Keating’s memories of dark days in the past have been replaced by ambitious thoughts
EUGENE Keating can remember the dark days alright. Going to Aughrim and being turned over by Wicklow in a Saturday night All-Ireland qualifier. ‘Devastating,’ he says.
Or what of the infamous loss to Waterford in the National League? ‘There have been so many… that’s what’s great about now. We have ambition.
‘In previous years we were there and just happy to be there. Now the new management has come in it has revitalised everything and given us all a new edge and ambition. Hopefully those bad days are gone.’
A senior county player since he was a teenager, it took him six seasons to really catch fire, reborn in last year’s Championship as he played with the swagger and confidence that characterised Cavan’s run to the All-Ireland quarter-final against Kerry at Croke Park. He was too old to be part of the county’s four-in-a-row in Ulster at under-21 level, the tide of talent coming through has helped him raise his game
‘I’ve been playing since I was 18 and I hadn’t won any Championship game. Last year was my first year playing in Croke Park so they were big milestones for me.
‘Definitely it’s something to build on. But we weren’t happy with how we went in some games.
‘In the Kerry game we didn’t really show our true selves. But in previous games we showed glimpses of what we can do and that should help the team this year.
‘You have to have an ambition to get to Croke Park on All-Ireland day. When you’re sitting down watching it in September you’d be envious of the players going out there in front of a crowd like that.
‘Of course that’s something I want to experience before I retire. Croke Park on All-Ireland final day is a long way away at the moment though and we just have to focus on Ulster so hopefully we can make strides there.’
For now, this afternoon’s rematch with Armagh at the Athletic Grounds is the only thing that matters. Last year, opposition manager Paul Grimley was pilloried for setting up too offensively, the gaps at the back allowing Keating and Martin Dunne to make hay in attack.
This time around, he knows it’s going to be different. ‘A lot of people gave out about Armagh’s defence. I don’t think they should have been criticised like they did. Everyone goes out to do their best on the day and they believed that system was going to work.
‘A lot of teams have gone back to a more defensive system now apart from Dublin who are just on a different level. But we’re just going to do our own homework, have a good idea of what Armagh are going to do and be able to counteract it.’
He admits that ‘confidence is a big thing’ in his blossoming into an inter-county attacker of serious note and says that securing promotion from Division 3 over the spring has given the team greater belief, notwithstanding the League final defeat by Roscommon.
‘It would have been nice to round it off with a win, but it wasn’t to be.
‘The last couple of years we haven’t done too well and even struggled to stay in Division 3 sometimes. Thankfully we have pushed on this year because you definitely need to be playing the Donegals and Derrys to be competitive in the Championship.’
Cavan’s defensive system has earned its own critics but Keating has seen enough of the bad old days to understand the bottom line.
‘We believe in our system and it has worked well for us so far. At the end of the day it’s all about winning. It’s not about how you win or by how much, it’s just about winning.’