David Lennon sees Killygarry as ‘hot favourites’ as Castlerahan prepare for Cavan SFC opener
· Jack Madden · 2026-08-07 · nguồn gốc
Castlerahan boss David Lennon acknowledges his side winning a championship may not be his side’s primary goal this season, as they prepare to lock horns with Killygarry in Sunday’s Kyte Powertech Cavan SFC.
Slight changes to the championship means Castlerahan know they will meet Ballyhaise in the second round in what looks a decent draw on paper, avoiding all of last year’s semi-finalists, Gowna, Crosserlough, Kingscourt and Ramor.
And Lennon, who was in charge of Latton in his native Monaghan last year, sees similarities in the gulf between the top and bottom half in both counties, as they gear up for the recently crowned Division Two champions:
“It’s probably a bit like the top five and bottom five in Monaghan, with a top six and bottom six in Cavan. Realistically, we are in that bottom six.
“Killygarry are hovering around four, five, six, and there’s no denying they are going to be hot favourites this weekend.
“As a manager however, I feel we have a great chance. I don’t think it’s a bad opening draw. We’re not aiming to win a championship, our first goal is to stay up, and we have a fighting chance to do exactly that.”
There have been marked changes in Castlerahan since their first ever Cavan title in 2018.
Fergal Flanagan had stepped in as player-manager in recent seasons, with Lennon name checking his loss as a player as well as that of David Wright and the O’Connells amongst others in recent seasons.
Cormac Daly, man of the match in their back-to-back senior title success in 2019, does remain however, while Lennon heaped praise on Cavan star Oisin Kiernan, who returned for the final two rounds of a difficult Division One campaign that saw Castlerahan relegated:
“We have a very young panel, probably nine players under the age of 21 that could start, but equally that means there’s a great opportunity in having a massive role.
“It’s a very positive group. We’re realistic, we lost a few games badly during the league but we lost plenty we should have won.
“We were beaten by two points by Cuchulainns in our last game (June 13), a game they needed to win and they ended up winning the league. Arva beating Ramor was a surprise result later that evening and it was a double whammy that sent us down.
“That was certainly a game we should have won. Castlerahan are a great club and crucially, they want things done the right way.
“Oisin is one of the best players I’ve ever coached. His attitude, his fitness. He only came back for the second last round of the league against Kingscourt, but the strides he’s made since then, he’s a different animal.
“He’s everything you would want as a manager.”
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With the SFC draw completed shortly after Cavan’s exit from the All-Ireland at the hands of Dublin, Lennon was afforded the opportunity to see Killygarry first hand in their 0-16 to 0-13 Division Two final win over Shercock.
And Lennon, who was on Kingscourt’s management team when Crosserlough defeated them after a replay in the 2020 Cavan decider, is wary of Killygarry’s forward line, featuring Cavan star Oisin Brady:
“They were impressive in getting over the line against Shercock. They only took the lead with time almost up.
“At half-time they made a triple change, and Oisin Brady and Conor Smith came on. They’ve always had very good forwards this past couple of years, something I was aware of even when I was with Kingscourt.”