Table-toppers face Offaly

By Niall Gartland

CAVAN are the only team in Division Three with a perfect record to their name ahead of their fourth round clash against mid-table Offaly on Sunday.

Mickey Graham’s side have been in imperious form, and barring a significant down-turn in fortunes, should see themselves playing in Division Two next year.
Anglo Celt Sports Editor Paul Fitzpatrick rolled out the surprise stat earlier this week that if Cavan do achieve promotion, it will be the eighth season in a row they will have switched Division, and it’s been obvious from early this year that they mean business.

They claimed their latest league win with a one-sided thumping of struggling Longford last weekend on a scoreline of 1-19 to 0-11. By half-time, the only question was the margin of victory with the Breffni boys superior in every sector.

The only cause for concern for the Cavan management was the loss of Oisin Brady and Dara McVeety, two of their best performers to date who both limped off in the second-half.

But they aren’t lacking in the strength-in-depth department with subs Paddy Lynch and Conor Madden both registering scores when thrown into the action.

This weekend’s encounter against Offaly is set to be their first against the Leinster outfit since they met in the qualifiers 2018. On that occasion, Cavan weren’t at their best, squeezing out a 1-19 to 0-18 victory, but you’d imagine it’s of little relevance to this weekend’s encounter.

Offaly have had a decent league campaign to date and fell to their first defeat when they lost by six points to Westmeath in a hard-fought game in Mullingar. They’re a decent team, and will be aiming for one of the two promotion spots on offer, but on present form it’s hard to see past Cavan picking up a fourth victory on the trot.