Ulster football is not so bad after all.
Last weekend’s opening game of the Ulster series was quite entertaining – if you take away the ugly scenes at half time and some of the negative football in the second half as Donegal shut down Tyrone.
Overall, the Ulster championship still provides the most exciting provincial games around. Nonetheless, we will see a return to more traditional blanket-style football this weekend as Cavan face Monaghan in the Ulster quarter-final.
Monaghan are a side that have proved in the very recent past they know how to win on the biggest stage. Cavan boss Terry Hyland, meanwhile, has called on his players to finally come good on the years of underage promise in the county.
Cavan’s transformation under Hyland has been impressive, and the county are bubbling under the surface in Ulster in the hope of finally breaching the 14-year gap to their last provincial final appearance.
In some respects their upsurge has been based typically on a strong defence. Cavan ditched the wholesome but, at times, naive football that the county are known for, and reached for the nearest blanket available.
That means an average of at least 11 if not 12 men behind the ball with their outlets frequently Martin Dunne, Martin Reilly and Niall McDermott.
Damien O’Reilly and Ronan Flangan played as double sweepers during the league, and the extra defensive cover they provide is sure to frustrate Monaghan.
Despite the naysayers – one individual describing Cavan’s style last year as ‘The Black Death’ – the system has worked and they had a decent league campaign in Division Two.
Their issue now is whether they can get provide enough up the other end of the field after a league that saw them end with a scoring difference of just +1.
At the time of writing, the Cavan team was unnamed, but there is speculation that Michael Argue may be deployed closer to the opposition goal than his own.
His height may also be an advantage around the middle against an experienced campaigner like Dick Clerkin. He will give Cavan numerous options if he starts
The probable Cavan team could line out like this:
A three man full-forward line will rely heavily on winning possession around the middle to supply them with quick ball. It is, most likely, Cavan’s choicest route to success
Dunne is a fine forward, but it could be the legs of McDermott, with his running and point taking ability from short or long range. that the Cavan management utilise to disrupt the Monaghan blanket.
Reilly is always a willing runner, and if he can get turned and run at Dessie Mone or Ryan Wylie then Monaghan better hope there is cover inside. In their system, however, there nearly always is.
Monaghan are a team that have seemed to have cracked the problem of being defensive but also scoring enough to win games.
It helps when one of the best forwards in the game, Conor McManus, is in your side, of course.
Regardless, we saw last week how it’s not much use having a blanket if players are not going to be active in it.
Monaghan know this to their cost. Despite having six men back in front of their own 21-yard line at one stage against Dublin, in the league semi final, they still managed to cough up easy scores.
Arguably, they should have beaten Dublin but there was too much of a burden on McManus. It meant that the rest of the team, apart from the impressive substitute Clerkin, who kicked 0-3, got away from having to try and punch holes through the Dub’s defence.
McManus has incredible ability with ball in hand but will require assistance from Kieran Hughes, who may be needed to fire in some long-range efforts, and the hard running Owen Duffy.
Monaghan should feel they have the better players and more ability up front to trouble Cavan. That is still likely to see them line out with two screens of defenders for their opponents to try and work their way around.
Vinny Corey at centre-back will sit and let Fintan Kelly and Karl O’Connell do the sweeping up behind him. Unlike Cavan, with their two sweepers, Monaghan do allow their wing forwards to break and Paul Finely and Owen Duffy are the outlets down the flanks.
The issue for anyone with ball-in-hand will be searching for the right pass to McManus or Hughes.
Cavan will seek to push McManus as far away from the posts as possible, and with so many bodies inside their own 45 he is unlikely to be isolated at any stage during the game.
McManus will be far from goal when he picks up quality ball. How do Monaghan get support to him, when he does get the ball, is their key worry in what will be a massed Cavan defence.
Monaghan need to be slightly more adventurous, considering the players in the side and their experience, if they are to win. It may even take some runs from corner back by Mone to open up Cavan – something that would be very welcome to a potentially frustrated attack
Cavan are likely to detail one, if not two, man markers on McManus with Ronan Flanagan likely to be breathing down the former All Star’s neck for most of the game.
McManus will get scores but it’s trying to prevent his lay-off’s as well as interplay which will be key
If he can link up with Dermot Malone or Enda Duffy then Cavan could be stretched, while Darren Hughes’ ankle injury may see him stationed as a target man at some stage during the 70 minutes while also helping out at midfield.
TEAM:
Back in 2003, Kerry great Seamus Moynihan described Tyrone’s manic hounding of players and the battle around midfield like ‘walking down Times Square’
We expect it will be even more jam-packed on Sunday, with space at a premium. Last week, we saw an almost drift defence from Tyrone and Donegal, but Cavan and Monaghan are more likely to look to plug the holes in each team’s attack and hope that a swift counter-attack can reap rewards.
When two counter attacking sides meet then it could provide an enthralling spectacle, or a terrible watch, and it’s hard to know how it may unfold.
Looking at how both sides should line out offensively and defensively, it makes for a messy aerial scenario. The width of the pitch is crucial if any side is to punch holes in a team’s blanket defensive shape. The pressure will be on Cavan’s nominal wing forwards and perhaps even their half backs to lend support to their full-forward line.
Last week we gleaned much entertainment in how Tyrone recovered from going down to an early Donegal onslaught, which forced them to open up. Sunday is likely to be an even more tactical battle.
Monaghan should have the cutting edge up front, but Cavan’s forward efforts are sure to be boosted by the work of Liam McHale, who has been working with the squad for the last number of months .
Cavan scored the fewest amount of goals in the league campaign and that could be their undoing on Sunday. As well as a lack of goal-scorers, they have also conceded a number of what they would feel were soft efforts.
There has been so little to separate these sides over the last number of years that it is almost impossible to predict a winner.
McManus has been the match-winner so many times but perhaps it’s time that someone else from the Farney county stood up.
If Cavan are serious about making an impression and showing they can challenge Donegal for an Ulster crown, they need to win. With conviction.
It may not be exciting but it will be tense.
Just be thankful that possibly the most negative game of the year will be in May.
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