Faulkner: 'A lot of teams would love to be in our position now'

GAA news

The Tailteann Cup was hotly-debated from the outset but as it has progressed, the reaction from players and managers involved has been almost universally positive.

Cavan full-back Padraig Faulkner is certainly a big fan of the novel competition, as he stated at the final launch in Croke Park last Friday. There are six teams still involved in inter-county competition as of now and Cavan are one of them; that, he says, is an enviable position for others.

“It’s nice to be playing football. Looking at other teams that were looking for silverware this year, there are a lot of teams who would be fighting to be in our position,” stated the Kingscourt Stars clubman.

Faulkner sees the Tailteann Cup as a great opportunity to develop as a team.

“Definitely. You’re blooding young lads and giving them experience at that level. We found ourselves where we are in the league, obviously we pushed on this year. It’s all about the development of young lads and lads that are here now at the minute. We’re just progressing on year on year and trying to make Cavan a better team.”

Faulkner was a lynchpin of the Cavan team who won the Ulster Championship for the first time in 23 years in the lockdown winter of 2020. His performances in that run saw him earn an All-Star at number three but Cavan’s form has been up and down since, with relegation to and subsequently promotion from Division 4 of the league as well as championship losses to Tyrone and Donegal, sandwiching a win over Antrim.

It is, then, hard to get a handle on exactly where Cavan are at but their experience and physicality, as well as the retention of almost the entire panel, would suggest they are not far off the benchmark set two years ago. Asked the question, Faulkner was unable to decide which of the panels was stronger.

“Paddy Lynch is a great addition up front to keep the scorebpoard ticking over [since 2020]. It’s hard to know. In 2020, you were looking at lads who really, really wanted to win whereas now, looking at your question, have we possibly a few more skilful players? I think it’s very hard to compare one team to another.

“In 2020 we might have had 15 to 20 lads who wanted to really work hard and win. It’s hard, it’s a tricky question to answer.”

Cavan have embraced the Tailteann Cup and, he says, have treated each match as they would an Ulster Championship game.

“We prepare the exact same, whether it’s the Ulster Championship final, whether it’s the Tailteann Cup final. We met at the start of the year, you see with other teams lads flying away to go and play football abroad. We said is this something as a collective that we want to do?

“There were just so many incentives to win the Tailteann Cup. Whether it’s that stepping stone to the All-Ireland series next year or just another piece of silverware. Two games in Croke Park, that experience can be invaluable. No, we are treating this like any other championship.

“I think it’s a real good competition. It was well backed this year, it was well advertised and publicised. I think maybe next year switching it up that the north and south become a collective would be just a small critique I’d have with it. Otherwise, we’d be playing two possible Ulster campaigns.

“I thought it was well-run, well-organised and well-promoted.”

When Ray Galligan lifted the Division 4 league cup at Croke Park back on April 2, he became the first Cavanman to lift senior silverware at HQ since Mick Higgins in 1952. It may have been only the Division 4 league title – and this may, in some eyes, be ‘only’ the Tailteann Cup – but winning games at Croker is crucial for development, Faulkner believes.

“Up until this year, I played three to four games in Croke Park and was without a win whereas now we have that winning experience in Croke Park and hopefully it’s something that will stand to us come Saturday week.”

With Derry, Armagh, Galway, Clare and Cork all making the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals, is there a tinge of regret that Cavan didn’t get a crack at the traditional qualifiers?

“I think every year I just feel our athletic development… we’re closing that gap with those top tier teams. We just want to be in their position, we want to be playing for the Sam Maguire.”

As for the quarter-finals themselves, which were over-shadowed by the melee during the Galway v Armagh game, Faulkner found them enjoyable.

“Great games. I know obviously there was a bit of a brawl out here which possibly takes away from how good the games were. They were competitive, they were fine games overall. Happy to see it and hopefully we’ll be there next year.

“First of all, questions were asked about whether they should be going into different dressing-rooms – I don’t know. Usually one team stays on the pitch while the other team goes in. There’s questions can be asked about how it happened.

“I think that incident [alleged eye-gouging by a player] was all that everyone was talking about rather than the actual spectacle that was played. That one player, I don’t think one silly decision can define your whole football career. He’ll have to take his sanction and that’s it. Social media can be devastating for a player, people can really be nasty online. I don’t think that defines him as a person but it was just a silly decision and he’s going to have to deal with the consequences and the sanctions.”

Social media may be influential but it’s something he tries to ignore.

“I’m only concerned with what happens in our panel. You see it every day where people talk and you just have to drown that out. It’s not something that I really concern myself with.”