Cavan’s Paddy Lynch after beating Mayo: ‘It was definitely good to show up a few critics’

PAIN is something that Paddy Lynch knows too much about – and that it can be mental as well as physical.

The Cavan forward acknowledged his colleagues were suffering after their Ulster exit against Tyrone, and were hurt by the talk that Mayo would add to their run of losses in the All-Ireland SFC Group 1 opener.

Instead, the Breffnimen went to MacHale Park on Sunday and returned home with a three-point victory after a performance which really rocked a Group 1 also containing Ulster rivals Donegal and Tyrone.

The Red Hands had eased to a seven-point success over Cavan in the Ulster SFC quarter-final in Omagh, extending the visitors’ championship losing streak to five matches.

Conn Kilpatrick evades Brían O'Connell during the 2025 Ulster SFC quarter-final between Tyrone and Cavan at O'Neills Healy Park. (April 13 2025) Picture by: Seamus Loughran.

Yet Lynch says they knew they could produce much better: “We just probably didn’t show up against Tyrone and we were hurting about that, and we wanted to come out there and kind of put the pride back into Cavan jersey.

“There was a lot of chat in the media that Mayo just had to turn up, so that kind of hurt us an awful lot. It was definitely good to show up a few critics.”

Lynch’s return to action was almost as uplifting for Cavan as this against-the-odds victory. The Crosserlough clubman suffered cruciate ligament damage in training during the week after their loss to Tyrone following extra time at Breffni Park in late April last year.

“It’s been a long oul road,” admitted Lynch. “It’s been nearly 13 months since I played my last game, so I’m obviously delighted to be back playing and delighted to get the win as well.”

His two worst moments were far apart, he revealed: “Probably the week that it happened, obviously, was tough, and then my recovery was flying - then come January, I tore my meniscus again.

“That was probably the lowest point, because I thought I was back, and then I was facing another few months out. That was kind of it, but just delighted now, and that’ll be that, please God.”

Paddy Lynch in action before his cruciate ligament injury last year.

He punched the air joyously when he swung over a left-footed point to give Cavan a six-point lead on Sunday, 1-15 to 0-12, and he acknowledged his delight at being back doing what he does best:

“It meant a lot to me, because I got setback after setback there in the last few months.

“I was flying there at the start [of the year], and then another setback, and then another one last week. I thought that was it. Yeah, definitely it was nice to get that score. It meant an awful lot.”

His involvement against Mayo had been put in doubt, but he knew himself it would not keep him out for long, if at all:

“It was just a wee bit in the hamstring, it actually wasn’t that bad. Thank God, I took it easy there during the week. I’m just delighted to get back out there and get the win.”

Donegal's Michael Murphy in action during the Ulster GAA Football Senior Championship Semi Final between Cavan and Donegal on 05-08-2022 at St Tiernachs Park Clones. Pic Philip Walsh.

Cavan now await a visit from Donegal on Sunday June 1 in round 2 of this group stage. Lynch knows that will be tough, however Jim McGuinness’s men go against Tyrone in Ballybofey this Sunday:

“They’re Ulster Champions for a reason, so we’ll focus on them now in the next week or so, and then we’ll get on with the rest of the group.”

There is now understandable belief that Cavan can progress to the knockout stages of the All-Ireland, based on the quality within manager Raymond Galligan’s squad:

“100%. There’s any amount of boys that didn’t even get on there, they’re just as good. So, we know what’s in the group, and hopefully we’ll be backing that up now in two weeks’ time.”