SCHOOL EDITION 29 MAY 2024 - Flipbook - Page 28
28
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CAVANRATINGS
6
RAYMOND GALLIGAN Both goalkeepers found
themselves under pressure and forced long in the rst
half, but while Armagh won a bit of ball, they scored
just 0-2 off Galligan’s restarts compared to 0-7 at the other
end. Lucky a couple of times under the high ball.
6
6
KILLIAN CLARKE Hung out in the big space and pulled
around the place by Andy Murnin, who was out at
mideld as often as he was at full-forward. Clarke did
make a few telling plays.
PADRAIG FAULKNER Cavan’s lack of intensity left
Faulkner a sitting duck too, especially against a man
in the form Conor Turbitt is in. Struggled with him. Took
matters into his own hands by pushing forward throughout
the second half.
5.5
JASON McLOUGHLIN Left Breffni Park with a
framed jersey marking his 100th appearance
after a post-match presentation in the
changing room, but it was a disappointing night on the eld.
Took a bang just before he was replaced on 28 minutes,
having been on Rory Grugan.
6.5
5.5
CIARAN BRADY Did enough to force Stefan
Campbell down blind alleys and into trafc at
times, keeping his man scoreless, but without
making his usual impact on the game.
DARA McVEETY Disappointing night. Didn’t
look fully recovered from injury and struggled
to impose himself. Jemar Hall tracked him
diligently. Pushed further up in the second half and more
involved.
7
7
CIAN MADDEN Lined out at wing-back. Kicked a ne
rst score from the right wing. Jason Duffy had very
little impact against him.
OISIN KIERNAN Showed real leadership in the rst
half. Went looking the ball all the time, drove Cavan
on down their left with quality that he displayed in his
kick-passing, which linked up nicely with Oisin Brady. Tired as
the lack of game time caught up.
7
5.5
7
CONOR BRADY Thrust into mideld duty, he was
outdone in the air by Ben Crealey but did fairly well on
the ground. Kicked two badly-needed rst-half points
and kept plugging.
JAMES SMITH Couldn’t get his hands on the
ball at all. Very limited involvement at mideld
in the rst half and not much more at fullforward in the second period.
GEAROID McKIERNAN Caught between stools in the
rst half, dipping in and out of full-forward without
being an orthodox midelder either. Stationed in
the middle after half-time where he had a brilliant last 25
minutes.
5.5
5.5
6
7
a lot of it.
debut.
GERARD SMITH Usually a quietly reliable
gure, Smith didn’t get as much possession
as he’s used to, tagged by Greg McCabe for
JONATHAN McCABE Held on to his place but
found the energy and physicality of Ciaran
Mackin a lot to deal with on his championship
PADDY LYNCH One nice score from play and a couple
of well-taken marks but kicked four wides and dropped
another effort well short of the target. Never took Aidan
Forker on.
OISIN BRADY Carried their attack in the rst half. Fine
early score. Great outlet for Kiernan’s kick-passing.
Was unlucky with a bad bounce that took the ball away
from him and led to Armagh’s goal on the break. Quieter
second half.
SUBSTITUTES
6
6.5
NIALL CAROLAN Debutant tightened up on Rory Grugan.
Did well.
TIARNAN MADDEN Could consider himself unlucky
to have lost his place for the League nal and this
game. His burst for the goal chance was one of very few
injections of Cavan pace on the night.
5.5
5.5
5.5
SPORT
WEDNESDAY APRIL 26 2023
CONOR MADDEN Didn’t get into it at all.
CONOR MOYNAGH Quiet cameo.
BRENDAN BOYLAN One 50-yard effort dropped
wide.
COMPILED BY CAHAIR O’KANE
sportsdesk@irishnews.com
ULSTER SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Quarter-nal Cavan 0-12 Armagh 1-14
Armagh make their
intentions clear to all
T
HERE’S an old wives tale
going about that Armagh
aren’t that bothered
about winning Ulster.
They’ll tell you Kieran
McGeeney has bigger sh to fry.
Don’t believe the hype.
“Does Armagh even want to
win?” pondered a Cavan fan
before throw-in at wet and windy
Kingspan Breffni on Saturday
evening.
Like everyone else he found out
that the Orchardmen wanted
victory a lot more than the home
side did and they got it thanks
to some brilliant nishing in the
rst half - Conor Turbitt led the
way again – and backs to the
wall defending in the second
when Cavan eventually got their
act together.
Ben Crealey’s rst half goal
meant Armagh led 1-10 to 0-6 at
half-time but the Orchardmen
weren’t going to get out of Cavan
without some sort of drama and
it came in the second half when
the Breffnimen rallied.
Rian O’Neill denied Tiernan
Madden with an extraordinary
full-length dive and four Cavan
wides (in a generous ve-minute
period of injury-time) summed
up a disappointing evening for
them.
There was a sparkle and an
intensity about Armagh from
the throw-in that their hosts
couldn’t match and Turbitt,
continuing his brilliant form, was
the focal point of it.
He scored an early double. The
rst came from a one-two with
Rory Grugan and Jarly Og Burns,
Ciaran Mackin and Jemar Hall
were involved in the second.
Ethan Rafferty added a 45 after a
Mackin shot had been deected
wide
Meanwhile, Cavan were able to
get men back and win ball but
they were too slow to get out
and Armagh played a line across
the middle which isolated the
Breffni forwards.
Their wide count – which
eventually reached 16 – began
to mount as Gearoid McKiernan
lashed a hit-and-hope shot wide
and although Cian Madden did
manage a point after 12 minutes,
Armagh retained control.
Grugan sent Jason Duffy
galloping clear on the left wing
MEA
ANDYWATTERS
AT KINGSPAN BREFFNI
but his sted effort dropped
onto the crossbar and bounced
back into play. Andrew Murnin
grabbed the ball and tried again
but his effort fell short and
Cavan’s hard-pressed defence
smuggled it to safety and Oisin
Brady cut in from the left and
scored a morale-boosting point.
Armagh kicked on with two
routine frees from ‘Turbo’ after
Mackin and Stefan Campbell had
cut deep into Cavan territory
and when Aidan Forker picked
out Murnin’s break from fullforward, the St Paul’s clubman
turned and scored to leave it 0-6
to 0-2 after 22 one-sided minutes.
Paddy Lynch, who scored four
ne points but also kicked
some terrible wides from all
sorts of angles, replied but
Shane McPartlan, showing the
exuberance and condence of
youth, cancelled it out with an
instinctive strike from the right
wing.
Campbell, causing havoc in the
Cavan defence when he ran
with the ball, was taken out as
he prepared to pull the trigger
and Grugan’s free left ve points
between them (0-8 to 0-3).
Another Turbitt score followed
and although Lynch managed
a mark Armagh replied with a
owing move from the throw-in.
Rafferty’s booming restart found
Hall who cut inside from the left
and registered Armagh’s 10th
score with his right boot.
Cavan already needed a goal to
get back into a game that was
slipping away from them but it
was Armagh who got it and the
spadework was done by Mackin
and Duffy. Cavan had done well
to win the ball back but again
were short on forward options
and when the ball was played
out to Oisin Brady the Armagh
defensive pair zeroed in on him.
Brady didn’t get a glove on
it as Mackin nipped in and
exchanged passes with Grugan
before sting the ball across goal
for Crealey (whose foot in the
square wasn’t spotted by the
umpire) to slam home Armagh’s
third goal of this year.
With nine points in it, it seemed
like ‘game over’ at that point
but at least Cavan did muster
a couple of scores before the
break. Conor Brady got the rst
and Cian Madden point punched
the air deantly to rally his
teammates when he split the
posts to leave it 1-10 to 0-6 at the
break.
The Breffnimen survived an
almighty scramble early in the
second half when Campbell’s
Hail Mary was palmed back
across the goal. Crealey slid in
but Cian Madden cleared, taking
a boot from Hall for his trouble.
The mercurial Lynch hit a wide
and then a mark and James
Smith’s point left ve in it.
Armagh’s response was to throw
Rian O’Neill back into the battle.
Cavan wides (Oisin Brady and
Galligan) were followed by
Armagh scores (Greg McCabe
and Turbitt) and Dara McVeety
lumped a long ball to nobody in
particular before Turbitt breezed
in off the left wing and clipped
over another point to leave it
1-13 to 0-8 after 56 minutes.
After Conor O’Neill had galloped
forward to add another, the
stadium PA announced that
“Eamon O’Reilly from Gowna
is the winner of the half-time
draw” and you would have bet
Eamon his winnings that he’d be
Cavan’s only winner of the day.
But the home side did get their
act together in the closing
stages.
the other didn’t.
In MacCumhaill Park 12 months
ago, Armagh rejigged their whole
structure to match up to Donegal.
They took fear of Shaun Patton
and dropped off his kick-outs.
They didn’t land a blow for
35 minutes, watching Michael
Langan cut in and kick scores at
his leisure.
Then they came out after halftime and had a furious rally that
ought to have brought more
scores, but didn’t mask where
the problems actually lay.
Cavan on Saturday were a
regurgitation of that. They hardly
put a tackle on in the rst half.
They were set up to land counterblows but had no energy in the
legs to carry them.
Their poor full-back line of
Padraig Faulkner and Killian
Clarke were hung out, saved only
by the greasy pitch that allowed
them to get the hand in often
enough.
You wondered if maybe they
just weren’t at that level but it
was clear from very early in the
second half that they’d resolved
to have a rattle at it.
So often nowadays, teams start
off with the fear. What if this
happens, what if that happens,
we better play safe for a while
and see. And you can understand
it. As the man says, you can’t win
a game in the rst 20 minutes but
you can denitely lose one.
Cavan are not the rst team
and won’t be the last to dominate
a second half after a fairly brutal
rst period.
They fronted up to Armagh
after half-time and took big
gambles that were barely
calculated. Every time Ethan
Rafferty set the ball on his tee, it
was a matter of timing and inches
from an Armagh goal. Cavan were
squeezed so high up the pitch
that not winning the ball wasn’t
an option for them.
MATCH STATS
Cavan R Galligan (0-1 free); K Clarke,
P Faulkner, J McLoughlin; Ciaran Brady,
O Kiernan, G Smith (0-1); G McKiernan
(0-2, 0-1 free), J Smith (0-1);
Conor Brady (0-2), D McVeety, J McCabe;
Cian Madden (0-1), P Lynch (0-3, 0-2
marks), O Brady (0-1)
Subs N Carolan for McLoughlin (29),
T Madden for McCabe (HT),
Conor Madden for Kieran (58), C Moynagh
for J Smith (64), B Boylan for
Ciaran Brady (67)
Yellow cards Lynch (16), Faulkner (65)
Armagh E Rafferty (0-1 45); C O’Neill
(0-1), A McKay, A Forker; G McCabe (0-1),
J Og Burns; B Crealey (1-0), S McPartlan
(0-1); S Campbell, J Hall (0-1), J Duffy;
R Grugan (0-1 free), A Murnin (0-1),
C Turbitt (0-7, 0-2 frees, 0-1 mark)
Subs R O’Neill for Hall (43), A Nugent for
Murnin (55), S Sheridan for Crealey (58),
C Cumiskey for Duffy (65), C Higgins for
McPartlan (69)
Yellow cards Hall (38), R O’Neill (52)
Referee P Faloon (Down)
Attendance 11,275
Biggest disappointment for Cav
FROM CAHAIR O’KANE
AT KINGSPAN BREFFNI
A
RMAGH
will
have
recognised Cavan’s secondhalf performance. It was
like looking in a mirror at the
same sting of a dying wasp they
brought to Ballybofey last year.
This
rst-round
Ulster
Championship game was so
like that rst-round Ulster
Championship
game
with
Donegal.
None
of
the
pre-match
expectation of a titanic tussle
was met because one side
showed up for the rst half and