Cavan will hope the form book makes liars of us all

Preview

In the hierarchy of derbies, for Cavan, Westmeath is probably bottom of the list.

Depending on where in the county you reside, Monaghan or Meath could be the spiciest local entanglement, while there is a fairly lengthy border with Fermanagh and a number of Cavan clubs are wedged up against Longford and Leitrim.

But Westmeath? It’s not really a derby – apart from, maybe, those perched close to the shores of Lough Sheelin or around Finea, Kilcogy and that part of the world. Being in separate provinces, there is no real bitter history there between the counties and the tribal memory is not dominated by the sort of friendly venom – how’s that for a misnomer? – on which so many GAA rivalries are built.

The sides have met sporadically; some games stand out. The Tailteann Cup final is the obvious starting point – Cavan were fairly hot favourites and had three All-Stars in the team along with a rare level of physicality and athleticism. But Jack Cooney’s men clung steadfastly on and then Kieran Martin ran down the barrel of the gun and delivered the fatal shot.

Westmeath deserved their win that day and the scenes of celebration across the Lake County – and the hefty financial contribution from HQ towards a well-deserved team beano – were watched with envy from this side of Sheelin.

There was a qualifier in 2014 in Breffni, too – Cavan had been promoted from Division 3 with seven wins, Westmeath were relegated from Division 1 with as many losses and Cavan beat them by a point in the championship.

Last year, Cavan went to Mullingar desperately in need of a win. Complicating matters was the fact that Dermot McCabe, Cavan’s Head of Games and one of the county’s great players in his day, was plotting their downfall.

McCabe was a selector on the Ulster-winning side in 2020 and would have known the Cavan team exceptionally well. The home side built up a 14-point lead in the first half but Cavan came back to win by four; the Blues’ season would feature further wins over Down, Roscommon and Mayo but some heavy losses too as they ultimately ran out of road against Kerry in Killarney in the last 12.

Westmeath spiralled and ended up relegated without a win, losing in the first round in Leinster and falling to two Division 4 sides en route to a Tailteann quarter-final exit.

Fast forward a year and the counties occupy entirely different emotional terrain. Westmeath are walking on air; Cavan are mired in the mud.

But things can change quickly in football. Another game of old between the teams comes to mind in that regard.

Supporters of a certain vintage will remember that Cavan won by half a dozen points in Mullingar in 2006 to, as far as more or less everyone was concerned, wrap up promotion to Division 1. That was a tremendous away win against a good Westmeath team – the only problem was, Waterford – whom Cavan had put seven goals past the year before – were still coming to Breffni Park and still had to be beaten.

Jason O’Reilly, the man described by one scribe accurately as a goalsmith, in an interview with the Sunday Independent not long afterwards recalled that Waterford loss.

"We let ourselves down, we represent Cavan, we've great pride in the jersey and it was a sorry feeling that you were letting Cavan down. That whole week was just disastrous,” he said.

It took Cavan 10 years to recover from that loss. It was a decade before they got back to Division 1 and while there have been highs and lows in the 10 years since they managed that under Terry Hyland in 2016, there is a sense that things are at a low ebb at present.

Jayo’s description of the Déise Debacle 20 years ago – “just disastrous” – would be an unfair label to apply to Cavan’s year given that they managed to stay in Division 2 of the league but there have been some very poor performances and one must dig deep for the positives.

Not many young players have been blooded – although talk of a rebuild will grow louder now and we can expect to see some new faces in the All-Ireland matches – and the panel suddenly looks thin and vulnerable. A recent rumoured spate of injuries has come at a very untimely juncture.

The talk in Cavan is whether Westmeath will be complacent, still giddy from their brilliant Leinster final success, and if Cavan might catch them on the hop.

There is an expectation that Westmeath will be highly motivated, with McCabe having left them as manager after one year; some club delegates, including St Loman’s, were subsequently critical of the set-up, as reported by the Westmeath Examiner.

Then again, Cavan should not lack for motivation either. McCabe and his management could point to narrow losses against Cork and Meath in the first two rounds of the league, a win over Kildare and a decent showing against Derry in round seven as evidence that the team have potential to perform well.

Two wins would see them into an All-Ireland quarter-final which looked very unlikely at times this season and, at this moment, still does. It may be one final charge for some experienced campaigners and they will likely come out shooting, looking to test the Leinster champions’ pulse, as Páidí Ó Sé famously said 22 years ago.

Football, as we’ve seen, works in mysterious ways. Who would have predicted this match selling out in minutes, for example? No-one. The game makes liars of us all and the hope for Cavan fans is that the form book is the biggest illusion of all.