by Orla Bannon

He's spent the last 15 years trying to get here, and Cavan Gaels captain Micheal Lyng hopes injury won't ruin what could be an historic Ulster final appearance for the club. 

The ex-Breffni playmaker was unable to start either the drawn semi-final and replay against Derrygonnelly because of a hamstring injury and accepts it will be hard to force his way back manager Jason Reilly's team, which is unbeaten this year in league and championship.

"I got a wee knock the Friday night before the first Derrygonnelly game so the first game came too soon," Lyng said ahead of Sunday's SFC decider against holders Slaughtneil.

"I got it scanned and they said it was a 10-day thing and Sunday was 10 days so I was on course to come back anyway.

"It was just the manager didn't put me on in the replay until well into the second half!

"Hopefully I'll see a bit more game time on Sunday but it is hard to get back into a winning team.

"It will be up to Jason."

Lyng, a PE teacher in St Bricin's College in Reilly's home town of Belturbet, has nine Cavan SFC medals.

Himself and Seanie Johnston - who has 10 - have soldiered together for years with no breakthrough in Ulster, until now. The club are back in the final for the first time in 40 years attempting to become the first Breffni club to win Ulster.

"At different times in the year we had tight games and we always seemed to come out the right side of it.

"Winning 19, 20 games in a row helps you dig games out in the last few minutes like we did on Sunday.

"Jason is a great fella and has brought something this year.

"He has 41, 42 fellas there mad keen to do whatever he asks. He is all about the simple things and doing the simple things well. That is his coaching philosophy."

The last Breffni club to make the Ulster final was Bailiboro in '95 and going where no Cavan club has gone before, is inspiring Lyng to pull off the improbable against the raging hot favourites in the Athletic Grounds.

"We talked about it earlier in the year that when you go into other dressing rooms in the county they've got pictures on the walls of their county winners.

"Everyone has got county winners but not one club in Cavan has got an Ulster senior title, so for us to be the first ever team in Cavan it would be unique and pure history.

"We'd never even won back-to-back games in Ulster in the 15 years that I've been playing with the Gaels until this year.

"We lost about four semi-finals before this, so it was really good to get over that hurdle.

"We'll be underdogs and rightly so, going up against the reigning champions."

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