Garden County await the Cavan hurlers

By Niall Gartland

THE Cavan hurlers will have, almost inadvertently, have had a fortnight’s break by Sunday’s Division Three encounter at home to Wicklow.

Their match against Armagh was called off last week following a pitch inspection at Kingspan Breffni, the second time one of their matches has been placed on temporary hiatus in this year’s league campaign (their opening round match against Mayo was postponed as well, belatedly going ahead a couple of of weeks back).

Cavan will have fancied their chances of getting a result against a struggling Armagh team, but it’s much bigger ask to get the better of Wicklow, who sit second in the table having won three of their four matches to date.

Stranger things have happened – Cavan have been competitive in all their matches, the only time they’ve really struggled being in the second half of a tough away trip to table-toppers London.

Wicklow have been the most free-scoring team in the division, averaging an impressive 24 points per game, and their only loss has been a one-point defeat at home to London.

On paper, it’s Wicklow’s to lose. But Cavan have shown a tremendous appetite for battle under manager Ollie Bellew and have the potential to make a decent fist of this. Whether it’ll be enough is another matter.