Sun is shining and it's all to play for

Tactics Board

This is a game Cavan can win but it’s still hard to be confident given the scar tissue from previous Red Hand encounters, writes DAMIEN DONOHOE.

So where do you start when previewing Cavan v Tyrone in a championship game? Maybe July 17, 1910, is as good as place as any because that’s the first time on record that the sides met. It was the Ulster semi-final, and it was played in Bundoran, Co. Donegal and Cavan won 1-9 to 1-4. Over the next 45 years, the sides would meet 15 more times before Tyrone could get the better of us.

That was the Ulster final of 1956 and Tyrone won 3-5 to 0-4. It took 11 years (1967) for the sides to meet again, and we held that hurt and took our revenge in Irvinestown, winning 1-13 to 3-3. The longest gap between championship games against Tyrone followed until 1983 when we again beat them but this time it was in Breffni Park, and it was by the narrowest of margins.

Since then, we have played 10 times, we’ve drawn twice and lost eight, but we haven’t played them at home in any of those championship meetings. 2018 was due to be in Kingspan Breffni but the pitch was being done up, so we opted for Brewster Park and were beaten by three.

The reason I bring this up in my preview is not because I put much weight on historical battles between the sides but because I was curious when the last time Tyrone beat up at home in the championship was. The answer is never.

Of the 28 times (17 Cavan wins and two draws) we have met in the white heat of championship, only four have been in Cavan. In 1924 we beat them in Belturbet (1-7 to 0-7) before Breffni Park was developed and then in 1933 in our new grounds, we stamped our authority with a 6-13 to 1-2 hammering. In 1949, again Fortress Breffni was the setting as the boys in blue demolished Tyrone 7-10 to 1-7.

On the downside, between 2017 and 2024, we have played Tyrone nine times in McKenna Cup, League and championship. Four of those games have been played in Kingspan Breffni and we have won two of them in the McKenna Cup in 2017 and 2022 while all games away from our home have been lost.

While all the above may be nice to know and may give us as supporters reason for hope, it will in my opinion have no impact on the outcome of the game. This is not the Cavan team of last year never mind further back and the same can be said for Tyrone. Of the team that started the 2021 All-Ireland final against Mayo, eight players have played league minutes this year for Tyrone.

Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan have been blooding a lot of the 2022 All-Ireland U20-winning team over the last two seasons. Niall Devlin and Ciaran Daly are the two that have had the biggest impact with Daly scoring 1-10 in this year’s league but Ruairí Canavan and Seanie O’Donnell have played a part in all seven league games and put five points beside his names.

With that youth may come a bit of inexperience and it’s up to us to put them into a place they’ve never been before.

Niall Morgan, for me, is one of the two key players that we must nullify if we’re to get the win. He played all seven league games and finished with six points (three from play) and countless assists. His range of kicking off the tee and in open play is a pivotal part of the Tyrone attack and leaving him with time on the ball going forward will cause us problems.

The other key player is Darragh Canavan, playing at full-forward. The ‘Son of God’ has scored 2-25 in this year’s league, with 2-17 of that coming from open play. The match-up here is going to be vital, and I would like to see Brían O’Connell or Cian Reilly picking him up with the other stopping Darren McCurry who scored 19 points (11 frees) in his five league outings. Killian Brady could be given the task of marking Cathal McShane, which I’m sure the Gunner would relish.

Hopefully Jason McLaughlin and Killian Clarke are back from injury and if so, I would expect both to come into the team with Clarke in the middle of the field joined by Conor Brady who vacates the half-back line for McLaughlin to come in.

We will need that aerial presence to deal with Kennedy and Kilpatrick on those long Morgan kick-outs.

It would be a big surprise if Padraig Hampsey isn’t the player sent out to tag Paddy Lynch as he picked up McManus against Monaghan (when he scored five points) and David Clifford against Kerry. Gerard Smith will most definitely get a tagger on him after his performance against Monaghan, but it may come from the forward line as they have used Peter Harte or Kieran McGeary as sweepers from the centre half-back position in the league.

On opposition kick-outs, Tyrone have played the league with a few different systems. Against Dublin, they dropped off but because of the speed of the Dublin kick-out it backfired. The Dubs simply kicked the ball over the retreating Tyrone players to create numerus scoring chances.

Versus Kerry, they went man-for-man and pressed high up the field once they fell behind. In the early part of the game, they were holding their sweeper the defensive side of midfield which allowed Kerry to get the ball out easily.

In the Monaghan game, you could see a zonal press set up to force the keeper to go long. Because the forward line is small, they had to bring four into the full-forward line which meant if Monaghan could win their own kick-out in the middle third, they had taken out seven of eight of the Tyrone players.

In all three of those games, Tyrone looked vulnerable when they were ran at in one-on-one situations or with waves of runners moving the ball fast. We will have to attack with numbers and with speed to unstable the Tyrone defence but the 11 goals and 93 points they conceded in the league (averaging 18 per game) which is the second most in the top division after Monaghan proves that it’s a risk worth taking.

On the attack , Tyrone are scoring a total of 14.8 points per game, having only scored three goals in the league. Cavan have now conceded an average of 16.5 points per game and scored 15.5 points but crucially we now are just short of a goal scored per game after the three against Monaghan brought our tally to seven in eight games.

Calling a winner for Sunday is a heart versus head decision. There was such a great feeling leaving Clones after the Monaghan game because of the performance more so than the result and that has my heart saying we can beat Tyrone.

But being in my early 40s, I have many scars left from Tyrone defeats and very few happy memories so the prediction machine described in the book The Expectation effect is telling me Tyrone will win.

In 114 years, Tyrone haven’t beaten us at home in the championship and the players will do all they can to keep that record. Hopefully a blue army packs out Kingspan Breffni on Sunday to make our home a fortress once again.