Cavan open league campaign with win over Kildare

Cavan got off to a flying start to life under the management of Raymond Galligan with a well-deserved win over Kildare in Carlow.

They were organised in defence and frustrated the Kildare attack for long spells, while constantly carrying a threat when going forward themselves.

In Paddy Lynch, they had the game's top scorer and he opened their account with the first of his eight points inside the opening two minutes.

Cavan were flying in the early stages and both wing backs, Oisin Kiernan and Padraig Faulkner, got on the scoresheet as they moved into a 0-04 to 0-02 lead by the tenth minute.

Kildare’s best spell in the opening half came when Darragh Kirwan and Jimmy Hyland to tie the game at 0-05 after 16 minutes but they lost their way in their attacking play after that and only scored one more point in the remaining minutes of the half.

Gerard Smith and Killian Clarke were among the scorers as Cavan pushed on to lead 0-09 to 0-06 at half time.

Half time gave Kildare the chance to regroup but the expected onslaught in the second half never really materialised.

Ciaran Brady, in the team just a couple of weeks after winning an All-Ireland Junior title with his club Arva, sent Cavan four clear early in the second half and when Dara McVeety pointed in the 49th minute they were five ahead.

The introduction of Shane O’Sullivan brought new life to Kildare and after helping create a score for Kirwan, he scored himself. Just as Kildare were building momentum, Paddy McDermott missed a great chance to get them back to with point.

That missed chance proved to be Kildare’s last chance to close the gap and Cavan were quickly back into a four-point lead after two more points from Lynch.

Kildare huffed and puffed in the last ten minutes but Cavan