Cavan capitalise as Antrim are too wide of the mark

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Mark Leddy and his fellow defenders ensured Cavan held strong to see off Antrim

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

By Michael McGeary

The contrast between winning and losing couldn't have been greater as Antrim exited the Ulster senior football championship.

For Antrim their only hope of redemption now rests with the much maligned Tommy Murphy Cup, but for Cavan it's onwards and upwards as they focus on a mouthwatering quarter final against Armagh in Breffni Park.

Their manager Donal Keogan was thrilled with the victory, but there's no danger of him or indeed his team being carried away.

"I'm glad that we came away with a win, but I wasn't too happy about conceding a goal and 14 points.

"At times too the match was very pedestrian, lacking real championship intensity, but we scored a goal and 19 points and their goal was against the run of play.

"Antrim also shot something like 15 wides and had some of those gone over who knows what might have been, but I was well pleased with the way we played in the second half.

"Our opponents got within a point of us, but we were able to pull away with Lorcan Mulvey making a huge difference when he came on. For the first time in the match our attack was getting quality ball and Antrim had trouble coping.

"I'm happy enough but that display wouldn't be good enough to beat Armagh, but we've four weeks to get ready and I would expect that we can move up another gear." Said Keogan.

Cavan full forward Sean Johnston, who made a habit of dismantling defences during the Allianz League, again proved himself a scoring forward of real quality, finishing with a personal tally of eight points.

He was the one player the Saffrons couldn't never cope with and Armagh manager Peter McDonnell, an interested spectator, will have much to ponder in the weeks ahead.

Johnston was modest as ever as he reflected on a job well done. "It's a relief to have this game out of the way. Hopefully we can now move on to bigger and better things. Everyone in the squad has worked exceptionally hard and hopefully we'll get our reward with a few more good performances.

"There was a time early in the second half that I feared it was going to be the same old story, especially when Antrim got a few early scores, but Lorcan Mulvey coming on steadied the ship when the game was very much in the balance." said Johnston.

You can make all the excuses in the world for Antrim, but the bottom line is they weren't good enough and when you shoot a total of 13 wides you don't deserve anything.

Midfield is still a critical area and you feared for Antrim once they lost the battle there after Michael McCann had played himself to a standstill, while Micheal Magill did enough to suggest he should have started.