FARNEY HAVE AN EDGE IN BATTLE TO AVOID DROP
LIDL LADIES NFL
IT is not so much about who’s going down but the identity of those responsible for sending them there that is the source of shared anxiety in Clones today.
Those who like abstract mathematics will argue that the slender prospect of survival will still be possible for whoever loses this match between Monaghan and Cavan, but the sequence of results required puts the odds in lottery territory.
The reality, however, is that whoever wins the borderlands derby clash will buy themselves a shot at survival and the losers will disappear through the trap door.
And the truth is that the heat between these neighbours means that relegation would not even need to be in play to make losing sting. It is a rivalry rooted in borderland intimacy and fractious history.
Cavan went 55 years and 21 Championship games without losing to the Farney men between 1932 and 1987. That context is important in viewing how the modern relationship has flipped — it is not so much that Monaghan have the upper-hand in the fixture (they are unbeaten in the last four meetings), but they are perceived to be a genuine top four team. Cavan, meanwhile, are seen as a middle of the pack county plodding along.
Relegation will not traumatise the Breffni men — they dropped down after one season in the top tier 12 months ago — but they will be sickened if Monaghan are the ones responsible.
More than that, if Cavan are to reach a level where they can realistically challenge for a first Ulster Championship since 1997, they need to be exposed on a constant basis to this level of competition.
Michal Hannon has a foot in both counties, having played for Cavan at every grade and served as an Under-21 selector while finishing out his playing days with Ballybay, where Monaghan’s Wylie brothers, Drew and Ryan, are among his team-mates.
‘From a Cavan point of view it is more important for them to stay up in Division 1 as they need to play at the highest level if they want to make the kind of progress which Monaghan have made over the last few years.
‘If they got to play three years in Division 1, you would see a huge
difference. Whereas with Monaghan you could argue that with so many of their key players hitting the 30 mark, someone like Conor McManus could benefit from a season in Division 2, just like Jim McGuinness did with Donegal, to let them recuperate,’ suggests Hannon.
There is some merit in that argument. Monaghan’s rise as a force has been linked to their League status — Malachy O’Rourke inherited them as a Division 3 team, but their rise up the League tier has been reflected in summer form.
Two Ulster Championships and five All-Ireland quarter-final appearances in six years was capped last year by coming within a kick of reaching the All-Ireland final. Monaghan are blue-chip
Championship contenders but it is unlikely that they would view dropping out of the League’s top tier — where they are seeking to extend their presence to a sixth season — as some kind of welcome relief.
In contrast, in the last five years Cavan have managed to win just one game in the Ulster Championship and that disparity cannot all be blamed on League status.
The last time that Cavan actually beat Monaghan was a Division 3 league fixture in 2013.
When the two teams met in the 2017 Championship, just five of the Cavan players from that League win four years earlier saw game-time, while Monaghan had 11 from that losing fixture.
While Cavan have been in a state of flux, Monaghan, under
O’Rourke, have been an advert for stable government.
‘Over the years a lot of players were got rid of prematurely in Cavan,’ admits Hannon.
‘If you look at the Monaghan team, they tend to hold on to their better players for longer periods of time.
‘And if you are a county of that size, there is a limit to the number of top quality players you will have. You might produce one exceptional forward every three years, but if they stay around long enough you will end up with four of them playing together.
‘Monaghan have been very good at that,’ he admits.
Cavan haven’t and what was once a source of promise — a four-in-a-row winning provincial streak between 2011 and 14 at
U21 level — has turned into something quite different.
‘Because Cavan had those U21 teams, they brought in those players. A lot of them were not up to standard but they were given a chance and played for up to two years before the penny dropped,’ laments Hannon.
And yet Monaghan’s three wins since 2013 have all been in onescore games, while the odd one out was a League draw in 2017.
Still, Monaghan have proven to be a superior team, not least because they possess in Conor McManus the kind of talent that Cavan simply don’t have.
He has been a game changer in so many of those games. It was his two late points that killed Cavan in 2015 and his goal which was the difference in 2017. But it runs deeper than that. ‘I have played in both counties and there is a difference. Referees tend to let a lot more go in Monaghan, the tackling can be a bit loose.
‘It feeds into the way everyone plays. If you are bringing the ball into contact, you are fair game to be tackled with closed fists in Monaghan.
‘They have a natural aggression which I don’t think Cavan have developed.’
And if they can’t find that fury today, they know the ugly fate which awaits them.