Tailteann Cup round 1

Cavan v Down

Saturday, Kingspan Breffni, 2pm

By Niall Gartland

CAVAN boss Mickey Graham admits that they were gutted by their Ulster Championship semi-final to Donegal, but they’ve drawn a line in the sand and are looking forward to their Tailteann Cup opener on Saturday against Down.

The Breffni County have been installed as favourites for the competition, but they weren’t too excited about the prospect of a ‘B’ competition at the final whistle of their defeat to Donegal. They threw everything at it that day, but they were sunk by two late goals.

Graham said: “After any defeat there’s always disappointment. We thought we’d worked ourselves into a position to be competitive throughout the game, but we didn’t take a few chances before half-time and you can’t afford that against a quality side like Donegal. When they got their opportunities they took them and that was the story of the match.

“The lads were shocking disappointed alright, but time’s a great healer and after a couple of days we were back training. There were things we could work on and we’ve drawn a line in the sand and are focusing on the Tailteann Cup. We want to build on our performances to date and get a bit more consistency.”

It came to light just the other week that the first round of the new competition is split up into a northsouth regional divide. Graham says it isn’t the most inspiring turn of events.

“I was under the impression there was an open draw, that everybody was in the hat. I think any Ulster manager would tell you at this stage that they’re fed up at the sight of each other at this stage between the McKenna Cup, League, Championship.

“Sometimes a change would be nice but look that’s what they’ve decided. We were in the northern region and we’ve been drawn against Down so it’s another Ulster derby.”

Graham has drafted in four players from the Cavan u-20 team that lost by a single point to an all-conquering Tyrone team in the Ulster final. He says the decision was made with an eye to future years.

“We brought in a number of u-20s, just to bring them in and get them into that environment and expose them to it and look to maybe give them a bit of experience training with senior players and it will hopefully give them a great appetite looking forward to next year.

“There seems to be a good mindset there and a lot of work being done at underage from development squads right through to senior level and hopefully we’ll see the benefit of that in coming years.”

Down are at a particularly low ebb at the moment. There wasn’t much between the teams when they met in the Ulster Championship semi-final two years ago, but the Mourne County have dipped whereas Cavan have steadied the ship after a disappointing 2021. Graham says it would be unwise to take them for granted, however.

“We’ve been in situations like this before and know what’s required, underdogs can be very dangerous. As I’ve been quoted as saying many times before, when Ulster teams play against each other there’s very little in it and form goes out the window, it’s all about who turns up on the day.”