Paddy Lynch kicks a point for Cavan in the win over Monaghan. I’ve watched Cavan a number of times and the overreliance on Lynch is there for all to see. Tyrone will have taken note. Photograph: John McVitty/Inpho
Cavan’s recent bad results and the ferocious wind may account for their being so conservative in the first half, leaving Paddy Lynch up on his own with bodies being smothered between the two 45s. I know that you have to be reasonable, looking at these matches. Most teams set up conservatively because they have to.
The three goals all came after he had to go off. Look at the first two, which were crucial and think of Darren’s positioning in the first half and where he potentially would have been in the second. What was really striking about the Monaghan ‘keeper, from our view high up in the corner when Monaghan were shooting into the River End, was the ability to play with his head up.
It felt to me like Cavan were hanging on in the game and there were loads of stoppages even on top of Darren Hughes’s injury, which prevented any team getting momentum, particularly Monaghan. There was never a time when they could tag on three or four scores.