Chance to round off league on a high note

By Niall Gartland

THE Cavan footballers were brought back down to earth with a bump with a bruising defeat to Armagh last weekend, so they’ll be hoping to prove a point to themselves in their find round league clash against Fermanagh this Saturday.

Promotion is now an impossibility following their 2-21 to 0-12 loss to Armagh, a scoreline out of kilter with what had hitherto been a fruitful league campaign in the first league campaign of the Raymond Galligan era.

A top-half finish is decent enough going in the circumstances, especially as Armagh and Donegal have proven themselves a little too strong for the tier-two division.

Cavan are set to take on a Fermanagh side fighting for their Division Two lives this weekend. The Erne Couny must win to stand any chance of staying up, and even that mightn’t suffice as they need Kildare to do them a favour against Louth.

Cavan and Fermanagh last met in the Division Three final last April, and on that occasion the Breffni County claimed a battling victory on a scoreline of 0-16 to 1-7 at Croke Park.

Neither Cavan or Fermanagh have shot the lights out up unti this point – the Erne County have mustered just over a dozen points a game while Cavan fare only slightly better in that respect averaging roughly 14 points on average.

On paper Cavan have the more potent forward line with Paddy Lynch (pictured) a safe bet for half-a-dozen points a game, albeit he’s the side’s usual free-taker. The likes of Niall Carolan, Padraig Faulkner, Jason McLoughlin have had stellar league campaigns, while Gary O’Rourke seems to have nailed down a spot between the sticks.

However, they received something of a wake-up call against the Orchard County last weekend on a day where nothing really went right for Raymond Galligan’s side. The Cavan defence was placed under huge pressure throughout and at the other end of the pitch they were restricted to occasional raids up front that didn’t yield much in terms of scoring reward.

It was a bit of an eye-opener in that respect and the question is whether Cavan are really that far behind their provincial rivals with an Ulster Championship preliminary date against Monaghan just around the corner. In that sense, another all-Ulster clash, this time against Fermanagh comes at the opportune moment as it would be a minor morale-booster if they finish the league on a winning note.

That said, they definitely won’t get anything easy as Fermanagh are in desperate need of victory with their Division Two status as stake. Cavan have struggled to put teams away, so even if they do win, expected this one to be close.