Nothing less than promotion will do as Cavan seek to prove their worth again

Opinion

Is there a team in the country as hard to get a handle on as Cavan?

Successive relegations, then an Ulster Championship, followed by another relegation. Promotion, a run to the Tailteann Cup final – and then a defeat when they got there. Will the real Cavan please stand up?

Evaluating where the Breffni men are at is mostly guess work, based on the fact that because they found themselves in Division 4 of the league and the Tailteann Cup, they haven’t had a chance to test themselves against many good teams in the past two seasons.

There is no real yardstick there against which supporters can measure the team’s performances. The common consensus is that Cavan have a very good group of players at present yet results in 2021 and 2022 did not back that up.

2021 was a short season. The league saw narrow losses to Fermanagh and Derry, a win over Longford and then the Nightmare In Navan against Wicklow. Tyrone were waiting in the championship. Cavan travelled to Omagh with quite a few injuries; defeat was routine and bloodless.

It's highly probable that had 2021 been a full league, Cavan would have picked up a win or two to preserve their status - but it wasn’t and they found themselves on a hiding to nothing in their first ever journey into the dimly-lit basement. Who knew what was hiding in the shadows?

As it turned out, Cavan won six of their seven group games and avenged a round five loss to Tipperary in the final, picking up silverware at Croke Park for the first time in 70 years.

The campaign was not convincing, though. The pattern in most games was that Cavan would show themselves to be on a higher level to the opposition, build up a useful lead, then idle on the home stretch and end up holding on in a finale which was far nervier than it should have been.

It didn’t inspire confidence but entering the championship, there was a definite sense that the team was coming to the boil. There was a chip on the shoulder of the Cavan players, who would not speak to the media for the first time ever before an Ulster Championship.

They were ludicrously tipped to lose the game by some of the more ill-informed pundits (Antrim had won five of their previous 40 Ulster games so it was going to need to be a vintage Saffrons team or a dreadful Cavan one, neither of which was the case) and that likely fed into a siege mentality.

They played well in Belfast, having added much-needed, old-fashioned spite to their game, and disposed of an admittedly very poor Antrim impressively, with Graham having used the ‘Corrigan Park or Nowhere’ controversy to fuel Cavan’s fire.

Then came Donegal in the Ulster semi-final in Clones. The sun was shining, the burgers were hissing on the hot plates and Fermanagh Street was jammed with merry followers. This was the Ulster Championship as we know and love it, at last.

And Cavan rose to the occasion with some powerful football, kicking long, taking risks. It seemed that it was all coming together. And then, just like that, it fell apart.

Bad luck? Yes. But shockingly poor defending, careless stuff, and they were gone, beaten by two goals. In injury time, Donegal rattled the crossbar. Out went Cavan.

From the outset, the Blues, whose flair in that televised game against Donegal had caught the eye of the commentariat, were installed as warm favourites to win the inaugural Tailteann Cup, a second-rate and essentially two-tier tournament with seven or eight no-hopers and a number of middling to decent teams.

Against an apathetic Down and away against Fermanagh, Cavan again showed themselves to have an exciting blend of power, pace and scoring ability. But the other side of this team was evident in a lacklustre win over Sligo, where some of the defending was sloppy and the build-up play far too laboured.

The final was poor. Cavan were flat, conceded two appalling goals, and a clearly talented but hitherto flaky Westmeath (who managed four wins in Division 3 last year and lost all four in Division 2 the year before) won the cup. The less said about it, the better.

So where are Cavan at? Who really knows? This group tend to rise and fall to the level of the opposition. Against the better sides, they take chances, move the ball faster, hound like underdogs should. They are defiant and are happy if it becomes helter skelter.

But when Cavan are expected to win – and they have been favourites in 16 of their 19 matches since the All-Ireland semi-final in December, 2020 - the tendency is to become risk averse. A ‘what we have, we hold’ mentality emerges; build-up becomes ponderous, players point and pass laterally and all the time, the opposition, inferior teams with lesser conditioning whom Cavan should be leaving gasping, are regrouping.

So, there are two Cavans, essentially. And to get out of Division 3, the better one will need to be on show more often. Last year, the division was weak, with average but well-organised Louth and Limerick sides escaping it.

This year, it looks stronger. For our money, promotion is between Cavan, Westmeath, Longford and Down.

Down bottomed out and with a new manager and renewed motivation, a short-term bounce is likely. Longford have managed to attract the best players in the county into their panel for the first time in a long while; they will be stronger.

That’s not even to mention Tipperary (who have three competitive wins in Breffni Park since 2009 alone) Fermanagh and Offaly.

All of that said, there is a core group of experienced, quality players who have given massive service to the jersey and should still be in their prime years, a situation any county would likely crave. Their body language in the McKenna Cup spoke to a group who, for the most part, are up for the battle again.

What Graham needs now is to unearth three or four young players who are good enough and assured enough to claim a starting place. Some of last year’s U20s fit that bill, with Cian Reilly and Niall Carolan arguably the leading duo, having already tasted championship football.

But the manager must balance this with getting promotion. Another year stuck in Division 3, with the spectre of the Tailteann looming down the line, would be terrible for the development of this team and could even signal its break-up.

Cavan have been handed their customary away game in round one (the 19th time in 22 years) but if they can win in Cusack Park, the campaign will open up before them. They will likely be able to afford to lose two of their last six and still go up – and four of those will be at home. What a bounce that would provide before taking on the winners of Armagh and Antrim in the Ulster quarter-final.

So much, though, rides on Mullingar. Did Cavan peak in 2020 and have they been in decline since or are they a top side, trapped in the lower leagues and championships and denied the opportunity to prove it by more games against the better teams?

The first step in asserting themselves has to be righting the wrong of last July. The stakes are high; as January football goes, they don’t get much higher.

All eyes on Mullingar. Cavan to win with a few to spare.