SEAN CAVANAGH WOULD have no qualms in replicating his infamous foul on Conor McManus in last August’s All-Ireland quarter-final, if an opponent was through on goal and it would help Tyrone win the game.
Tyrone are getting set for a rematch next Sunday with Monaghan, this time in the quarter-final of the Ulster championship.
And Cavanagh believes that in a scenario if he was clear on goal, an opponent would haul him down.
“I have no doubt if we’re winning by two points or they’re winning by two points on Sunday and I go through no goal in the last five minutes that somebody’s going to rip me down. You have to accept that. It’s part and parcel of the game.
“If it got you over the line and through to the next round of a championship I think then 99.9% of players will tell you exactly the same. It’s probably from about 60 minutes onwards that I have no doubt it might click into someone’s head that it’s the right thing to do for your team.”
Cavanagh doesn’t believe the introduction of the black card is going to dissuade players from making such tackles.
“I completely agree with the ideology behind it all where it’s a more attacking game. The black card will work to a certain extent but there’s still these anomalies. I didn’t realise until a couple of weeks ago that you could stay on your feet and pull somebody back.
“The more I think about it I could have done that last year and the net effect would have been the same. I know people through this year’s championship will go down or pull people back on purpose to stop then scoring goals. Goals are just too big of a score in the championship.
“Pulling somebody back to me isn’t dangerous. Maybe if you were getting a red card and it’s deemed a professional foul and you’re going to miss a game or something like that, you definitely would think twice about it.”
The prospect of coming in for heat in next Sunday’s showdown does not perturb five-time Allstar winner Cavanagh.
“I’m sort of too long in the tooth now. I’ve been getting personal attention for long enough to know what to expect. I know Conor (McManus) personally and he’s a great lad.”
