Delight for McDonnell as normal service is resumed

ONE of the first men to make his way onto the field to congratulate Peter McDonnell yesterday was his predecessor Joe Kernan.

“Enjoy tonight,” were Big Joe’s parting words as the two men reflected on the county’s first championship win since 2006.

“I am extremely happy,” said McDonnell, whose taciturn nature could hardly be more different to the ebullient Kernan. “People suggested before this game that Armagh would have their sights set on other things and other days which was an absolute load of nonsense. Armagh had never won a championship game against Cavan here and they had lost their last three championship games, so we had no right to take Cavan for granted. Everything was put into this performance which was workmanlike and solid.”

With a two-month competitive hiatus between the league and the championship, McDonnell had reason to be pleased. It took them about five minutes to brush aside the cobwebs.

They never shook Cavan from their tails but neither did the home side ever look like they might achieve the unlikely and poke their heads in front.

“It was always uneasy going into the second-half with Cavan having the wind at their back. Midway through the second half Cavan looked like they would make inroads into the lead we had on them. That didn’t materialise and our ability to pick off points throughout the game of football was important to us,” added McDonnell. “I’m well pleased with 17 points.”

Talk of Down and an Ulster semi-final received a curt response but he was willing to speculate on whether or not Oisin McConville would be available after injury for that tie.

“I would certainly hope so. Fingers crossed. Oisin McConville is Oisin McConville and he hasn’t been able to train with us for three weeks. There was a slight hope that he might have been fit to do something for us here but it is better sometimes to just sit back and give a player extra time to get back on his feet.”

For Cavan, yesterday was confirmation that they remain off the pace of the top sides in Ulster having gone into the game with genuine hopes that they could mirror the heroics shown already by the likes of Down and Fermanagh.

“They punished us,” said Donal Keogan who made no attempt to dress the afternoon up as something it wasn’t. “We gave away the ball on numerous occasions when we were attacking and they went up the field and got scores.

“When you have lads like Steven McDonnell and Ronan Clarke in there playing together for the last four or five years, they are an experienced outfit. We have no qualms. We were beaten by a better team on the day.”

Unlike Armagh who carved up the scoring duties among eight of their number, Cavan were predictably over-reliant on the shooting of Seanie Johnston.

It has been a tough year for the Breffni county with just one win in the league and now this but they have never been embarrassed this year and can look at how Fermanagh are enjoying a renaissance after a disastrous 2007 as inspiration for the months ahead.

“This is a young Cavan team,” said Keogan. “Armagh are very experienced and very physical and I have no doubt but that these guys will learn from the experience of playing them. We will work on the mistakes we made and go into the qualifiers with a bit of hope.”

For now though, they will sink into the recess of most peoples’ minds. Armagh and Down however, should be one to savour.