Grimley keeping Cavan focused

Being the pioneers of Ulster's now regular annexation of Sam Maguire, there are plenty of football stories beneath the surface in Cavan. And yet, if they manage to make a breakthrough this summer - starting with a victory over Down on Sunday - much of the praise will be heaped upon an Armagh man.

That's not meant as a slight on manager Donal Keoghan or selectors Phelim Plunkett and Thomas Martin. It's just that the presence of Paul Grimley in the Armagh backroom proved so crucial to their recent domination of the Ulster championship.

Grimley joined the Cavan set-up late last year when his working relationship with Joe Kernan came to an abrupt end.

After a decent National League campaign, which concluded in a semi-final defeat to Roscommon that marked Cavan's first visit to Croke Park for 10 years, Grimley's focus has clearly switched to the future. "We don't want to over-hype it. Sunday is the most important game of the season but we don't want to press the players into a panic mode. At all times we are focused on playing to our own system. Keep calm in the heat of battle."

Still, some salient facts remain. The match is in Breffni Park and Down have failed to win a competitive outing since beating Cavan last May. A quarter-final against Monaghan on June 10th is the minimum requirement. Grimley, understandably, continues to deflect the mounting expectation.

"Championship football, and particularly Ulster championship football, has a habit of biting you when you least expect it. My attitude is there wouldn't be a manager in Ulster who could turn around and say he would be happy playing anyone else. There is so much rivalry between the teams. Everybody knows one another so well.

"Nobody is escaping the reality that the higher profile teams are sitting on the other side of the draw. It has created a genuine opportunity for ourselves, Down, Monaghan, Antrim and Derry but at the same time it remains a dogfight. Whoever wants to get to the Ulster final has a damn hard route to travel. It doesn't guarantee anything. We still must go out and perform."

That has been Cavan's problem since last claiming the Ulster crown in 1997. A host of players from that side remain in the panel while several quality footballers have settled comfortably into the intercounty scene since.

"Anthony Forde, Dermot McCabe, Larry and Jason Reilly are still hanging around from the 1997 campaign. They are good leaders. Nicholas Walsh and Paul Brady have been around the block a few times. Mickey Lyng is a great wee leader. Mark McKeever is a fine captain. Seanie Johnston a seasoned campaigner."

While Lyng and Walsh are yet to regain match fitness for Sunday, Raymond Cullivan is the only debutant. Even Rory Gallagher - the high-profile transfer from Fermanagh - must be content with a bench role as Gerald Pierson is preferred at full forward.

"So, yes, there is a great vein of experience running through the team. A high level of work ethic too. But you get nothing in life standing with your hands on your hips." Time to deliver.