Youth and experience key for resurgent Breffni ladies

THE Cavan ladies are a side reborn in 2025 and now they have the chance to round off a superb league campaign with the Division Three title.

Wexford might have something to say about that in this Sunday’s showdown at the Integral GAA Grounds in Drogheda – they’re the only side who bettered of Cavan across seven group stage matches – but there’s no doubt that the Breffni County are making strides under new manager Emmet Daly.

They’ve achieved promotion out of Division Three at the first time of asking under the Ramor man, who has also played a leading role with Lurgan Ladies across various levels in recent times (Ramor’s hugely successful ladies wing).

Cavan’s primary objective was promotion and now that box is ticked they can focus all their attention on Sunday’s Division Three final against a strong Wexford side.

“Promotion was definitely the main aim for this year,” said Daly.

“It went down to the second-last game – we had Laois and beat them and that guaranteed us promotion. If we’d have lost that game we’d have been reliant on other results – on score difference and head-to-head – so it worked out well. It was a very competitive division, there wasn’t much between the top three or four teams.”

When Daly was appointed at the outset of the season, he came with an open book. More than 70 players showed up for trials, including some very experienced players who hadn’t been available last year. Their availability has been a major plus point.

“Everyone in the county got a fair crack at the whip and a lot of the more experienced girls have got back on board – the likes of Lauren McVeety, Shauna Lynch, who’s our captain, Aisling Sheridan and Catherine Dolan. It’s great to have them on board, they bring so much to the table and the younger girls learn a lot from them.”

At the the other end of the spectrum, Cavan have enjoyed massive underage success in recent years and a number of players who starred with last year’s minors are already making a strong impression at senior level.

“Four of last year’s minor team are on the panel and two of them are starting and doing very well, Ellie Brady and Sinead Kelly.

“Things are going very well on the pitch across the board, there is a lot of underage talent coming through. It’s evident even at club level, you see small clubs being able to put out two teams at U-12 and U-14 level, which wouldn’t have happened five or six years ago. There’s a lot of effort being put in at club level which is great.”

Next year Cavan will play in Division Two alongside the likes of Monaghan, whom they face in an upcoming Ulster Intermediate Championship semi-final, and Donegal, who have their sights on the prize at senior level. Daly believes it’s important for Cavan’s younger breed of player to be able to test themselves against stronger teams on a weekly basis.

“Division Two is the next step up, we have to go in there and hopefully get out of it. We’re building as a team, we more or less started from scratch with a lot of new faces and we’re already making positive steps.

“It’s a process and being in Division Two is massive with a lot of younger girls coming through. It’s important that they gain experience of playing in the higher leagues so that they’re ready for the All-Ireland Intermediate or Senior Championship. We want to be playing at that high level for the whole year.”

For now their big priority is Wexford this Sunday. The Yellow Bellies won a competitive contest in tough conditions during the league on a scoreline of 2-5 to 0-9. Daly hopes to have learnt from the experience.

“That game was down below in Wexford, there was a yellow wind warning that day, the weather really was extremely bad.

“We didn’t play well, it’s as simple as that. Wexford played a lot better than us and deservedly won it, but we probably learnt more from that game than if we’d won it.

“We found that Wexford are extremely defensive, so we know what way they play now. We’ll try and target that and we’ll see what we can do on the day.”

The Division One and Two finals are hosted by Croke Park, though Cavan’s game will be played at Drogheda Park, rebranded as the Integral GAA Grounds, which is the home of the Louth county team. It’s one of the smallest county grounds in the country but Daly is more than happy with the venue.

“It’s Louth’s home pitch even though they play a lot of games at Inniskeen. It’s a club ground in a way, but it’s a great venue. We played Louth there this year, it’s a good pitch. I think it’s been done up in the last year or two, it’s not long reopened. It’s a good pitch so we’ve no complaints there.”

“We didn’t play well, it’s as simple as that. Wexford played a lot better than us and deservedly won it, but we probably learnt more from that game than if we’d won it..”