By William Dunne

In the wake of an Ulster defeat to Monaghan, Cavan captain Killian Clarke says they are striving to cut out the number of unforced errors being made.

Clarke says that in order to be up there alongside the best teams in the country, Cavan must learn from the mistakes made against Monaghan if they are to progress past Offaly in their Round 1B qualifier, at O’Connor Park on Sunday evening.

“We just need to stop getting turned over as much,” Clarke told GAA.ie this week. “We are making a lot of mistakes that the top teams aren’t making.

“I think the defensive side of our game is well developed at this stage. When we aren’t getting turned over high up the field, we are able to get that set-up.

“But we need to improve on getting forward and getting those scores, and getting our shooting percentages up like all of the top teams.”

Having been relegated from Division One of the Allianz Football League, Cavan were subsequently beaten by neighbours Monaghan in the Ulster Senior Football Championship.

Despite their league woes and opening round defeat, Cavan will be favourites heading into the Offaly match. The Faithful lost to Westmeath in a Leinster SFC Quarter-Final replay last Saturday.

Clarke remains relaxed and optimistic. “There isn’t much pressure on us,” said the Cavan defender. “We are looking to perform.

“We know what we need to improve on at this stage and we’ve been trying to work on it throughout the League and that brought us on leaps and bounds, playing against those top teams in the League.

“So, when Offaly comes around, the boys just need to go out and express themselves and I don’t think pressure comes into it.

“We have our homework done. They are going to be a handful. They are a big strong powerful team. They have a lot of good, capable footballers so it’s going to be an interesting affair.”