THE only county to have opted out of the National Leagues in recent times makes a return when the NHL begins this weekend. Cavan departed Division Four of the hurling league two seasons ago, in mid-flight as it were. Even Kilkenny, perennially rooted to the bottom of Division Four of the football league, manage to complete their fixtures and sometimes win matches.

Cavan hurlers, however, were something else. Every yarn you ever heard about lack of seriousness in a county team probably originated in Cavan. It wasn't that the county was a major football force in the manner that Kilkenny could claim to be in hurling. Although Ulster finals and NFL play-offs was the height of the footballers' ambition, the distance down to their hurlers was nonetheless as deep as the chasm in Kilkenny.

There was a revealing article in the Sunday Tribune which revealed a team whose substitutes' bench included someone who smoked fags impassively until it was time, he announced, to head off to meet his girlfriend with whom he pre-arranged a meeting.

The most popular story was the failure of the team to fulfill a fixture in Louth because they got lost on the way to the venue. Not altogether surprisingly, the team was withdrawn during the 1994-95 season.

Since that nadir in the game's fortunes, efforts have been made to improve the situation. A Hurling Board has been constituted with former county chairman Peter Brady at the helm. The emphasis over the last couple of years has been on preparing a development squad of hurlers at underage level.

Central to this has been the county's coaching officer James Lovatt. Originally from Tipperary, he has taken a long-term view of the county's hurling requirements and, bit by bit, a degree of confidence has been restored. Last year, for instance, Killeshandra under-14s won Division Four of the Feile na nGael in Waterford.

This year with the change in the hurling calendar and the re-organised All-Ireland Junior Championship, Cavan have re-entered the fray in Division Four. It was for a specific reason, according to Lovatt.

"Basically, we have 10 under-I 2 clubs in the county. We have a county under-I 6 panel in training for the last two months. There's 30 on the panel and none of them have missed a single night. They've been together for two-or three years and we'll be entering the Under-16 C All-Ireland.

"One problem is that all these youngsters have nothing to look up to at inter-county level. It's not that having a Division Four team is going to make a young fella want to play hurling, but it gives them something to aim at, a level they can progress to and which can help them improve. They are already very committed; very few of them play football which is most unusual here."

At senior level, the county champions entered the Ulster championship and lost by a manageable margin (albeit to the Monaghan champions, Castleblayney). This year, the county seniors are being trained by Paddy Kelly, the Meath and Leinster hurler, and the response has been good.

"Training for the last month has been well attended. Every Thursday and Saturday, there's been 15 or 16 out," says Lovatt. When politely queried on the implications for strength-in-depth of such a turnout, he responds that there are about 25 players available to the county, but not all are living in Cavan and a number are in training elsewhere - for instance Michael Fitzsimons of the DIT Fitzgibbon Cup team which sprang a shock by eliminating UCG in the first round.

Lovatt doesn't need an oxygen mask to discuss the ambitions of the team. "Initially, it's to get a team out to play on a regular basis and take it from there.I would hope they can compete reasonably well and that we can get away from having to press the bus driver into togging out. I'm involved with football as well and I'm trying to get across to them that they will be treated like the footballers - if they put in the same commitment.

"Before we never trained. I'd say there's still teams in the division that don't, that just send out a team for matches. But we're really thinking of those under-16s. They'll be minors in two years time. Until then, we'll try and improve things and winning our first game (against Leitrim this Saturday) would be brilliant."