National Football League Division Four

Cavan v Waterford

Saturday, Kingspan Breffni, 7pm

By Niall Gartland

BAR a freak sequence of results, Cavan’s one-point victory over London at the weekend has ensured their promotion from Division Three, but former great Ronan Carolan is concerned by the possibility that they’ll be undercooked heading into their Ulster Championship opener against Antrim.

Mickey Graham’s side have one league clash left to play, against Waterford who are anchored to the bottom of Division Four, and that in itself is indicative of their fall from grace in recent seasons.

It was as recently as 2018 that Cavan played in Division One, but they fell to three successive relegations and Carolan is concerned that they might meet their match in their upcoming Ulster Championship clash against an improving Antrim side.

Carolan said: “Their manager Enda McGinley is a very astute and well-organised man. Antrim have had a very good league – ours has been good but patchy.

“I’d still have great faith in our more established players, I definitely don’t think promotion will satisfy them and they’ll be acutely aware they can still compete against the big boys.

“But the concern would be that Division Four isn’t good preparation for the Ulster Championship, particularly when you consider the improvements made by the Armaghs and Derrys. It’s by far and away the most competitive province and won’t fail to deliver. Cavan won’t be afraid of any team but it’s a big ask.”

Selector and physio on the Cavan u-21 set-up that won an incredible four Ulster Champions in-a-row between 2011 and 2014, Carolan was delighted that many of those players went on to star on the team that ended their provincial drought at senior level in 2020. He’s concerned about what will happen, however, when stalwarts like Gearoid McKiernan and Conor Moynagh hang up the boots.

“It would definitely be a concern that that generation of players are now in their late 20s and early 30s and we need to be very careful with our structures to make sure they’re replaced. They were a particularly talented bunch of players who were a joy to be involved with in my five or six years with the u-21s.

“Thank God they won their Ulster Championship two years ago, I know it was a dark time with Covid but they deserved their Ulster Championship and possibly more.”

Carolan admits that he is somewhat ‘mystified’ by their fall to Division Four, but muses that a dearth of luck may have had something to do with it.

“I think Covid and the condensed league didn’t help matters for us last year. We were unlucky to lose to Derry, but we still would’ve been in a promotion semi-final only Fermanagh punched over a late point to get a draw in their last day. My feeling is we probably would’ve got to Division Two if we’d reached the semi-finals rather than relegation to Division Four. Then again there is no excuses for losing to Wicklow in Navan, that shouldn’t have happened.”