Christy O’Connor: How comfortable is a seat at the knockout roulette table?

The knockout format may be unforgiving, but it can also be liberating, a reality Mickey Graham’s Cavan discovered when they came back from the dead to win the Ulster Championship, writes Christy O’Connor

START OF A FAIRYTALE: Cavan manager Mickey Graham addresses his panel after their Ulster Championship win over Monaghan, a victory that sparked an extraordinary journey. Picture: Inpho/Morgan Treacy

The final outcome of Division 2 last year was always bound to resemble a game of snakes-and-ladders; Cavan were eyeing promotion but ended up relegated. Cavan went down on a head-to-head with a Clare team, which, with 10 minutes remaining on the same afternoon against Armagh, were on the brink of Division 1 football.

Elation and devastation were suspended in the circumstances. As Roscommon’s Enda Smith lifted the Division 2 trophy and made a speech to an empty Breffni Park stadium, Cavan hadn’t even time to notice, or feel disappointed; they were facing Monaghan seven days later.