A defender comes forward

He was one of the forceful images in Cavan's bravura summer four years ago. Bernard Morris, his career up to then a triumph of hope over reality, planted his powerful, energetic frame at the heart of the defence and helped drive Cavan out of Ulster for the first time in 28 years.

Tomorrow he is a selector and panellist as the county returns to the provincial final for the first time since, but circumstances have changed. Opponents Tyrone are young and sharp, an array of under-21 talents pushing out of the cocoon. For their part, Cavan's descent from the pinnacle has been swift and unceremonious.

In the eyes of many they weren't even going to be in the final, despite being on the manifestly easier side of the draw. The suspicion is that this was inevitable.

Manager Martin McHugh's decision to step down after the 1997 season was the culmination of three hard years of team-building but was also interpreted as an acknowledgement that there was little space above Cavan's status and rather a lot beneath.

Morris disputes the downbeat assumption. "I was very disappointed. The team wasn't old although the middle line in the team were all the one age and had been together a long time. But we should have gone on and become a better side.

"I think we needed a break in 1997 after Martin McHugh left but it never happened, things fell asunder and never recovered." They certainly did. After a lengthy, destabilising wait and an abortive attempt to appoint Matt Kerrigan as McHugh's successor, former Down All-Ireland winner Liam Austin got the job.

The details of the player coup that toppled him a year later were painfully public for all concerned. Morris says that it didn't bother the panel unduly but another source in the county says it did. "They didn't get over it for a good while."

Dubliner Val Andrews was a surprise appointment as Austin's successor. He had achieved a great deal in third-level competition with Tralee RTC but was untried at inter-county level. Three championships later and he's returned Cavan to an Ulster final.

Morris's career partly coincided with a barren run for the county. He admits that it was hard to focus on title-winning ambitions. "Well, when you don't win a single match for seven years, you know it's not looking hectic. Yes you do think what's the point. But the team spirit kept me involved. We'd grown up together, trained and played together."

McHugh's arrival in 1994 came at a delicate juncture for Morris. He was serving a six-month suspension ("a bit of a holiday") for playing without authorisation in the US. But he returned in time for Cavan's best championship run in over a decade, to an Ulster final also against Tyrone.

"When that was over I was mad hungry to come back. Martin McHugh impressed me. He paid attention to every little detail, got everyone including the county board behind him and looked after everything very well. In 1995, I'd say we went a bit further than we'd expected. It was a bonus but made us aware we were on the right road."

He remembers the painful lessons of defeat by Down in 1996 and the moment of revelation the following spring. In March and April of 1997, Cavan had to beat Tyrone twice to secure their first-division status. They did. "That was the turning point. We beat Tyrone in a serious match. We knew then we were good enough and knew the positions we'd all be in come the championship."

The downhill part of the story nearly ended after last year's championship when retirement seemed a logical option. But Morris, now 34, had a good club championship as Gowna won the county title. Suddenly a new door opened.

"I was thinking of quitting last year but the club scene was going well. We won the county title and were in the Ulster club championship. Val had been on about me becoming a selector. After playing through the years I felt I had nothing to lose. I agreed and he just let it slip that he was keeping me on the panel as well.

"It's an advantage in one way. If I'm training with the players I can see how they're going close up and have a quiet word with them. It's nearly impossible for a manager to keep tabs on all the players at the one session. I also know most of the players and how they're training and when they're up for games. Little things."

He sees the current team as being less travelled down the road of development than the Cavan of 1995.

"Some of them haven't even played in a county final let alone an Ulster final." But tomorrow will be a start. We didn't know what to expect in '95. You can talk to people who'll tell you what to expect and what it's like but you're on your own when it comes to the day. You learn it all then.

"It's great experience. I don't think the current team is at the same stage as we were at in '95 but the learning process will be the same. You have to lose one to win one."

Which is as realistically cheerful a face as he can set towards tomorrow.