Forde geared up for Groundhog Day

Imagine the scene last Sunday evening. Some of the Cavan footballers sit around and watch the fourth-round draw, not really caring about who comes out of the bowl as long as it's not Derry.

Lightning then strikes the qualifiers for the fifth time and lands another all-Ulster game. No need to relay the words describing the reaction.

Take any Derry game of the last decade and the chances are they were favourites. The Ulster championship. The league. All games against Cavan.

Even though Cavan managed to progress further in Ulster this summer, the crashes of the last two years are too fresh and severe to be forgotten. Throw in the eight-point defeat in the league meeting last April when Derry flattened them in the second half and it seems entirely reasonable to call it the worst possible draw for Cavan.

"Well beggars can't be choosers at this stage, can they?" says Cavan centre back Anthony Forde. "Sure it's not ideal but it was always possible we would meet Derry and for us it just feels like an extension of the Ulster championship. We're happy to be still in there and this is the chance to rectify the mistakes we made against Tyrone.

"But this is a much different Cavan side. About 10 of this team will be playing against Derry for the first time in the championship. We had eight debuts against Down in our first game and you haven't had too many teams like that this summer. We are a young side and we are still learning."

Forde stands out as one of the few survivors of the teams that fell so heavily to Derry in 1999 and last year. And he's the sole survivor in the defence. Even though he's just turned 25, he is seen as one of the old-timers in a side redesigned by manager Val Andrews over the last year.

Now firmly fixed at centre back, a teenage Forde first emerged in Cavan in the attack when he appeared as a substitute in the 1995 final defeat to Tyrone. Right now, few players are in a better position to make an assessment of Cavan's status in Ulster football.

"Everyone will see Derry as favourites for this game and that's fair enough. But Tyrone were huge favourites for the Ulster final and I think we proved a few people wrong there. And this is definitely a much different Cavan side from the last two years.

"Most of this team are around the 22 or 23 mark, and then we have experienced men on the bench like Bernard Morris. They can pass on the good advice when it's needed. It may be the least glamorous game of the weekend but we don't mind about that. Ulster football has come in for some criticism this year, some right and some wrong, but whoever comes out tomorrow might be a factor just yet."

Derry have built a formidable reputation over the last decade. The fact that they have won only two Ulster titles and the county's sole All-Ireland prize within that period is widely viewed as failed potential. Increasingly though, the reputation has been spilling over into myth.

Forde agrees that Derry are not quite viewed as the force they once were but he's not denying the fact that they still have the ability to turn it on.

"To be honest I haven't seen too much of Derry this summer but they still have those class players. I saw the game against Tyrone and they were a little unlucky there. And I think this game will be decided on how well the defences contain the forwards. Whoever picks up the most breaking ball is going to win.

"Derry have already had a couple of games to get going again after they lost. And we know it will take a huge effort to beat them. It's not like we were beaten by two or three points the last few times we met. We were hammered. But some things have changed for us and things have changed for Derry."

Take Derry's path to the game, for example. They have the lowest scoring average of around 12 points a game, clocking up such mediocre tallies as 0-10 against Antrim and 1-8 against Laois. But they also have the lowest scoring against, around 10 points. Hard to know which is the more telling statistic.

Cavan are still hungry enough to extend this Indian summer a little longer. No one can argue that they have surpassed expectations to get this far, against Down and Monaghan and even the good performance against Tyrone in the Ulster final. Right now Forde wouldn't mind getting at least one crack at a team outside Ulster.

"It is a bit surreal at the moment. Players are still getting used to this second chance but we're enjoying it. Training has gone well since we've got back and we've learnt from the last game, especially the younger players. I think the fact that we came so close to Tyrone has helped the confidence as well."

It's been a while since Cavan went into a game against Derry feeling confident.