'They play at 100mph for the whole game': Cavan failed to match Dubs intensity, Thomas Galligan admits

'Personally it was disappointing not to play well because I was doing alright in the games before that'

Fri, 11 Dec, 2020 - 06:00

Paul Keane

Ulster final hero Thomas Galligan has admitted his failure to spark for Cavan against Dublin last weekend left him with a double sense of disappointment afterwards.

Galligan's all-action display earned him the Man of the Match award in the provincial final against Donegal, helping Cavan to secure a first title since 1997, but he was kept largely on the periphery by Dublin at Croke Park.

Versatile Galligan, operating mostly in the inside forward line, did score an excellent point to level their All-Ireland semi-final tie at 0-3 apiece in the seventh minute.

But Dublin took the lead shortly after and never looked back while Galligan was starved of possession for long stretches and unable to influence the game as he'd planned.

"Personally it was disappointing not to play well because I was doing alright in the games before that," said Galligan, whose Ulster final performance earned him the PwC GAA/GPA Footballer of the Month award for November.

"Dublin were very good at stopping the ball coming in and when the ball did come in they committed bodies to the break. They were a very well set up team so it was hard to get any change off them.

It was a disappointing personal performance on top of a disappointing team performance.

Galligan's display against Donegal, and Cavan's general achievement in ending their provincial final hoodoo, were widely lauded in the run up to the Dublin game.

Asked if all of that pre-match hype had affected him or the team, Galligan shook his head.

"Ah not really, I wouldn't really pass much remarks on hype," he said. "That sort of thing changes as quick as the wind would change so there's no point getting bogged down in what people are talking about."

Like Meath before them in the Leinster final, Cavan were painfully unable to implement their own game plan against Dublin.

Cavan manager Mickey Graham said immediately after the game that "anything we tried there tonight, they were able to nullify it. We tried to go long, we tried to run at them, we tried to get width and they were just so well prepared for everything we threw at them".

Galligan agreed that everything the Breffni attempted simply came back at them with interest.

"It was probably just the intensity really that they played with, they play at 100mph for the whole game," he said. "It's very hard to get a foothold in the game and the fact that they do everything so cleanly, they just do the basic skills so well, kick-passing, hand-passing. It's very rare that they'd give a bad hand-pass or a bad kick-pass or a stupid shot so it's tough to force them into mistakes when they don't usually make any."

Many have suggested over the years that Dublin may be vulnerable to a long ball approach though so far in this year's Championship they haven't conceded a goal, Stephen Cluxton's save from Meath sub Joey Wallace one of the few times he's even been called into action.

"I don't know, I don't think the Dubs worry about anybody, they just do their own thing and they hope that what they'll do will overcome what the other team will do," said Galligan.

"The balls the other day that we played in were more like shots that dropped short. Personally I should have done better with a few balls that dropped in. Once any ball hit the ground they had the numbers to sweep it up. I think if Mayo can look at that they'll see that if you're going to go long and early then it needs to be a decent ball in and to the forward's advantage.

But then with the way Dublin get the bodies back, if the ball hits the ground you're under pressure straight away because they'll have the bodies to swarm in and force the turnover.

Asked if he gives Mayo a chance against Dublin in Saturday week's All-Ireland final, Galligan refused to rule them out.

"I think they showed against Tipperary they were just relentless," he said of the Connacht champions. "If they can keep that up and play to the best of their ability there's no reason why they can't give Dublin a good run for it."

- Cavan footballer Thomas Galligan is the PwC GAA/GPA Footballer of the Month for November and received his award at his home club Lacken Celtic in Lacken, Cavan.