Cavan supply fairytale finish to a provincial campaign like no other
Cavan goalkeeper Raymond Galligan and team-mates celebrate. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
A weekend that was picked up and soaked in history, had another glorious chapter added in the Cathedral City of Armagh on Sunday night as Cavan reversed all expectations and won their first Ulster title since 1997.
As a result, the All-Ireland semi-final pairings for 2020 will be the exact same as 1920, the year of Bloody Sunday in Croke Park; Cavan, Dublin, Tipperary and Mayo.
Whatever doubts and apprehension there has been about playing intercounty football in a pandemic has now been over-rode by the glorious glee that has erupted in a Championship that has kept spirits high in a time of grinding despair.
The smile of Mickey Graham, of Padraig Faulkner, the grin of Oisin Kiernan and the satisfaction of Gearoid McKiernan told us of what is possible when you identify what you want, and be a stubborn bugger in going about it. Mickey Harte, watching in his role as BBC pundit from the stand, would surely approve.
And they had to do it the hard way. They played 20 minutes of this game a man down due to black cards that were in the first instance for Killian Brady, iffy, and for Conor Madden when he clumsily fell over Eoin McHugh; ridiculous.
Cavan addressed their slow first halves by leaping into a 0-5 to 0-2 lead after ten minutes. Donegal were pressing the kickout but Cavan were living with it.
And once Killian Brady was given a black card for a tackle on Ryan McHugh coming out of defence, Donegal got what Jim McGuinness loved calling ‘traction.’ In a ten minute period with a man advantage they outscored Cavan 0-7 to 0-1.
Paddy McBrearty reeled off two points in as many minutes and Niall O’Donnell chipped in before the water break. Ryan McHugh shot in a sliver of space and after McBrearty hoovered up a break from a Cavan kickout, Caolan McGonigle stretched out the lead. O’Donnell and Michael Langan added further points and suddenly Donegal were three up.
Usually, they do not surrender leads like this. But this was an off-colour Donegal team.
Jason McLoughlin shut down Ryan McHugh. Their captain Murphy was not functioning as old. Jamie Brennan’s usual sparkle was absent.
All that would have been just one of those things if the goal chance they created had flown in, all the same. In the 20th minute Eoghan Bán Gallagher came through on a clever line with nobody tracking his run by Raymond Galligan was equal to the shot.
Peader Mogan had a lash at a loose ball on 56 minutes that Galligan kept out and repeated his heroics from Jamie Brennan on 64 minutes.
Galligan even turned creator of goal chances when he came deep into Donegal’s half with two minutes left. He sent a delivery that had Neil McGee faltering and Martin Reilly got a clear run at goal. Reilly is usually a cool finisher but he went all power this time and Patton spread himself to keep it out.
Moving Thomas Galligan up to the top of the attack in open play affected things. Donegal had Brendan McCole in as marker, but they were really missing the injured Stephen McMenamin. A series of high balls threatened Donegal’s defence.
The second black card on 55 minutes for Madden’s aforementioned challenge on Eoin McHugh had Mickey Graham hopping with fury. Having clawed their way back into the game with points by Madden and James Smith it looked as if Donegal could once again take advantage of the extra man.
Cavan hunkered into a defensive shape and rather than just riding out a storm, added two more points to take the lead once more through a McKiernan free.
Donegal had two goal chances in this period from Mogan and Brennan, both spurned.
The sense was that a goal would have broken either team. And it felt that when Reilly skipped through and was denied with two minutes left, that Cavan’s best chance was gone. That Donegal would fashion a way to get through the next few minutes and emerge with a win, playing it all down before they dialled in for the serious business of Dublin on December 5th.
Not so. When you look at the Donegal performance the raw data spits them out; three points in the second half. Only six points when the teams were matched numerically. Whatever advantage they had enjoyed in the first half by pressuring Galligan’s kickout was evaporating as the men in blue were getting their second wind.
A Michael Langan wide one minute into time added on started it. Galligan found his cousin in the middle of the pitch but while landing after catching, he sustained a head injury. This allowed Gearoid McKiernan to send in the ‘mark’ and when it dropped into no-man’s land, Patton punched it. Straight to Conor Madden. Who buried it.
Donegal had the stool kicked from under them. Shocked and surprised and with no real time left to engineer anything but two half chances from Murphy and substitute Ciaran Thompson. The long whistle at the end showed anything can happen. And we thought we already knew that. But we never believed it. Not really.
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