Kieran McGeeney has praised the work ethic of Cavan’s Martin Reilly and Dara McVeety

ARMAGH manager Kieran McGeeney has claimed that Cavan possess industrious wing-forwards that are of an equal standard to Dublin, Kerry and Mayo’s.

The Orchard boss was referring specifically to Dara McVeety and Martin Reilly, and paid them a huge compliment ahead of Sunday’s Ulster Championship quarter-final at Kingspan Breffni Park.

“I think they cover the ground for everybody else,” McGeeney said of the pair.

“Because of their counter-attacking style, their ability to drop back and attack at pace, their levels of fitness are huge.

“Those particular roles, particularly 10 and 12 in Gaelic football, I suppose are like midfield roles, except you have to be able to add to the scoreline and you have to be able to add to the tackles in defence.

“Outside of those two players there’s probably not too many at that level. You’d be on about the level of Paul Flynn and (Kevin) McLoughlin in Mayo, Donnchadh Walsh in Kerry.

“They’re your quintessential wing-forwards at the moment, and those two fellas would be up there with them.”

Armagh’s equivalent Caolan Rafferty will miss the match as he is currently working in Hong Kong, but McGeeney is hoping that the return from injury of Ciaran McKeever can lead to the whole team raising their work-rate levels.

“We would be hoping for that,” McGeeney responded when asked would McKeever, who had cartilage removed earlier this season, be fit to feature.

“He has played a couple of halves in the games, we’ve just been trying to take him in bit by bit. 

“It’s hard to put the reigns on Ciaran but sometimes you just have to. 

“He’s a big day player, as well as that he’s a great organiser on the pitch although he probably gets an unfair rap at times.

“He’s nearly got a card before he goes out, but he’s very disciplined and the younger fellas look up to him and it’s good to have him there.”

McGeeney has been studying Cavan hard in the build-up to this weekend’s game, and that included a trip to Dublin for their Division Two final loss to Tyrone.

Although Terry Hyland’s side lost but five points, McGeeney saw plenty in the Cavan performance to worry him.

“Cavan are a very high-scoring team, that’s the big thing about them,” he said. “When they get a purple patch they really rack up the points.

“Even against Tyrone in the League final, Tyrone are being tipped as probably one of the favourites outside of Dublin, people were saying Tyrone controlled the game yet Cavan hit was it 15 or 16 points? They were unlucky not to get a couple of goals.

“I was at the game, it would be fair to say that Tyrone were in control, so if that’s Cavan being controlled, I’d hate to see them when they’re not being controlled. Fifteen points is a fair return for anybody.”

Cavan are strong favourites to set up a semi-final clash with Tyrone, and McGeeney said that it was an understandable viewpoint.

“They’ll feel that they’re favourites,” he said. “We’ve played them a couple of times this year and they’ve done well.

“They have been very physical in their approach to the game, they’re big players. There is four of their forward line well over six foot.

“They’ll probably feel that they’re in a good position. Their u-21 players are coming through to good affect.

“There well down the line with Terry, he seems to have the balance right now between his defence and offence.

“In terms of pressure? Like every county manager he’ll have his own inside pressures as well as external ones, but it depends on how much credence you put in that.”