MOSTLY FOOTBALL: Introduction of Flanagan helps steady ship in workmanlike showing

I suppose “workmanlike” best describes Cavan’s performance last Sunday against Wicklow, writes Michael Hannon.

Lots of perspiration, and very little inspiration — you get days like that. For while Wicklow also laboured for long parts of the game, Cavan probably worked that little bit harder, for that little bit longer. Cavan deserved to come out of Aughrim with the two points, but at times they didn’t make it easy on themselves.

Much of the trouble they found themselves in was of their own doing and was largely down to their first-half performance. Aided and abetted by a strong wind, a total of 19 shots were taken in the first half, yielding just eight scores. While I wouldn’t say Cavan dominated possession in the opening period, they certainly had more than their fair share, but the chances they managed to create from them weren’t exactly stellar openings.

Hitting wides is part of the game — it’s just the poor execution of a skill. Go home and practise — if you don’t shoot, then you’ll never score. But hitting wides when under pressure is, to me, more worrying than hitting wides that are uncontested. The goal of the team should be to create as many uncontested chances as possible. If players always find themselves shooting under pressure then the team isn’t creating clear-cut opportunities.

That’s not to say a player shouldn’t shoot under pressure. Depending on the skill-set and athleticism of each forward, what might amount to serious defensive pressure for one person could be the equivalent of nothing more than a relaxing stroll around Croke Park for another.

Why is this relevant to last Sunday? Well, Cavan missed some easy wides in the first half. It happens, though, and there was no need to panic. However, as the opening 35 minutes unfolded, and while playing with the wind, you could sense an increasing urgency among the team to register some additional scores. This led to some bad decision-making by individuals in the middle 20 minutes of the first half. What followed were some poor shot selections. They rushed some strongly-contested shots which resulted in some bad wides, or balls dropping short.

In short, there was a lack of experience on the pitch. Cavan were missing someone who could communicate through their actions, or their words, what way the team should be going about their business. That was until half-time when we saw the introduction of Ronan Flanagan to the action.

The diminutive Castlerahan man on two occasions in the second half played hand-passes backwards that drew exasperated shouts of “kick it in” from the stands. But the defender was sending a clear message to his team-mates with the calmness and the insistence of his play.

Against the breeze, Cavan were going to play the game on their terms. And while fans may not appreciate the Barcelona-esque hand-passing version of tika-taka that unfolded in the second half, Cavan did manage to craft three well-taken scores in this manner, by being patient with their build-up play once Wicklow had packed their defence.

Flanagan’s influence grew as the game progressed and it was good to see him moving well after enduring such a torrid time with a troublesome groin. As someone who endured too many seasons of football with groin pain, I can empathise completely with his situation. Bad groin pain really does suck the joy out of playing and training. Everything gets reduced to the point where you just find yourself going through the motions — and that is a situation that does no one any good. Hopefully he is fully over his injury worries and can concentrate again completely on his football. As he demonstrated on Sunday, he can still make a vital contribution to this panel of players moving forward.  The management team tried to answer the McKiernan/Givney/Keating conundrum by lining out one player on each line. With McKiernan at midfield and Keating inside, it was David Givney who found himself in a different position as he took up residence at centre-forward for the start of the game. The experiment didn’t really work.

That’s not to say it can’t work, rather to say that it didn’t work last Sunday.  Keating showed well for ball inside and kicked a classy point at one stage but looked a bit off the form he showed last summer in the championship, which is understandable given his recent return from a long lay-off. He made way at half-time and Givney found himself back in at full-forward.

But with Cavan now playing against the breeze, a lot less ball was making its way in quickly to the full-forward line. Givney, too, found himself making way near the end of the game.  In the end it was Martin Dunne who really dug Cavan out of a hole last Sunday. His finishing, against the breeze in particular, was very impressive. Mossy Corr at midfield also had arguably his best 70 minutes in a Breffni jersey. On a day when industry was highly-valued, the Denn man epitomised hard graft.

Furthermore, he took some pressure off McKiernan on kick-outs by fielding high ball himself on a number of occasions.

Martin Reilly’s performance also impressed me. He covered every blade of grass over the course of the game, and was a constant outlet for our defenders coming out with the ball. Since being moved to the wing from the centre-forward position, he has put in two excellent performances. He is probably at his best when he goes deep to get on the ball.

A naturally lean and highly-conditioned athlete, Reilly can run all day. It must be a nightmare for any defender when he is given the licence to go deep to get on possession. Not being blessed with extreme pace isn’t a problem. He has the ability to eventually run the legs off his direct opponent until he finally gets possession. It was noticeable that the longer each half went on, the more openings Martin found for himself.

When Wicklow were reduced to 14 men, they looked like they would rally, and for a short period of time, they did. However, a late flurry of Cavan scores did enough to put an end to their ambitions of a comeback. A strong late showing at midfield resulted in some quick scores from Wicklow kick-outs. With Cavan keeping their extra man in defence, and Wicklow’s Steven Coen gone for an early shower, there were two less bodies now floating around the middle third on kick-outs.

On a pitch as claustrophobic as Aughrim’s, it must have seemed like an ocean of space for our midfielders. They were free to attack the Wicklow kick-out and made good use of the possession. 

So, promotion is still mathematically possible. A draw or victory for Antrim over Meath in their re-arranged fixture would certainly help. Either way, Cavan have a break next week which gives one or two players carrying injuries a chance for them to clear up.

With the last round of fixtures coming up the weekend after next, a clean bill of health is what Terry Hyland and his backroom team will wish for. Roscommon will possibly be welcoming back a number of the St Brigid’s contingent when they roll into Breffni Park. Both teams have an outside chance of promotion so it should be an interesting battle.

For this week, though, it’s a case of mission accomplished.