Kerrigan seeks injury lift

Cavan manager Mattie Kerrigan has found his player resources "totally stretched" just three days before the game that will decide one of the play-off teams from Division 1B of the National Football League. A win for either Cavan or opponents Laois in Breffni Park on Sunday would secure them a place in next month's semi-finals.

"Right now I couldn't tell you 10 of our team that will play on Sunday," said Kerrigan yesterday. "We have such a spate of injuries that it will be Saturday morning at the earliest before we can think about finalising a team. Hopefully we can still get a reasonably strong side together."

Yet Kerrigan is playing down any reference to Sunday being the make-or-break game of the league season.

"No, it's just like any other league match. We'll go out and try to win, but like our other league matches we'll experiment with a few players as well. It's just we'll be forced to experiment a little bit more with the amount of injuries we have at the moment.

"But it's not going to be a make-or-break game for us this year. That's for sure. The fact that we have won four games, and are now in a position to make the semi-final, indicates that we have taken each game quite seriously this year. And that's the way we looked at it last year too.

"From a Cavan point of view it was more important to avoid relegation. We have a lot of young players who will benefit a lot more from playing Division One football again next year. If we get to the semi-final great, but if we don't then it's not the end of the world."

Among the long list of players unavailable for Sunday are forwards Finbar O'Reilly, Mickey Graham, Gerry Pierson and Michael Hannon. James Doonan and Michael Brides are still several weeks off full fitness, while Colm Hannon has exam commitments.

O'Reilly, who performed so well against Down in their last outing, is a particular loss for Kerrigan, and having suffered from a knee ligament injury - just weeks after recovering from a previous injury - he'll now be sidelined for several more weeks.

A year ago Cavan produced a similarly successful run through Division 1B all the way to the semi-finals, where they then beat Roscommon. Defeat to Tyrone in final was widely perceived to start a slowdown that lasted through the summer, but Kerrigan has placed no more or no less emphasis on the league this season.

"Well we were no less motivated from last year. Maybe we've experimented a little more with players this year. And we have brought through some lads. But the most important thing about this game with Laois is that we're both safe from relegation."

Cavan's only loss this year was to Fermanagh, while Laois, who have won four and drawn one, still look the team most likely to emerge from the division. That hardly surprises Kerrigan.

"I think Laois have had a lot of quality players over the last number of years. They've been on the verge of a breakthrough now for a while, and the arrival of Mick O'Dwyer was probably the boost they needed. He has brought a fresh face to the set-up, albeit a grizzled one."

Having now avoided relegation, one thing Kerrigan would like changed next season is the make-up of the two divisions.

"I've said it before that most of the high-profile counties are in division 1A, and therefore get the most media attention. But I think the standard of football is quite close. "

Laois, meanwhile, remain remarkably committed to largely the same 15 starting players. O'Dwyer has made just one change for Sunday, dropping Hugh Emerson at full forward and moving Chris Conway from wing forward to take his place, and thus reintroducing Colm Parkinson.

LAOIS (SF v Cavan): F Byron; T Kelly, C Byrne, J Higgins; D Rooney, K Fitzpatrick, D Conroy; P Clancy, N Garvan; C Parkinson, I Fitzgerald, M Lawlor; B McDonald, C Conway, D Delaney.