Cavan will be one of the eight teams in the hat for Monday morning’s All Ireland SFC qualifiers round 2B draw after Gearóid McKiernan’s goal helped them to a 1-17 to 0-16 win over Offaly at Bord na Móna O’Connor Park in Tullamore.
While there was plenty of scoring in this contest, the lack of intensity and pace in the game at times betrayed the fact that both of these sides were clearly still feeling the effects of local derby defeats in their respective provincial championships.
Offaly looked marginally the better side in the early stages and with Nigel Dunne very prominent up front, they moved into an 0-4 to 0-2 lead despite playing into a deceptively significant breeze.
However every Cavan attack seemed to end with an attempt on goal and while some inaccurate shooting from their forwards kept Offaly in the game, the brilliance of Gearóid McKiernan ensured that Cavan still never dug themselves too deep a hole.
The Swanlinbar man fired over four points from play in the opening half while all around him, his colleagues misfired.
As they did in the Leinster championship at the same venue, Offaly showed some good patience into the breeze and picked off nice points through Graham Guilfoyle (twice) and Nigel Dunne, but a quickfire brace from Niall McDermott and Ciarán Brady gave the Breffni men a narrow interval advantage.
With the Faithful County entitled to feel moderately confident at that position with 35 minutes of wind-assisted play to come, Cavan needed a fast start and they got it when Gerard Smith showed real leadership to drive forward with a wonderful run and then convert the score of the game with a magnificent arcing kick off his right boot.
McDermott and Buchanan added points before another pacey run, this time from Dara McVeety, helped to set up McKiernan for the game’s only goal in the 42nd minute.McVeety and Buchanan linked up to feed the big Swanlinbar player and he had the power to hold off a tight tackle, swivel and shoot in the one movement, beating Alan Mulhall with a superb strike.
Cavan failed to build on that platform however and while Offaly never looked like getting the goal they needed to really ignite a comeback – this defeat means that they’ve ended their 2017 championship without raising a green flag – the Faithful county were able to pick off occasional scores in the final quarter, gradually eroding the lead while Cavan missed the target repeatedly.
Ryan Connolly had a wonderful chance to wrap up the win with a late goal chance while James McEnroe will also be a little disappointed to have picked up a second yellow card late in the tie.
Tthere was never any reason for the 3,039 supporters in the ground to get unduly excited as Cavan always had a couple of scores in hand and so kept their season alive for another fortnight at least.
Cavan: R Galligan; P Faulkner, J McEnroe, J McLoughlin; G Smith (0-01), C Moynagh (0-01), C Brady (0-01); L Buchanan (0-02), M Reilly; C Mackey, G McKiernan (1-04), D McVeety; N Clerkin, S Johnston (0-02, frees), N McDermott (0-04, 0-02 frees).
Subs: R Connolly (0-02 frees) for Johnston (22), N Murray for Moynagh (34), K Clarke for Smith (42), T Corr for Buchanan (55), T Galligan for Corr (56 - bc), J Dillon for McDermott (69)
Offaly: A Mulhall; B Darby (0-01), E Rigney, S Pender; D Hanlon, P Cunningham (0-01), C Donohoe; G Guilfoyle (0-02), C McNamee; S Doyle (0-01), R McNamee (0-01), M Brazil (0-01); R Allen (0-01), N Dunne (0-05, 0-02 frees), B Allen (0-02).
Subs: J Lalor for Pender (37), D Brady for Rigney (46), J O’Connor for Doyle (48), J Moloney for Allen (51), N McNamee (0-01) for C McNamee (55), A Sullivan for R McNamee (63)
Referee: Derek O’Mahoney (Tipperary)
