How did provincial GAA champions Cavan and Tipperary fall so far so fast?
Division 3 football has the stage to itself this weekend. Those looking for a GAA fix on Saturday can turn to Croker where Derry and Offaly clash in the Allianz Leagues only final this season. The resurgence of both counties should have been the story to emerge from the third tier. However, it was overshadowed by the fall of Cavan and Tipperary. It is less than seven months since those counties were responsible for one of the most remarkable afternoons in Championship history. On a bleak November Sunday, the footballers of Tipperary and Cavan illuminated living rooms across the country, offering hope that the unexpected can still happen in the modern game. Less than 24 hours after Mick Hogan and the other victims of Bloody Sunday were remembered on their 100th anniversary in Croke Park, Tipperary, wearing jerseys modelled on what Hogan and his teammates wore that day, beat Cork to become Munster champions for the first time in 85 years. A couple of hours later, Cavan made light of an exhausting schedule  playing on six successive weekends  to shock Donegal in the Ulster final, lifting the Anglo Celt Cup after 22 barren years. From being the teams who defined last years Championship, they both provided the biggest story of this surreal football League campaign as the reigning Munster and Ulster champions dropped into the murky depths of Division 4 last weekend. Even allowing for the emotion expended last November, and the catalogue of injuries suffered by both squads, it has been a shocking turn of events. Tipp have been there before, as recently as 2014. However, for Cavan, slipping into the fourth tier is unprecedented. There has been a feeling of anger and embarrassment since the weekend, some have even called for manager Mickey Grahams head, just months after leading them to the most unlikely of Ulster titles. Going back to when he served his management apprenticeship in the club game, Graham has always had an indifferent attitude to league football. He has brought that into the inter-county sphere. This is his third season in charge of Cavan and the third time they have suffered relegation, dropping from top to bottom like a stone. The philosophy of putting all the eggs in the Championship basket paid off in the first two years, as he led them to an Ulster final in 2019 before last Novembers emotional provincial title. But few are predicting a repeat this summer. Cavan looked demoralised and deflated as they left Navan on Saturday after the shock defeat to Wicklow, and Graham will need all his motivational powers to rally them ahead of their Ulster quarterfinal against Tyrone in Omagh. To make matters worse, Cavan havent beaten their hosts in the Championship since 1983, losing on 11 occasions in that spell. All the things that made Cavan so entertaining to watch last winter were absent during the League. It was the nature of their performance against Wicklow that has deepened the sense of dismay, the players seemed to accept their fate despite a number of Wicklow players cramping up in the final 10 minutes. Last winter, they had resilience and fighting spirit in abundance. They mounted comebacks against Monaghan and Down, and battled through the adversity of black cards against Donegal. Graham harnessed a real never-say-die attitude in his players. Against Wicklow, they were sloppy and lacked urgency. Even when the situation looked critical, after Wicklow had scored their third goal, nobody stood up and drove things forward. It was in sharp contrast to their performance against Donegal in the Ulster final when almost every player stood up in the second half when they were needed. Cavan were fortunate with injuries last year, but they have been missing key players this term, including Ciaran Brady who ruptured his cruciate and Jason McLoughlin, two who were vital to their defensive solidity as they came through the province. Even though eight of their subs against Donegal last year were 22 or under, they simply dont have the depth to cover for injuries. Graham used 29 players in the four league games, but none of the newcomers look like putting the first string under pressure. It has been the same story with Tipp. They were also relegated after a lifeless display, losing by seven points to Longford without barely raising a whimper. Their excellent half-back line of Robbie Kiely, Bill Maher and Kevin Fahey have all suffered with injuries in the past few months. Kiely is likely to miss the rest of the year with a hamstring injury. The half-back line was the platform for so much that was good about Tipps play last year and they have struggled with the quality of that trio. Philip Austin has retired and Colin ORiordan has returned to the AFL, robbing the team of their two of biggest leaders in the Munster final. And, just like Cavan, they dont have the squad depth to compensate for those losses. Following the heavy defeat by Longford, Tipp boss Dave Power suggested the strange circumstances of their Munster reign may have played a part in the relegation, pointing out that the absence of a homecoming with the cup ensured there was no closure to last season. In a normal year, after ending the 85-year famine, celebrations would have lasted months with those who have kept the bigger ball alive in the county relishing their moment. It would have been the same in Cavan, who had waited 22 years for the Anglo Celt Cup, although the cup has made some low-key visits to clubs in the past couple of weeks. In the end, though, it looks like the star aligned for both Cavan and Tipperary in the strangest of Championship seasons. Now, it looks like they are both going from an All-Ireland semi-final in 2020 to the Tailteann Cup in 2022. Still, at least, they have the memories of one remarkable Sunday in November.