PREVIEW: Red Hands primed to maintain hex over Cavan

Ulster SFC Quarter-Final

Tyrone v Cavan

Sunday, O’Neill’s Healy Park, 4.15pm

By Niall Gartland

IT’S not the mother of all hoodoos – but it’s not a million miles off it.

Cavan haven’t won a single championship campaign against Tyrone since all the way back in 1983, and it isn’t as if they’ve given each other a wide berth in the mean-time.

There have been plenty of encounters – some one-sided, some not – but ultimately Cavan have never been able to seal the deal.

Does it really matter? We’ll leave that one to the psychologists, though for what it’s worth, the bookies have completely and utterly written off Cavan’s chances of an upset this Sunday afternoon at O’Neill’s Healy Park.

Tyrone have been priced at 1/10, terrible odds if you’re that way inclined – bear in mind that last year’s championship meeting against Cavan was a rollercoaster ride settled after extra-time, and by a point!

It’s not as if they’ve had wildly contrasting league campaigns. Both teams belatedly hit form and will feel confident about Sunday, even if the final day of the league was marked by a note of disappointment: Tyrone were relegated from Division One and Cavan found themselves a whisker away from passing them on the way down.

Perhaps the reason why Tyrone have been made red-hot favourites is rooted in potential. Tyrone are still seen as a major player, even if their stock has fallen somewhat in recent years. It was only four years ago that they won the All-Ireland, the county has gathered up two of the last three All-Ireland U20 titles and in Malachy O’Rourke they’ve got one of the most respected managers of this generation manning the sidelines. The reality is, Cavan aren’t taken quite so seriously.

Last year they died with their boots on against the Red Hands on a baking hot day at Kingspan Breffni, but it wasn’t enough and time tells us that the rest of their championship campaign basically petered out.

In the first-half they stood off, played a sweeper and gave Tyrone the run of it – free man Michael McKernan ghosted up field for two second-half points (impressively, he was Tyrone’s third top-scorer during this year’s Division One campaign) and all in all they looked really comfortable.

The Breffni side went man-for-man and ‘won’ the second-half by 2-10 to 0-10, forcing extra-time. In the final reckoning Tyrone prevailed by a single point, but that game remains close enough in the rear-view mirror that Cavan can take heart from it heading into Sunday’s game.

Tyrone, meanwhile, endured a sticky patch in the heart of their Division One campaign, including a particularly disappointing defeat to Kerry where it looked like the hard part had been done, but they found their groove in the final three matches and are in a good place heading into the championship.

There’s no shortage of talent in the Tyrone team – and we could go through the entire team, starting from position one. Niall Morgan is last year’s All-Star goalkeeper, their full-back line haven’t conceded a single goal since David Clifford went to town in Pomeroy, Michael McKernan, Rory Brennan and Kieran McGeary makes for one seriously strong half-back line. And on it goes right up through midfield to free-scoring forwards like Darragh Canavan and Darren McCurry (who mightn’t even get the nod if Mark Bradley recovers from a calf strain). So while the last few years haven’t gone to plan, Tyrone fans can certainly be positive about the road ahead.

Cavan are no slouches though – they’re backboned by players who led their surge to a long-awaited provincial triumph in 2010, including joint-captains Padraig Faulkner and Ciarán Brady, Gearoid McKiernan, Dara McVeety, Jason McLoughlin and a number of others. On a less positive note, they’ve a few injury concerns, most prominently their attacking fulcrum Paddy Lynch who is still recuperating from an ACL injury sustained in last season’s championship.

They embarked on a winning run of four straight matches in Division Two before a somewhat underpar performance on the final day against Cork, a major missed opportunity given a win would’ve been enough to achieve promotion.

It’s difficult to make a case for them actually beating Tyrone, whatever about last year’s near miss. If both teams play near to their potential on Sunday, logic dictates that the Red Hands should book their spot in a provincial semi-final clash against the winners of Armagh and Antrim. Championship matches oft-take on a life of their own, of course, but there’s a sense that Tyrone are coming good, that their squad depth is genuinely impressive, and they should have enough – perhaps more than enough – to take their spot in the next round.

LAST TIME

2024 Ulster SFC Cavan 3-16 Tyrone 1-23 (AET)

CAVAN recovered from eight points down to force extra-time in an Ulster classic at Kingspan Breffni but Tyrone ultimately won the battle to set up a provincial semi-final clash against Donegal.

Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher side looked to be cruising when they opened a 1-16 to 1-8 lead 16 minutes into the second-half but the hosts roared back into proceedings, scoring two goals to send the game into extra-time.

In energy-sapping conditions, Tyrone edged in front and managed to hold on with scores from Darragh Canavan, Niall Devlin and Tiarnan Quinn enough to shade an enthralling contest.

Cavan: G O’Rourke, Cian Reilly, K Brady (0-1), B O’Connell (0-2), P Faulkner (1-0), N Carolan (1-0), Conor Brady, L Fortune (0-1), O Kiernan (Denn), Ciaran Brady, G Smith (0-1), O Kiernan (Castlerahan), C Madden (1-1), P Lynch (0-5, 3f), O Brady (0-3)
Subs: J Smith for Kiernan (Denn), T Madden (0-2) for Kiernan (Castlerahan), J McLoughlin for Fortune, Cormac O’Reilly for C Madden, K Clarke for K Brady, C Rehill for Carolan, R Donohoe for Faulkner, TN Hofmann for Ciaran Brady

Tyrone: N Morgan (0-1, 1f), C Devlin, P Hampsey, M McKernan (0-3), S O’Donnell, M Donnelly (0-1), N Devlin (0-1), B Kennedy (0-1), A Donaghy, C Daly (0-1), K McGeary, L Gray (1-0), D McCurry (0-4, 2f), D Canavan (0-7, 3f), R Canavan (0-2)
Subs: B Cullen (0-1) for McGeary, C McShane for R Canavan, J Oguz for Donaghy, M O’Neill for Gray, L McGarrity for Kennedy, T Quinn for McCurry, C Cush for D Canavan, N McCarron for C Devlin

LAST FIVE MEETINGS
2024 Cavan 3-16 Tyrone 1-23 AET
2023 Cavan 0-10 Tyrone 0-15
2022 Cavan 1-7 Tyrone 0-5
2021 Tyrone 1-18 Cavan 0-13
2020 Tyrone 1-16 Cavan 0-13

SEASON SO FAR

Tyrone
Tyrone 2-13 Cavan 1-9
Armagh 1-23 Tyrone 0-18
Mayo 0-12 Tyrone 0-10
Tyrone 2-13 Kerry 3-13
Galway 1-18 Tyrone 1-18
Donegal 0-19 Tyrone 0-25
Tyrone 2-20 Dublin 1-16

Cavan
Cavan 0-22 Monaghan 2-22
Meath 3-21 Cavan 0-20
Cavan 3-15 Louth 0-18
Westmeath 0-21 Cavan 1-22
Cavan 1-20 Down 1-18
Roscommon 0-20 Cavan 0-22
Cavan 0-19 Cork 0-21

TOP SCORERS

Tyrone
Darragh Canavan 3-16 (6f, 1-0 pen, 1 tpf)
Darren McCurry 0-24 (9f, 4 tpf, 2tp)
Michael McKernan 2-12 (4 tp)

Cavan
Gearóid McKiernan 1-31 (12f, 4 tpf, 3 tp)
Dara McVeety 0-20 (5 tp)
Darragh Lovett 0-11 (2 tp, 1 tpf, 4f)
Oisin Brady 0-11 (1 tpf, 4f)
Sean McEvoy 0-11 (1 tpf, 1f)