Terry Hyland says he wouldn't have agreed to become Cavan's new manager without Val Andrews' backing.

The former selector, who guided Cavan to back-to-back Cadbury Ulster U21FC titles earlier this year, was elevated to the senior manager's position after Andrews resigned last month in the wake of a poor Allianz League Division 3 campaign.

"In fairness, Val gave me his blessing to go on and do it. He said: 'you've been involved in Cavan football a long time now and the opportunity is there for you and you should go for it'," Hyland is quoted as saying in today's Irish Independent.

"You always do have ambitions but I had a project with the U21s and that's where I was at that stage.

"I wasn't looking any further down the line. As I said to my wife, I didn't leave the house looking for the Cavan senior job but I've ended up with it and I don't regret it. From that points of view, it was probably always something I was going to do down the line anyway."

Hyland's decision to hand out five debuts for Sunday's Ulster SFC opener against Donegal at Kingspan Breffni Park is proof that he is looking to the future.

"It has to be a long-term project," he continued.

"We couldn't keep doing the same thing we've been doing in Cavan for the last 25 or 30 years. It wasn't working so why would we continue to do it? You had to look at something completely different. Who is to know if this is going to work or not?

"I'd think it's three to four years down the line when we'll reap the benefit. In everything in life you have to take a gamble." Tweet

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