Bellew’s boys face crucial clash against Armagh

By Shaun Casey

CAVAN will secure their safety with a win over Armagh this weekend and while the league isn’t the be all and end all, Breffni boss Ollie Bellew says his side do not want to go down.

Cavan have picked up two wins from their five outings to sit just above the relegation zone, where Armagh and Sligo currently rest. The Breffni Blues defeated Sligo in the opening round while they earned another victory over Wicklow.

Those two triumphs sandwiched back-to-back defeats at the hands of table-toppers London and Mayo while Cavan also suffered a slim three-point loss on the road last weekend against Roscommon.

“This year we didn’t put a big focus on the league, so it hasn’t been primary in our focus or our ambitions, but we don’t want to have done all this work to go back down a division,” said Bellew.

“We want to stay where we are, competing against the likes of Wicklow, Mayo and London who we have had such good performances against. Armagh is another big test on Saturday and that’s the sort of opposition you want to be playing against every week.

“We’ve performed really well at home, and we’ve made it a hard place to go to for opposition teams no matter who they are but just with the storm and the rejigging of the fixtures, we’ve gone now without a break.

“It’s hard as an inter-county team to go six weeks back-to-back without any rest so it’s taken it’s toll a wee bit on the squad but we’ll test the depth of the squad this weekend and hopefully we’ll have enough in reserve to get us through.”

Rumours of stag dos and player weddings hampering Armagh’s preparations haven’t gone unnoticed, but Bellew is planning to face the best that the Orchard County has to offer when they clash on Saturday.

“Armagh is a county laced with hurling talent,” continued the Cavan boss.

“I’m familiar with the Armagh landscape having been down there for a years doing bits and pieces, I know how much talent is in Armagh.

“They’re a proud hurling county and they’re going to be physically fit, physically strong and Armagh is a game that petrifies you every year because they do bring so much to the table so we’re looking forward to it.”