A win over Down on Saturday will have all but secured Cavan’s Division Two status for next season and even allow the Breffnimen to harbour hopes of promotion.
An added bonus for manager Raymond Galligan is that his attacking options have improved as well as the form of his team in recent weeks.
The outlook looked a lot bleaker in early February when a heavy defeat to neighbours Meath, hot on the heels of another derby loss to Monaghan, had the Breffnimen with a mountain to climb.
It was around this time too that star forward Paddy Lynch suffered a setback in his recovery and the talismanic Gearoid McKiernan had yet to start a game since his return to the panel following a year out.
However, after three wins on the bounce, including Saturday’s victory over Ulster rivals Down, including a significant impact from McKiernan, and better news on the Lynch front, Breffni fans have reason for optimism.
Two late frees from Oisin Brady eventually give Cavan a two-point win in a game which had ebbed and flowed for most of the 70 minutes with Pat Havern’s late attempt at a two-pointer waved wide.
Brady hadn’t featured at all in the defeats to Monaghan and Meath before being drafted in for the win over Louth and is another Cavan forward who has made the difference in their recent victories.
The second of those two late frees came when Down’s Ryan McEvoy was penalised for bouncing the ball before attempting a solo and go. His reaction resulted in the free being brought forward to the 13m line, giving Brady the easiest of scores to extend Cavan’s lead.
“We always knew it was going to be a tough game, it could have gone either way at the end there, probably got lucky enough with the last free, it got brought forward after Down were away on the attack,” Brady said.
“But that’s the bit of luck we’re getting now that we weren’t getting at the start of the league campaign, so delighted now to get the win.
“It’s massive, especially beating Down who were close in points to us and now we have the head-to-head on them. To win our next three games after the bad start, we’re delighted.”
A two-pointer from McKiernan on 62 minutes had swung the momentum back towards Cavan and set the platform for Brady to clinch the league points.
“Gearoid, he’s inspirational,” said Brady.
It was a sentiment echoed by manager Raymond Galligan, who hailed McKiernan’s overall contribution to the Cavan win.
“We’re very lucky to have Gearoid back involved,” Galligan said.
“He’s just such a huge leader. Not only did he get that score, he got a huge turnover in our defence in the last few minutes, which was a huge play. I can’t speak highly enough of Gearoid. He’s not just a leader on the field, he’s a leader off the field.”
Cavan have two matches remaining in Division Two, a trip to Roscommon on March 16 and a home game against Cork a week later before the countdown begins to their Ulster SFC clash with Tyrone on April 13.
Promotion and a league final appearance is still a possibility and Galligan did hint that Lynch could make a return at some stage at the tail end of the League.
“Paddy had a wee setback about three or four weeks ago. It’s probably a bit soon to think ‘will he be back in two or three weeks’? Probably not, to be honest,” Galligan said.
“With Paddy, I don’t want to rush it. The management and medical team certainly don’t. We have to respect Paddy. We have to think of longer gain. The easy thing to do would be to try and push him into a situation where he’s not ready or comfortable.
“We want to make sure that when he comes back, he is bulletproof and that he is really ready to go. Unfortunately, he’s just not there. He has been fantastic around the camp, driving players and standards on.
“Hopefully, we might see him by the end of the league but I’d say Roscommon may come too soon to be totally honest.”