Donohoe looking to the positives after ‘difficult’ build-up for U20s

GAA news

Rarely, if ever, has a team waited so long to play its first competitive match, in the knowledge that it may be their last. That is the stark reality facing the Cavan U20s this Friday when they take on Down in the Ulster quarter-final (Friday, Kingspan Breffni, 8pm).

To compound matters, Down seniors are now out of the championship which frees up the U20s who are also on their senior panel. Cavan have four but look likely to be without them given that the seniors play 20 hours later, a situation which is grossly unfair by any measure.

Manager Damien Donohoe, however, is not one for looking at the negatives. The Drumalee clubman and his backroom team have been preparing their players diligently for nine months and, he says, they are very much up for the challenge against a highly-regarded Down side.

“Training has gone well, challenge matches have gone well, thank God, for the most part. We got to play six challenge matches against some very good opposition and we found out a lot about ourselves in those games,” Donohoe told the Anglo-Celt.

“We have improved steadily throughout those games. Mark [McKeever] takes all the training sessions and it’s very skill-orientated, aimed towards improving the skills and making sure the touches are right and the simple skills are executed well. That’s an area where Mark is just exceptional so we’re very lucky in that regard.

“The response of the players has just been phenomenal. They have been put through the ringer. We got in I think two training sessions before Christmas and then the rug was pulled from under us. The players were then sent into lockdown where they had to look after their own physical conditioning and try to keep a certain level of technical ability up to a high standard.

“André’s [Quinn] athletic development programme was just huge for the lads, they kept in really good shape and when we came back from the lockdown, the lads tested in really good shape. It probably weeded out some of the lads who found it difficult in that situation to look after their own physical preparation and I think going forward, that’s an important part of inter-county set-ups from now on.

“We’re not asking lads to travel distances to come in for physical preparation, we’re leaving that in their own hands, once they have been given the knowledge and the programmes, they can execute them and not have to travel, albeit it might only be 20 minutes in the road or for some lads it could be two hours. We’re taking away that burden.

“The lads’ response to Mark doing a huge amount of skills work, sending out skills challenge throughout the lockdown and the lads sending them back in. Their application was absolutely brilliant. There has been a lot of innovation coming out of that lockdown period and stuff that definitely can be used going forward including Zoom meetings where we did a lot of tactical awareness sessions, led by Padraig Dolan.

“We got a lot done during the lockdown that should help them going into the competition. But you just have to hope because this is all new ground. So we hope this will pay off for us but definitely the players’ response and their attitude to it has been second to none, it’s as good as we could have asked for.”

For a long time, U20 teams around the country were in Limbo, not knowing when, or even if, the competition would go ahead.

“The uncertainty around the competition for so long was difficult at the time because you were trying to motivate players to stay the journey in isolation doing individual programmes and that wasn’t easy. We saw some players who just really struggled with that and didn’t manage to stay the journey which was very difficult but at the end of the day, the GAA were out in a very awkward position. The time that the comp was fixed for was probably the only time that was available to play.

“Now the days on which it is being played, I would question a little bit but it’s better the players have something to focus on than not have it all so we’ll not be complaining that the day of the week is not what we wanted.”

Covid-aside, in an era where most competitions have some sort of a safety net, even at schools and club levels, the U20 is an outlier. Months of work comes down to one hour of football and that naturally affects how teams approach it.

“The fact that there’s no league to prepare and no back door completely changes how you prepare for a knock-out game. It’s a relatively short run-in even for challenge matches and when you’re dealing with a panel of 36 or 37 players, it makes it very difficult to give everybody a fair chance and yet settle into a team.

“It’s difficult and the fact that it’s a knock-out does affect your approach. If there was a back door and there was somebody with a little niggle, for example, you could give them that extra week but if there’s no back door, you’ve got to risk everything to win that first game.

“We are doing everything we can to make sure that we have everybody available to play against Down in terms of injuries clearing up, we’re not in a bad position but we’re hoping some niggles clear up.”

The management trawled the county looking for players and are content that they gave everyone a fair crack.

“The process for that started off with a large group of players attending trials way back last October. Then because we went into lockdown then, we kept everybody on board. We came together then in December briefly and we had the panel cut down to about 48 with the intention of cutting it to 36 before Christmas but again we went back into lockdown.

“From then on we had 48 lads on a panel doing their own programmes and once we were given the date of the end of April to come back and train, we set them targets to hit in terms of skills and physical targets. If they hit those targets they were able to progress on to the training panel.

“We also held one more trial game and got a look at all players over a couple of sessions and from that we whittled it down to a panel of 38. Everybody was given chances. The lads who didn’t make that 38 stayed on a pathway group and are being brought in again for further trials to see if lads are able to step up or how they’re progressing, that’s essentially monitoring the players who didn’t make the panel but are improving and may be available to step up.

“A lot of them are available next year as well. We don’t want lads drifting off completely and leaving aside the preparation which is so important to being a county footballer.”

Down, with quality players such as John McGovern, Tom Close and Shealan Johnston, are rated as favourites with the bookmakers to advance and face the winners of Fermanagh and Antrim in the semi-final but Cavan believe they are primed to deliver a performance.

“Down are going to be a very strong challenge. Their manager is Conor Laverty, they have Marty Clarke coaching and Sean Boylan in the backroom team as well. They have played a lot of big teams in challenge matches and from what I’ve heard, they won them all.

“They beat Kerry and they beat Dublin and Kildare so they’re looking like they’re very strong and a very well-prepared team. They have the advantage of their seniors being out so they have a full complement to pick from, they have no worries on that end. They will be a very strong challenge but a challenge that we’re looking forward to.”

The Cavan team will be captained by Ballyhaise’s Eoin Clarke.

Cavan U20 panel: Ben Monahan (Drumlane), Brían O'Rourke (Ballyhaise), Cathal Leddy (Butlersbridge), Cian Boylan (Crosserlough), Cian McCabe (Castlerahan), Colin McKiernan (Ballyhaise), Conor Nulty (Ramor), Cormac McKeogh (Mullahoran), Dean Carroll (Drumgoon), Emmett Boylan (Crosserlough), Enda Maguire (Ramor), Eoin Clarke (Ballyhaise), Eoin McCaffrey (Templeport), Eoin Morrissey (Shercock), Fionan Brady (Gowna), Fionntain O'Reilly (Butlersbridge), Harry Clarke (Drumlane), Jack Tully (Cavan Gaels), James McCahill (Drumlane), Lorcan Hammond (Kill), Luke Crossan (Killinkere), Mark Maguire (Drumlane), Mark McDermott (Killygarry), Matthew McGahern (Mullahoran), Michael Owens (Drumlane), Niall Carolan (Cuchulainns), Paddy McPhilips (Butlersbridge), Phillip Smyth (Cuchulainns), Ryan Brady (Gowna), Ryan Donohoe (Gowna), Ryan Kennedy (Kingscourt), Sean Donohoe (Denn), Seán Óg McGearty (Castlerahan), Tiernan Madden (Gowna), Tom Harten (Mullahoran), Turlough Farrelly (Cuchulainns)

Manager: Damien Donohoe (Drumalee)

Skills coach/Selector: Mark McKeever (Gowna)

Analysis/Selector: Padraig Dolan (Shannon Gaels)

Goalkeeping coach/selector: Peter McGinnity (Drumalee)

Athletic development: Andre Quinn

Co-ordinator: Aidan Smith (Mullahoran)

Kitman: Caoin McCabe (Denn)

Analysts: Sean Og Brady (Mullahoran), Ryan Tully (Drumalee), Jim Kiernan (Templeport)