Brady admits Cavan ‘just never got going’ against Louth

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Damien Donohoe

Cavan’s league campaign took a deeply concerning turn with a heavy defeat to Louth that leaves their ambitions hanging by a thread and serious questions to answer ahead of a crucial match against Offaly on Sunday week.

From the outset, there was a sense that this was a game Cavan simply could not afford to lose. By the end, the manner of the defeat, as much as the result itself, will trouble management and supporters alike.

Oisín Brady did not attempt to dress it up afterwards. “Yeah, obviously very disappointed,” he said. “We just never got going out there and it’s tough to take.”

That sense of flatness was at odds with the opening exchanges. Cavan moved two points to one in front early on and appeared settled. But what followed was a sustained spell of Louth dominance that effectively decided the contest before half-time.

Asked where it unravelled, Brady pointed to a combination of tactical and physical shortcomings. “I think we were giving their two-point shooters too much room outside the arc. We weren’t getting across quick enough and they were switching the ball well,” he explained. “We also weren’t winning enough around the middle of the field and it just felt like wave after wave coming at us.”

“I can’t say there’s one single thing, but we just weren’t putting enough pressure on them. They have quality two-point kickers and they really hurt us.”

Louth’s ability to strike from distance, particularly with the wind at their backs, exposed Cavan’s defensive structure. The zonal system employed struggled to cope with diagonal switches and quick transfers of possession, leaving shooters with time and space.

“At times I think it is possible to play a zonal defence,” Brady reflected, “but maybe today we could have gone away from it, especially with the wind they had, just to nullify the space we were giving them.”

“It’s hard to change things when the game is going against you, but I would agree that we probably should have pushed out further and maybe stepped away from the zone at times.”

The damage was compounded around kick-outs. Louth’s physicality and streetwise edge in the aerial exchanges repeatedly turned possession in their favour and kept Cavan pinned back.

“The ref let a lot go, to be fair,” Brady said of the physical battle.

“They were probably smarter than us around the kick-out and on the breaking ball. They were holding lads off and getting up for their jumpers.”

“It probably took us too long to adjust. It wasn’t until about 10 minutes into the second half that we really got a grip on it.”

By that stage, the margin had stretched into double digits and Cavan were chasing shadows. While there were moments in the third quarter when a flicker of momentum appeared possible, the gap proved too large.

“We had chances to get back into the game as well, but our conversion rate just wasn’t good enough,” Brady admitted.

“There were 20 minutes to go and I think there were 10 or 12 points in it, and we just didn’t chip away at it the way we should have. It’s frustrating.”

There was perhaps an inevitable temptation to search for a quick fix, the special score or the immediate two-pointer to spark belief, but that urgency may have played into Louth’s hands.

“I wouldn’t say special,” Brady said when asked if Cavan tried to force things, “but Louth were knocking over two-pointers in the first half and maybe we were forcing it a bit trying to respond.”

“If we had taken a few more phases and worked the ball better, maybe the two-point chances would have come more naturally. We had goal chances too, but none of them went in. It just didn’t go for us at all.”

In truth, that final line captures the afternoon succinctly. Very little fell Cavan’s way, but they also did not do enough to wrestle control of a game that slipped from their grasp far too easily.

The defeat leaves Cavan in an uncomfortable position heading into a massive clash with Offaly in two weeks’ time. Momentum has stalled and confidence will have taken a hit. Yet the equation is simple: respond or face the consequences.

“We just have to knuckle down, take the learnings from this game and put in a performance against Offaly,” Brady insisted.

“It’s going to be another tough test. All we can do now is try to get four points from the last two games, finish the league on a high and see where that leaves us.”