Cavan must not be intimidated by Donegal aura, says Galligan
WHATEVER comfort Raymond Galligan took f rom his f i rst Ulster f i nal appearance last year, it was not from the final scoreline.
On the face of it, Cavan’s 1-24 to 2-16 defeat to a highpowered Donegal team suggested respectability, but the reality was very different.
‘We are under no illusions that it was a five-point hammering we got last year. They were extremely dominant t hroughout t hat game,’ admits the Cavan captain.
It is likely that the most blinkered of Breffni supporters would not argue with the brutish nature of that truth. They were never in the game, trailed by eight at half-time and it would have got uglier had Paddy McBrearty and Jamie Brennan spurned goal chances before the latter buried one in the final quarter.
Late goals from Conor Madden and Stephen Murray may have massaged the scoreline but not Cavan’s sense that had been utterly outplayed.
It also serves as a sobering reminder that despite their achievement i n reaching back-to-back Ulster finals for the first time in over 50 years — an achievement all the more meritorious given that they had to come from the preliminary round this time — that there is no hard evidence to suggest this Sunday in the Athletic Grounds will be different.
Both teams have engaged the public imagination, but for contrasting reasons.
Cavan have become the team that are never beaten — coming back from a sevenpoint deficit against Monaghan and a 10- point one against Down — to make it this far.
Donegal, however, have become the No1 contender to halt Dublin’s charge for a sixth All-Ireland in a row, with the sense that they are even a better than the side than won the last two Ulster titles.
Big and athletic in the middle third, with a huge work ethic and an attack that can sting from any part of the field, the video analysis sessions in Cavan this week could make for horror viewing.
Except that won’t happen, insists Galligan, who believes that if there is one lesson to be absorbed from 12 months ago it is that they fretted too much about what they were about to come up against.
‘I think that was one thing we got a bit carried away with last year,’ admits the 33-yearold Cavan goalkeeper.
‘I thought we over emphasised and analysed Donegal.
‘We were fully aware they are a fantastic team and they have high calibre players all over the pitch, but I think this year we really need to just f ocus on ourselves and make sure we present with our best performance, and if it’s good enough on the day to get the result then fine and if not at least we can walk away knowing that we gave it our all, rather than over analysing Donegal.’
In a way that has been the key to this run, with Cavan looking inwards in moments of crisis and finding a way out. Coming from the back from the dead to force extra-time Monaghan and, with penalties beckoning, Galligan finding the conviction to nail a 55-metre free to win.
Calmness rather than chaos has been their friend and that was never more apparent than at half- time against Down, at which stage they trailed by eight points.
And the hole they were in could have been deeper but for a couple of vital goal saves from Galligan, who will be making his 76th appearance on Sunday. But experience literally won the day.
‘It was interesting because Mickey (Graham, manager) was l ate coming i n to us because there was some reshuffling to be done and the players got five minutes to themselves,’ said Galligan. ‘It was very similar to the Monaghan game, we were all very calm. We addressed the areas we needed to. We needed to stop their runners coming from deep and we needed to squeeze their kickouts.
‘Even before Mickey came in we had that resolve in our heads that was what we were going to do. And when he did come in, he reinforced those points and that we needed to bring more life to our middle sector, bring that aggression and get i n for breaks which is something we had not done in the first half.
‘He got us fired up and the players backed that up in the second half. I think experience has played a part over the l ast couple of weeks whereas a younger Cavan team might have approached those half-time situations in a rasher manner.’
Their conditioning — something they felt was considerably behind Donegal’s levels last ear — has also improved and has received the ultimate stress-test as they face into their sixth game in as many weeks.
Far from weakening them, it is an experience that has energised the group. Galligan said: ‘ We spent so much time with each other now over the last number of weeks — having games week on week, training during the week — I think we’ve definitely become closer and closer. I think it also builds trust as well.’
“It’s one thing
we got carried away with”