2018 Cavan Senior Football Championship

2018 Cavan SFC
Tournament details
County	Cavan
Province	Ulster
Year	2018
Trophy	Oliver Plunkett Cup
Sponsor	Hotel Kilmore
Date	10 August - 21 October 2018
Teams	12
Defending champions	Cavan Gaels
Winners
Champions	Castlerahan (1st win)
Manager	Donal Keogan
Captain	Ronan Flanagan
Qualify for	2018 Ulster Club SFC
Runners-up
Runners-up	Crosserlough
Manager	Daragh McCarthy
Captain	Dara McVeety
Promotion/Relegation
Relegated team(s)	Ballinagh
Other
Player of the Year	Paul Smith (Castlerahan)
	← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Cavan Senior Football Championship was the 110th edition of Cavan GAA's premier gaelic football tournament for senior graded clubs in County Cavan, Ireland. The tournament consists of 12 teams, with the winner representing Cavan in the Ulster Senior Club Football Championship.

The championship starts with a league stage and then progresses to a knock out stage. The draw for the group stages of the championship were made on 30 April 2018.^[1]

Due to reconstruction of the stadium in 2018, Breffni Park was not used as a venue for any matches during this season's championship, except for the final.

Cavan Gaels were the defending champions,^[2] but they lost to Gowna at the quarter-final stage.

Castlerahan won their first title, defeating Crosserlough in the final.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Team Changes

The following teams have changed division since the 2017 championship season.

To Championship

Promoted from 2017 Cavan Intermediate Football Championship

Shercock - (Intermediate Champions)^[6]

From Championship

Relegated to 2018 Cavan Intermediate Football Championship

League stage

All 12 teams enter the competition at this stage. A random draw determines which teams face each other in each of the four rounds. No team can meet each other twice in the group stage. The top 8 teams go into a seeded draw for the quarter-finals while the bottom 4 teams will enter a Relegation Playoff. If teams are level on points and a place in the quarter-final is at stake, a Playoff will be conducted to determine who goes through.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Crosserlough	4	3	0	1	83	61	+22	6	Advance to quarter-final
2	Castlerahan	4	2	1	1	75	67	+8	5
3	Gowna	4	1	3	0	60	52	+8	5
4	Lavey	4	2	1	1	63	56	+7	5
5	Lacken Celtic	4	2	1	1	49	67	−18	5
6	Cavan Gaels	4	1	2	1	79	56	+23	4
7	Kingscourt Stars	4	2	0	2	59	56	+3	4
8	Ramor United	4	1	2	1	68	69	−1	4
9	Cootehill	4	2	0	2	57	61	−4	4	Advance to relegation play-offs
10	Killygarry	4	1	1	2	68	74	−6	3
11	Ballinagh	4	1	0	3	70	88	−18	2
12	Shercock	4	0	1	3	39	63	−24	1

Source: Cavan GAA

Round 1

10 August 2018 Round 1	Killygarry	3-11 – 1-16	Cavan Gaels	Joe Crowe Park
				Referee: Joe McQuillan

11 August 2018 Round 1	Castlerahan	2-14 – 1-11	Cootehill	Dolan Park
				Referee: Conor Dourneen

11 August 2018 Round 1	Gowna	3-13 – 0-14	Ballinagh	Páirc Naomh Fionnán
				Referee: Michael Lee

12 August 2018 Round 1	Crosserlough	3-18 – 1-10	Shercock	Lavey GAA Grounds
				Referee: John Emmo

12 August 2018 Round 1	Kingscourt Stars	3-8 – 0-14	Lavey	St. Anne's Park
				Referee: Padraig Sheridan

12 August 2018 Round 1	Ramor United	2-12 – 3-9	Lacken	Our Lady of Lourdes Park
				Referee: Margeret Farrelly

Round 2

17 August 2018 Round 2	Cavan Gaels	1-12 – 1-12	Castlerahan	Lavey GAA Grounds
				Referee: Conor Dourneen

18 August 2018 Round 2	Shercock	0-9 – 0-9	Gowna	Annalee Park
				Referee: Pat Clarke

18 August 2018 Round 2	Lavey	2-17 – 3-7	Ballinagh	St. Felim's Park
				Referee: Chris McCaffrey

18 August 2018 Round 2	Ramor United	0-17 – 1-11	Killygarry	St. Matthew's Park
				Referee: Brendan Sweeney

19 August 2018 Round 2	Cootehill	1-12 – 1-11	Crosserlough	Athletic Grounds
				Referee: Packie Smith

19 August 2018 Round 2	Kingscourt Stars	2-8 – 1-14	Lacken	Dolan Park
				Referee: Padraig Sheridan

Round 3

31 August 2018 Round 3	Kingscourt Stars	2-9 – 0-8	Shercock	Edwin Carolan Community Park
				Referee: Gerry Sheridan

1 September 2018 Round 3	Cootehill	0-4 – 0-7	Lacken	Annalee Park
				Referee: Chris McCaffrey

1 September 2018 Round 3	Castlerahan	2-16 – 3-9	Ramor United	St. Matthew's Park
				Referee: Joe McQuillan

1 September 2018 Round 3	Crosserlough	3-16 – 3-11	Ballinagh	Sheelin Park
				Referee: James Clarke

1 September 2018 Round 3	Cavan Gaels	1-11 – 0-14	Gowna	Joe Crowe Park
				Referee: Kieran McCarville

1 September 2018 Round 3	Lavey	1-11 – 1-11	Killygarry	Dolan Park
				Referee: Jim Giblin

Round 4

9 September 2018 Round 4	Killygarry	2-14 – 5-9	Cootehill	Páirc Emmet
				Referee: Margaret Farrelly

9 September 2018 Round 4	Gowna	1-12 – 1-12	Ramor United	St. Matthew's Park
				Referee: Martin Sexton

9 September 2018 Round 4	Kingscourt Stars	0-13 – 2-11	Crosserlough	St. Anne's Park
				Referee: Ollie Donohoe

9 September 2018 Round 4	Shercock	0-9 – 0-12	Lavey	P. J. Duke Park
				Referee: Michael Lee

9 September 2018 Round 4	Cavan Gaels	4-19 – 0-7	Lacken	Páirc Naomh Fionnán
				Referee: Joe McQuillan

9 September 2018 Round 4	Castlerahan	0-18 – 3-11	Ballinagh	Sheelin Park
				Referee: Harry Conaty

Knock-Out Stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Lavey

0-10
2-12 (R)

Lacken

0-10
1-13 (R)

Lavey

0-11
1-16 (R)

Castlerahan

0-11
1-19 (R)

Castlerahan

0-12

Kingscourt Stars

0-7

Castlerahan

2-11

Crosserlough

1-13

Gowna

2-13

Cavan Gaels

0-15

Gowna

1-8
1-6 (R)

Crosserlough

0-11
0-11 (R)

Crosserlough

2-17

Ramor United

2-14

Quarter-finals

15 September 2018 Quarter-final	Lavey	0-10 – 0-10	Lacken	Athletic Grounds
				Referee: Padraig Sheridan

15 September 2018 Quarter-final	Castlerahan	0-12 – 0-7	Kingscourt Stars	Edwin Carolan Community Park
				Referee: Kieran McCarville

16 September 2018 Quarter-final	Gowna	2-13 – 0-15	Cavan Gaels	Joe Crowe Park
				Referee: James Clarke

16 September 2018 Quarter-final	Crosserlough	2-17 – 2-14	Ramor United	St. Matthew's Park
				Referee: Conor Dourneen

23 September 2018 Quarter-final replay	Lacken	1-13 – 2-12	Lavey	St. Matthew's Park
				Referee: Joe McQuillan

Semi-finals

6 October 2018 Semi-final	Gowna	1-8 – 0-11	Crosserlough	O'Raghallaigh Park
				Referee: Kieran McCarville

7 October 2018 Semi-final	Lavey	0-12 – 0-12	Castlerahan	O'Raghallaigh Park
				Referee: Oliver Óg O'Reilly

13 October 2018 Semi-final replay	Crosserlough	0-11 – 1-6	Gowna	Hugh O'Reilly Memorial Park
				Referee: Joe McQuillan

13 October 2018 Semi-final replay	Lavey	1-16 – 1-19	Castlerahan	O'Raghallaigh Park
				Referee: Gerry Sheridan

Final

21 October 2018

Final

Castlerahan	2-11 – 1-13	Crosserlough
Oisin O'Connell 1-3, Sean Brady 1-1, Cian Mackey 0-4 (0-4f), Enda Flanagan 0-3	Report	Pierce Smith 0-5 (0-2f), James Smith 1-0, Patrick Lynch 0-2 (0-1 45), Stephen Smith 0-2, Mark Stuart 0-2, Darren Gaffney 0-1, Paul McEvoy 0-1

Breffni Park

Attendance: 8,469^[7]

Referee: Conor Dourneen

Relegation play-offs

The 4 bottom placed teams the league phase will play off against each other. The 2 winners will maintain their senior status for 2019 while the 2 losers will face off in a Relegation-Final. The ultimate loser will be relegated to the 2019 Intermediate Championship.

21 September 2018 Relegation Semi-final	Cootehill	1-8 – 1-9	Shercock	O'Raghallaigh Park
				Referee: Joey Curley

23 September 2018 Relegation Semi-final	Killygarry	1-20 – 1-8	Ballinagh	St. Felim's Park
				Referee: Pat Clarke

29 September 2018 Relegation Final	Cootehill	2-15 – 2-10	Ballinagh	St. Felim's Park
				Referee: Margaret Farrelly

References

^ "Club championship draws: Gaels open title defence against Killygarry". Hogan Stand. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
^ "Gaels force too much for Castlerahan in Cavan". The Irish Times. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
^ "Fourth time lucky as Castlerahan finally reign in Cavan". RTE.ie. 21 October 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
^ "Castlerahan come from six points down to take Cavan title". Irish Times. 21 October 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
^ "Castlerahan escape cycle of defeat to land maiden Cavan crown". Independent. 22 October 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
^ "IFC final: Shercock stun Ballyhaise to bridge 33-year gap". Hogan Stand. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
^ "Cavan head list of best-attended club football finals". Independent. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2020.

External links

[1] "Club championship draws: Gaels open title defence against Killygarry". Hogan Stand. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2022.

[2] "Gaels force too much for Castlerahan in Cavan". The Irish Times. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2020.

[3] "Fourth time lucky as Castlerahan finally reign in Cavan". RTE.ie. 21 October 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2020.

[4] "Castlerahan come from six points down to take Cavan title". Irish Times. 21 October 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2020.

[5] "Castlerahan escape cycle of defeat to land maiden Cavan crown". Independent. 22 October 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2020.

[6] "IFC final: Shercock stun Ballyhaise to bridge 33-year gap". Hogan Stand. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2020.

[7] "Cavan head list of best-attended club football finals". Independent. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2020.

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