Royal clash pivotal for Cavan’s NFL campaign

GAA

Leaving Cork last Sunday, the Cavan camp must have wondered how they had nothing to show for their efforts. They had started very well, clung on resolutely to Cork when the hosts tried to accelerate away in the first half and then turned the screw, taking the lead and driving on.

As underdogs – in fact, in the four divisions, only Roscommon, away to the All-Ireland champions, were given less chance of winning last weekend by the bookies – Cavan did everything that could be asked of them for an hour. Yet, they still came away with nothing but a loss to show for it.

The away side came out breathing fire, as was expected in Dermot McCabe’s first competitive match as manager, and in building up a seven-point lead, they ran themselves to a standstill – and that was the losing of it. The bench was mainly, but not exclusively, stocked with rookies and while that policy may pay off in time, last Sunday, the decision to discard so many experienced panellists looked questionable.

It doesn’t get any easier. Of the seven sides Cavan will face in Division 2, Cork cannot, on all known form, be ranked any higher than fourth and two of the three who went further than them in last year’s championship, All-Ireland semi-finalists Meath and Tyrone, await in the next two rounds.

Given the county’s notoriously-poor record against the Red Hands – the last time Cavan beat Tyrone in a league or championship match, 1997, McCabe himself was 21 and playing midfield – a positive result against Meath (Sunday, 3.45pm) is vital.

Cavan will be optimistic of taking points somewhere against Kildare, Offaly and Louth but Derry, away, in round seven also looks ominous and the Breffni men were, lest we forget, relegated from this same division on six points in 2020.

So the Meath game takes on even greater significance than usual.

The Royals, having beaten Kerry, Galway and Dublin in the championship last year and taken the notable scalp of Derry last weekend, are at a 25-year high at present. In the classic Meath tradition, they are particularly strong at midfield, where Cavan are still tinkering, and their confidence is up, as former Meath ace and current Cavan Masters player Joe Sheridan told the Anglo-Celt this week.

Enthusiasm is always high under a new regime; if the older Cavan players can recover and replicate their performances from last Sunday and Cavan can tidy up on some loose aspects of their play, they should be well in contention. Meath haven’t won in Breffni Park since the 1960s but they did beat Cavan comfortably in Navan last year and, by common consensus, they’re a better side since then.

Are Cavan? Only six of those who featured in Cork played in that game in Páirc Tailteann last year so it’s a new team.

This division is always tight – two matches were decided by one score or less last weekend, one was a draw and Louth came from behind to beat Offaly by five – and that is likely to be the case again on Sunday.

Cavan could find themselves in a winning position if they replicate the best aspects of last Sunday but cool heads and fresh legs will be needed to see it out this time.