by Kevin Carney

The use of 'permit players' should be used as the scaffold to construct a secure future for Cavan's senior hurling team.

That's the view of current Sligo senior hurling boss Ronan Watters who steered his side to a 1-20 to 0-9 Lory Meagher Cup victory over the Breffni county last time out.

Cavan's senior hurling renaissance has seen the Breffni county make its re-appearance on the intercounty scene this year for the first time since 2011.

So far in the Lory Meagher Cup, Cavan have used five non-Cavan natives to bolster their cause; among them, Galway native Kevin Conneely, their stand-out player on the 'forty from last Saturday's game with Sligo plus centre-back Diarmuid Cahill, son of Cavan manager Dinny Cahill.

The aforementioned Watters believes that availing of Croke Park's blessing to field 'permit players' is the right way to go for Cavan: "It's great to see Cavan back in the fold and I hope they stay in the competition going forward and keep the progress they've made this year going to the end of the season and beyond.

"It's not for me to put on a Cavan hat but it looks like they do have the numbers, as regards local players but I think they probably have to do a bit more work as regards fitness and on the technical skills side of things but maybe it they could introduce three or four other players, they would be even more competitive.

"With such low numbers to pick from, it can't be easy for Cavan to get a fairly strong panel together but using as many permit players as they can is one way of improving things.

"From our experience, the permit players we used added a bit of maturity and a bit more from a technique point of view into the team. At least that was our experience in Sligo. We found that the other players learned from the permit players and they tended to raise the standard among the players around them who were Sligo natives.

"We have no permit players this year but it served a purpose for us, absolutely. At one stage it helped us to build on the core players that we had that who were from Sligo. It served a purpose for us and I'm sure it can do the same for Cavan.

"Using the permit players should be great for the likes of Cavan and if their county board put in that bit more investment of time and money then the future would be a lot brighter for the county."

Speaking ahead of Cavan's visit to Lancashire tomorrow (Saturday) for their penultimate round Lory Meagher Cup game, Limerick native Mark Hayes - who has been starring for his adopted Ulster county - believes that Cavan also have to get things right on the field of play as well as on the administration front if they are to shape a better future for themselves.

"We have to be stop giving away so many soft frees," the former Fitzgibbon Cup medallist opined.

"There's too many rash tackles being made and we're getting punished for them. We need to be cuter in everything we do.

"I know we're on a steep learning curve but we have to cut out the silly mistakes that are allowing our opponents to rack up a lot of points from frees."

Ahead of Cavan's tussle with Lancashire, Cavan will have to field without the unvailable Kevin Conneely who was their stand-out player last weekend and also suspended midfielder Sean Keating who was red-carded against Sligo.

Experienced defender Anthony Sheridan was also dismissed in the game with Sligo but as a result of two yellow card offences so he is free to take his place against Lancashire at their base at Old Bedians, Sports Ground, Manchester.

Cavan have also been boosted by the news of the availability of the Sheanon brothers, Cillian and Colum. The Cuala (Dublin) clubmen were club-tied for last Saturday's game against Sligo.

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