Cavan team named as they take on Offaly in Tullamore
Preview
Cavan manager Dermot McCabe has named his starting team and 26-man squad for today's clash with Offaly.
The Blues travel to O’Connor Park, Tullamore this Sunday (throw-in 2pm) to play bottom side Offaly in what is a must-win game for Dermot McCabe’s men.
The Cavan team is:
1. Liam Brady
2. Jason McLoughlin
3. Brían O’Connell
4. Cormac Brady
5. Gerard Smith
6. Ciarán Brady (C)
7. Conor Brady
8. Ryan Donohoe
9. Gearoid McKiernan
10. Tiarnan Madden
11. Peter Corrigan
12. Oisin Brady
13. Cian Shekleton
14. Dara McVeety
15. Patrick Lynch
16. Gary O’Rourke
17. Eoin Clarke
18. Emmanuel Shehu
19. Ciarán Brady
20. Caoimhan McGovern
21. Favour Shehu
22. Ryan Tobin
23. Thomas Smith
24. Darragh Lovett
25. Evan McIntyre
26. Ben McGahan
Cavan’s heavy loss to Louth last time out – a side they had beaten in the previous two campaigns – has potential to damage morale but Offaly have endured an even worse start to the year, with five successive losses, two by five points and the remainder by nine or more.
An injury crisis has engulfed an already-weakened Offaly panel but they are due to welcome some players back and will have targeted this match.
Cavan started promisingly with narrow losses to Cork and Meath; a double-digit defeat to Tyrone, after a bright start, followed before they ground out a gutsy win over Kildare.
However, the Louth performance was one of the worst in living memory and a win over Offaly this Sunday, while not a tonic, would start the healing process.
Derry, who lost to Louth last evening, await in round seven in Celtic Park. Cavan will travel north as heavy underdogs for that game, regardless of what happens in round six, raising the prospect that the Breffnimen could create a little bit of perhaps unwanted history by becoming the first team to stay in Division 2 on four points since the competition was restructured in 2008.
Meath, in 2011, retained Division 2 status on three points but no team has ever made it to sixth place on four. Six, in fact, seems to be the ‘magic number’, with the sixth-placed side finishing on six eight times and five points on seven occasions since 2008.
Cavan are 4/11 favourites today and defeat would be a major setback. Should the visitors win, it will likely come down to a battle between them and Kildare for sixth place.
Kildare lost to Cork yesterday and will host Louth in Newbridge on the final day; the form book suggests they are unlikely to win either but this division has had plenty of twists and turns thus far.