to keep going on and getting the tough games," she said. "If we are unfortunate enough to lose this weekend, we'll have the championship starting in June with Ulster and throughout all of July we have our All-Ireland championship games in a league format. "The focus is now to get a good run going building up to those games." If Cavan can claim a second Division Three crown in three years, you can be sure that they will enter an All-Ireland championship group that reads: Donegal, Westmeath, London and Fermanagh with confidence. However, it's a matter of "taking each game as it comes", as Doonan puts it, as they travel to O'Toole Park, Crumlin this Sunday for their semi-final with Wexford (throw-in 4.00pm).