On a day when Seánie Johnston hit seven points on his championship return to Cavan colours, Terry Hyland said it was the collective team effort that saw off the challenge of Armagh in the Ulster SFC.
Goals in either half from Dara McVeety and Martin Reilly condemned Kiearn McGeeney’s side to the qualifiers as the majority of the 15,263 in attendance went home happy after their afternoon’s action.
After contrasting campaigns in Division 2 and the Orchard County still smarting from a 17-point drubbing at the same venue earlier this year, the home side were expected to advance to a provincial semi-final date with Tyrone.
Reilly’s penalty was followed by Stefan Campbell’s miss from the spot and while Hyland felt these were key moments in the game.
“The lads played well, especially in the second half when Armagh came back at them,” he told RTÉ Sport.
“The penalty we scored was probably the turning point. It gave us that little bit of a gap and we were able to build off that.
“Ray [Galligan] saved at the other end and that’s the way it goes.
“Seventeen points wasn’t a true reflection of Armagh [Allianz League defeat] and we knew that.
“We always felt we were four or five points better, but then again you have to go out and perform.”
Johnston’s haul of seven points, three from play, was a welcome sight for the Cavan faithful but Hyland was quick to praise the collective in the eight-point victory.
“Seánie had a very good opening 20 minutes and he kind of settled the side,” he said.
“We came here as favourites and everyone bigged us up that we’d win"
Johnston starred on his first championship outing for his native county since 2011 and was pleased with how events transpired on the day.
“We came here as favourites and everyone bigged us up that we’d win. We’re happy that we were able to prove people right,” he said.
“We knew they would come hard after we gave them a bit of a beating when they came here in the National League.
Next up is Mickey Harte’s Tyrone on 19 June in Clones and the sides need little introduction, with Hyland hoping to make it third time lucky in 2016.
Harte’s side enjoyed a two-point win in January and were too good for Cavan in the Division 2 final last month.
After Tyrone’s demolition of Derry last time out, Hyland is under no illusions at the task facing his team.
“Tyrone are being tipped as one of the teams to get to an All-Ireland this year. We’ll go out and do our best against them,” he said.
Johnston admitted that today’s performance simply won’t suffice in Clones.
“It won’t be enough to win in three weeks’ time and we’re playing the second best team in the country at the minute, a team hell bent on winning an Ulster championship,” he said.
“We have to try and close that gap in the next three weeks.”
