By Shaun Casey

CAVAN ladies face a lengthy trip to Tipperary this Sunday and manager Emmet Daly hopes that the challenge of facing high-level opposition will stand to them later on in the Intermediate Championship.

The Breffni Blues had a near perfect league campaign in 2025, winning six of their seven Division Three ties before securing the league title with a seven-point win over Wexford.

Now they’re aiming to push on at a higher level in 2026 and they got their campaign off to a solid start with a draw against Mayo, who were relegated out of the top flight last season.

They’re riding the crest of a wave and have ample youthful talent coming through the ranks, so manager Daly, back for a second season in charge, is hoping that they will be steeled by a tough sequence of matches in Division Two.

“It’s going to be a tough game and it’s Division Two, so all games are going to be tough, especially with the long journey on top of this one,” he said.

“That’s just going to make it that little bit harder, but we’ll go down and embrace it and give it our best. There’s some of us going down the night before but then some girls like to sleep in their own bed the night before a game, so you don’t know which is the right decision.

“I think everyone is the same, it’s a game by game approach and we have a new panel, the guts of 13 new players in it so it’s just about developing them.

“We’re happy to be playing in a higher level than last year and hopefully that’ll stand to us come the championship.”

Cavan were pleased with their first round result, when they gained a share of the spoils against Mayo at Kingspan Breffni.

Cavan’s captain Aishling Sheridan nailed a goal inside the opening five minutes of the contest, and the home side held a three-point lead at the interval. Mayo did get their noses ahead late on in the game, only for Sheridan to fire over an equalising score.

“We were happy enough with the point,” Daly said of their 1-13 apiece draw. “It was round one of the league so it’s hard to know where you are really at until you play a competitive game.

“With the calibre of team that Mayo are, we were probably lucky to get a draw in the end, but we could have won it as well. I think a draw was a fair result for both sides.”

Cavan came through the game unscathed and will have no fresh injuries to worry about ahead of their journey south. Daly admits they are still missing some key players this early in the season, but every team is in a similar position at the minute.

“We came out of the Mayo game with a clean bill of health. We had a few injuries going into it and had a few girls that couldn’t play but we have a good squad, and it’ll just get stronger over the next couple of weeks when some girls come back.

“We’re happy in that regard. It’s still preseason, the ground is heavy and training is tough so you’ll always pick up those niggles, but everyone is in the same boat.”