In Virginia on Thursday night, Ramor United ran an Up For The Match event in Glackin's bar. You know the drill – a few stools, a few yarns, a bit of stirring. Banty McEnaney was one of the talking heads and when the floor was opened for questions, he thought he could sense a Monaghan accent filtering up to the stage. The question confirmed it.
"Banty," asked the man in the crowd. "Did you ever hear of a county having an Up For The Match for a Division Two league final?" Big laughs all round.
The point is the point, all the same. There are plenty of counties who might make an effort to keep a lid on things and not get ahead of themselves in the circumstances but Cavan could never be confused for one of them. Returning to Division One for the first time since 2002 is a food source made to nourish the greediest part of the Cavan soul, that of presuming to belong at Gaelic football’s top table.
And who could begrudge them it? If there’s a model for how to go about lifting yourself up by your bootstraps, Cavan are no bad example to follow.
Throughout their four-in-a-row of Ulster under-21 titles, they made a point of keeping their under-21s back from the senior panel in the league and bore the consequences. In 2013, they lost to Antrim, Fermanagh and Roscommon in Division Three and looked to be going nowhere. Two promotions in three seasons later, look what happened.
That said, you wouldn’t have got many takers last winter for this being the year it started to turn golden. A summer that ended on the first week of July left Terry Hyland looking far from secure amid some public disquiet. There was a huge turnover of players through the winter, with 14 players from the 2015 panel gone for one reason or another by the time the league came around.
On top of which, Cavan had become saddled with the sort of rep that doesn’t exactly inspire optimism. Joe Brolly’s talent for a nifty phrase meant they were stuck with being the Black Death team, like it or not.
The turnaround took a while to advertise itself but there were a few straws in the wind nonetheless. With the exception of Tyrone, Division Two featured teams that Cavan had beaten in the recent past in either league or championship. Of far more consequence than the 14 players who went was the trio of forwards who returned – David Givney, Eugene Keating and, attempting to put the pin back in the grenade, Seánie Johnston.
Hyland wasted no time in stationing Givney on the edge of the square with Johnston playing off him. The introduction of a sizeable force in Liam Buchanan at midfield allowed Hyland to shift Gearóid McKiernan to centre-forward and automatically made him Cavan’s go-to player. With Michael Argue another giant at wing-forward, they’re a massive side from eight to 14, with only Johnston and jet-heeled Dara McVeety standing less than six feet.
The reintegration of Johnston hasn’t been as tricky as might have been imagined. At 32, he’d have been an unlikely saviour whatever the circumstances but having not played for Cavan since June 2011, he evidently had some making up to do. Attitudes to him were always a lot harsher outside the squad than within it and there was no guarantee he’d get the public onside regardless of how well he played. But Hyland was willing to give him a shot.
Third game
Still, when they lost their opening two games against Tyrone and Derry, it looked like business as usual for 2016. All the more so when they went in at half-time in their third game against Meath trailing by 1-9 to 0-5. That half-time break in Navan on the last Sunday in February will remain a turning point.
While Hyland had been making moves to change their playing style, he hadn’t yet been able to infuse them with the kind of abandon the transformation required. But against Meath they really went for it.
Bit by bit they overwhelmed Meath who were clearly caught on the hop by Cavan’s newfound attacking intent. Givney wrecked the joint at full-forward and Johnston was exceptional buzzing around him. Cavan scored 1-15 in the second half to win by seven and Johnston came off to a standing ovation from the Cavan crowd before the end with six points to his name.
Whether by accident or design, they had hit on a formula. The blanket hasn’t been torn up but the threads have certainly been loosened. Cavan attack at pace now and in Givney, they have a long-ball option that was missing before. And they have depth too – Cian Mackey can’t get back into the team and Keating is having to wait his turn.
If Johnston has taken the headlines and McKiernan has been their best player, it’s probably goalkeeper Ray Galligan who has best advertised Hyland’s canny managerial skills.
Introduced at the last-minute against Monaghan last summer, there were ripples of surprise around Breffni Park because Galligan was known only as an outfield player and this was his first ever game in goal.
In the background, Hyland had made him a special project.
Unsatisfied with the quality of goalkeepers available to him, Hyland had chosen Galligan first and foremost for his kicking ability and told him he’d get Gary Rogers to make a ’keeper out of him.
He missed a couple of frees against Monaghan that day but otherwise the experiment has gone from strength to strength ever since. As an exercise in lateral thinking, Hyland showed himself once again to be as shrewd as they come.
Up for the match? And then some.
