Cavan county football team

In the 1933 All-Ireland semi-final in Breffni Park, Cavan beat Kerry with a last minute goal from Vincent McGovern, ending their five-in-a-row bid.[1] Cavan later went on to defeat Galway by one point in the final to become the first Ulster county to win the Sam Maguire Cup.

Two years later, Cavan defeated Kildare in the 1935 final to bring home their second title in three years.

Cavan's reached the final again in 1947 after defeat of Roscommon in the semi-final. The final was played at the Polo Grounds in New York City, the only time the final was held outside of Ireland. Kerry scored two early goals, but Cavan settled and goals from Joe Stafford and Mick Higgins meant they led by a point at half-time. Peter Donohoe kicked eight points over the hour to seal a famous victory for Cavan on a scoreline of 2-11 to 2-7 to bring Sam Maguire to Cavan for the third time.[2]

Cavan followed this up with a one-point win over Mayo in 1948, to win back-to-back titles. The county reached its third successive final in 1949, but was denied a three-in-a-row by Meath, losing by four points.

Cavan later avenged this defeat, overcoming Meath after a replay in 1952 to bring home the county's fifth, and most recent, All-Ireland title. It remains Cavan's latest appearance in an All-Ireland final.

Donegal All-Ireland winner Martin McHugh was appointed as senior manager ahead of the 1995 season. At this time, Cavan had not won a game in the Ulster Championship in the previous seven years.[3] Cavan won the 1997 Ulster Final, after beating Derry by a point. Stephen King was captain.[4] Martin McHugh was manager; he later described the aftermath as follows: "It was crazy, like something you would see out in Argentina. I was worried that someone was going to get killed under the bus, they'd gone mad".[4] Cavan supporters thronged Hill 16 for the All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry, King acknowledging that — despite the early goal from Fintan Cahill — Kerry "deserved their win".[4] After the semi-final, McHugh stepped down as manager having served three years. He cited putting his family first as the reason for leaving.[5]

With Val Andrews as manager, Cavan once again reached the Ulster final again in 2001.[6] A goal from Jason Reilly had Cavan leading at half time, but a strong finish from Tyrone meant they ran out winners on a 1-13 to 1-11 scoreline.[7]

Cavan's most notable achievement in the early part of the 21st-century was ending Seán Boylan's long spell as manager of Meath in 2005.[8][4] Less than a year after this success, Waterford defeated Cavan in the league to halt its push for promotion.[4] Cian Mackey was among several players who were "rested" for the game and not included among the substitutes.[4] The Waterford win was inspired by a line in the Cavan matchday programme that Cavan's defeat would be akin to the "sinking of the Titanic", with Waterford manager John Kiely using this to stir the away team into action.[4]

Mackey later said: "One game turned the whole thing on its head for years. We didn't really recover from that for years, from pushing so close to promotion".[4]

Manager Donal Keogan got the county promoted the following year but league restructuring landed Cavan in Division 2 instead.[4] Relegation to Division 3 quickly followed.

Cavan lost to Antrim in the 2009 Ulster SFC.[4]

The county narrowly avoided relegation to Division 4 in 2012 following a loss by a scoreline of 4–6 to 0–12 to Antrim, surviving because already-relegated Tipperary defeated Offaly when an Offaly win would have sent Cavan down on the head-to-head result.[4][9][10]

Former senior player Mickey Graham was appointed as manager ahead of the 2019 season.[11] Fellow Cavanman Dermot McCabe and Monaghan's Martin Corey joined him.[12] Cavan reached the 2019 Ulster SFC final in Graham's first season as manager, losing to Donegal. In 2020, Graham led Cavan to consecutive Ulster SFC finals for the first time since the 1960s.[13] Cavan won and, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, went straight into the All-Ireland SFC semi-final, the county's first appearance at that stage since 1997.

• 1933: Jim Smith
• 1935: Hughie O'Reilly
• 1947: John Joe O'Reilly
• 1948: John Joe O'Reilly
• 1952: Mick Higgins

All Stars

• 1978: Ollie Brady
• 1997: Dermot McCabe

Cú Chulainn Awards

• 1963: Gabriel Kelly
• 1964: Gabriel Kelly, Charlie Gallagher
• 1966: Ray Carolan
• 1967: Gabriel Kelly, Ray Carolan

Irish News Ulster All Stars

• 1995: Peter Reilly, Ronan Carolan
• 1997: Paul O'Dowd, Ciaran Brady, Patrick Shiels, Dermot McCabe, Peter Reilly, Ronan Carolan
• 2001: Anthony Forde
• 2013: Killian Clarke, Cian Mackey, Eugene Keating, Martin Dunne
• 2016: Raymond Galligan, Conor Moynagh
• 2020: Raymond Galligan, Jason McLoughlin, Padraig Faulkner, Luke Fortune, Gerard Smith, Ciarán Brady, Killian Clarke, Thomas Galligan, Martin Reilly, Gearoid McKiernan, Oisín Kiernan, Conor Madden

All-Time All Star Award

• Mick Higgins

Team of the Century and Team of the Millennium

• John Joe O'Reilly - Centre-Back

Charlie Gallagher was also named on the Team of the Century of players without an All-Ireland medal.

• Tom O'Reilly, All-Ireland winner in 1933, 1935 and 1947
• Joe Stafford, All-Ireland winner in 1947 and 1948. Became the first man to be sent off in an All-Ireland final in 1943
• Willie Doonan, All-Ireland winner in 1947 and 1948
• John Wilson, All-Ireland winner in 1947 and 1948
• P. J. Duke, All-Ireland winner in 1947 and 1948
• Owen Roe McGovern, All-Ireland winner in 1947 and 1948
• Des Benson, All-Ireland winner in 1947 and 1948
• Simon Deignan, All-Ireland winner in 1947, 1948 and 1952
• Peter Donohoe, All-Ireland winner in 1947, 1948 and 1952. All-time Ulster top goalscorer
• Phil 'Gunner' Brady, All-Ireland winner in 1947, 1948 and 1952
• Tony Tighe, All-Ireland winner in 1947, 1948 and 1952
• Edwin Carolan, All-Ireland winner in 1947, 1948 and 1952
• John Joe Cassidy, All-Ireland winner in 1947, 1948 and 1952
• Victor Sherlock, All-Ireland winner in 1948 and 1952
• Séamus Hetherton, All-Ireland winner in 1952
• Johnny Cusack, All-Ireland winner in 1952
• Stephen King, Ulster winning captain in 1997
• Damien O'Reilly, Ulster winner in 1997
• Larry Reilly, Ulster winner in 1997