Cavan manager Terry Hyland took much satisfaction in way his side got their levelling score to force a replay against Tyrone in the Ulster SFC semi-final.
It finished 3-07 to 0-16 in Clones and both counties will have to do it all over again on 3 July. Cavan’s goals came after five minutes, on the stroke of half-time and in added time at the end of the game – all opportune moments to find the back of the net.
For the Cavan manager, getting the last of the goals summed up a day in which his side were determined not to go down without a fight.
David Givney punched home the all important score in stoppage time to ensure parity.
“Before that score a lot of teams would have given up, but we were looking for the goal and we got the goal,” Hyland explained to RTÉ Sport.
“The pressure was on us and we went hunting for it. We kept pushing. It wasn’t by chance.
“That’s what I liked about our performance.”
Givney was also hand to score Cavan’s first three-pointer, with Conor Moynagh in the right place to ensure the Breffnimen led 2-3 to 0-08 at the break.
For many observers, seeing the Tyrone rearguard breached so often was a surprise, though Hyland and his backroom team had their work done in advance of the tie.
"We looked at the way Tyrone set up and felt that playing a lot of ball ball in on top of David Givney might give us some joy. It was an approach we didn’t employ as much in the league final even though we had a fair bit of success with it during the league. It certainly paid dividends for us today.
Goals came at crucial times for us and in fairness we were under the cosh from Tyrone in periods of the game.
Conditions were difficult for the first of the Ulster semi-finals and while both sides were at times wayward with their shooting, we did witness some wonderful scores from distance.
On the marksmanship on display, Hyland added: “We did hit some bad wides but we kept coming back to try and get scores.
"I thought we kicked a couple of great points just after half time.
"Some of the Tyrone scores were exemplary, especially from out on the wings and on the sideline. You feel that when you push fellas out that far that you have your job done, but Tyrone’s finishing, particularly in the first half was excellent."
