Cavan pounce to finish on a high note

ULSTER SFC PRELIMINARY ROUND: Cavan1-19 Antrim 1-14: IT WAS A slow day, and the sun was beating on the bleachers by the side of the pitch. A decent match, a fair result, and although some of the crowd spilled out early there was a sense everyone got what they expected.

The Ulster football championship doesn't usually get under way in such a casual manner, but even if the fine weather doesn't last, at least the competition is guaranteed to heat up considerably in the coming weeks.

Cavan came through the preliminary round with relative ease to set up a quarter-final date with Armagh on June 15th, and in the end played some impressive football, even if it was sometimes a little too close for comfort.

In recent seasons these counties have become sort of punch bags for the heavyweights of Ulster football but, at least from Cavan's point of view, that may be about to change. Yesterday's victory marked their first win in the championship since they beat Donegal in the qualifiers in 2005.

Antrim were seeking their first win in the Ulster championship since they famously beat Cavan in 2003, and they'll look back on this as perhaps another one that got away - they hit 14 wides, and allowed Seanie Johnston and Dermot McCabe to kill them softly with some brilliant score taking.

Johnston hit 0-8 and McCabe, having abandoned his midfield position and started at full forward, hit 1-1 - the goal also set up brilliantly by Johnston. In this sort of form, Johnston is close to unmarkable, and McCabe too would surely have inflicted greater damage had he got a little more possession.

Yet it wasn't just these two who eased Cavan home. Michael McDonald had a good game at midfield, although it took the introduction of Lorcan Mulvey in the second half to afford Cavan a complete grip on the area, and that gradually wore down Antrim's challenge. Rory Dunne and Dermot Sheridan came through their championship debuts quite well and with seven different players making the scoresheet they was plenty to satisfy manager Donal Keoghan.

Cavan never looked like losing, even had Antrim taken a few more of their chances. Cavan got their noses in front from the start and although Antrim were level again after 30 minutes, they couldn't, crucially, get ahead. As the second half wore on and they sent a succession of scoring chances left and right of the Cavan goalposts it became increasingly clear there would be no repeat of 2003.

Given their surprise failure to progress from Division Four of the National League, losing out at the last stage, Antrim are effectively done for the summer, with only the Tommy Murphy Cup to look forward to. Next year's return of the all-encompassing qualifier format can't come quickly enough for a young team that has potential, but continues to struggle in delivering it.

On 10 minutes yesterday, they were level with Cavan, after Conor McGourty's well-taken goal. Seán Kelly's high ball looked hopeless enough, but the Cavan backs failed to deal with it and McGourty was well positioned to inflict the ultimate penalty.

Minutes later Cavan were two points clear when Seanie Johnston's first of two frees made him the fifth different forward to score. Things were happening for Cavan and Antrim weren't able to do much about it.

Part of Antrim's problem was the lack of direct forward play. They seemed more content to try the diagonal ball, and in fairness this did briefly bewilder some of the Cavan backs, and when they hit four unanswered scores approaching the half hour mark - including a gem each from Ciarán Close and McGourty - they were back level at 1-6 to 0-9.

That was as good as an air-raid siren as far as Cavan were concerned, and almost immediately alerted them to the danger. Johnston, typically, was dogged with every ounce of possession he got, and on 33 minutes cut loose to the left of the Antrim goalmouth and sent an inch-perfect pass across to McCabe, who had finally got himself isolated to the right of the goal. With trademark power McCabe blasted past 39-year-old goalkeeper Seán McGreevy.

They switched directions with Cavan 1-9 to 1-7 up, and it was a while in to the second half before their victory was secure. The pace of the game appeared to slow as time wore on, and that wasn't all to do with the fine weather, or any lack of fitness. It was more as if both sides lost their sense of urgency, and with that the excitement also declined.

Antrim were hanging on by a point on 40 minutes, but then hit a disastrous series of wides that killed their hopes, and enthusiasm. With Mulvey's introduction then giving Cavan near total command at midfield, the whole team got their skates on again.

Four points without reply in the middle period of the half, including one beauty from Johnston, brought them five points clear, and suddenly it seemed as if Antrim's game was cooked.

For the last 15 minutes all the quality work was done by Cavan, and when Johnston hit his sixth point from play on 57 minutes he allowed himself to punch the air. Days like this don't come too often for Cavan anymore. You may as well enjoy them while you can.

CAVAN: 1 J Reilly; 2 M Hannon, 3 R Dunne, 4 M Brides; 6 A Forde, 12 B Watters, 7 M Cahill (0-1); 8 M McDonald (0-2), 5 D Sheridan; 10 M Reilly (0-3), 11 R Flanagan (0-2), 13 C Mackey; 15 J O'Reilly (0-2), 9 D McCabe (1-1, one free), 14 S Johnston (0-8, two frees). Subs: 25 P Reilly for Brides (31 mins), 18 L Mulvey for Sheridan (44 mins), 27 P Brady for Mackey (46 mins), 23 E O'Reilly for O'Reilly (59 mins).

ANTRIM: 1 S McGreevy; 2 K O'Boyle, 3 A McClean, 4 J Loughrey; 5 T Scullion, 6 J Crozier, 7 S Kelly; 8 A Gallagher, 9 M McCann; 10 T McCann (0-3, two 45s), 11 K Niblock (0-1), 12 P Close; 13 P Cunningham (0-4, all frees), 14 C McCarthy (1-4), 15 C Close (0-1). Subs: 19 M Magill (0-1)for P Close (39 mins), 17 T O'Neill for C Close (55 mins), 21 C Brady for Crozier (61 mins), 23 T Convery for Gallagher (65 mins), 18 E O'Neill for Niblock (71 mins).

CARDS: CAVAN: Yellow: M Cahill (32 mins), C Mackey (35 mins). Red: None. ANTRIM: Yellow: K Niblock (53 mins). Red: None.

Referee: Jimmy White(Donegal).

Attendance: 7,096.