Cavan saunter to handy victory over Down

Cavan sauntered to a comfortable opening win in the Tailteann Cup as they confirmed recent superiority over Down at Kingspan Breffni.

Following an impressive performance against Donegal in the Ulster semi-final, Cavan were installed as favourites to win the Tailteann Cup and they lived up to that billing here, controlling proceedings throughout.

At half-time, Cavan were ahead by 0-13 to 1-03, not quite out of sight but not far off it. Down opened the scoring with a goal in the sixth minute from Ruairi O'Hare but from there on, Cavan dominated.

Star of the show was 2020 All-Star goalkeeper Raymond Galligan, who kicked 0-04 in the first half and saved two penalties just before the break. The Lacken clubman blocked Barry O’Hagan’s original effort and when ref David Gough ordered it to be retaken after deeming a defender to have infringed, Galligan produced an even better stop, which drew the loudest cheer of the day from the 3,616-strong crowd.

Team captain Galligan added three more points from dead balls in the second half to crown an outstanding performance.

The sides exchanged wides early on – Down had 12 in total – before slack defending allowed Daniel Guinness and Darren O’Hagan break through and O’Hare found the net from close range.

Cavan’s response was emphatic, though, as points from Gerry Smith, Raymond Galligan (free), Paddy Lynch, Oisin Kiernan, James Smith and Galligan again (45) saw them lead by double scores on the 15-minute mark.

A left-footed Odhran Murdock point got Down going again but a free from Lynch and another Galligan long-range free made it 0-08 to 1-01 as Cavan began to stretch their legs.

A good score from Barry O’Hagan was cancelled out by a Gearoid McKiernan free. Jason McLoughlin pinched the resulting