2018 Cavan Senior Football Championship

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.

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 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 Arva Cuchulainns Mullahoran

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

Killygarry v Cavan Gaels

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

Castlerahan v Cootehill

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

Gowna v Ballinagh

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

Crosserlough v Shercock

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

Kingscourt Stars v Lavey

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

Ramor United v Lacken

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

Round 2

Cavan Gaels v Castlerahan

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

Shercock v Gowna

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

Lavey v Ballinagh

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

Ramor United v Killygarry

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

Cootehill v Crosserlough

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

Kingscourt Stars v Lacken

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

Round 3

Kingscourt Stars v Shercock

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

Cootehill v Lacken

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

Castlerahan v Ramor United

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

Crosserlough v Ballinagh

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

Cavan Gaels v Gowna

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

Lavey v Killygarry

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

Round 4

Killygarry v Cootehill

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

Gowna v Ramor United

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

Kingscourt Stars v Crosserlough

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

Shercock v Lavey

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

Cavan Gaels v Lacken

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

Castlerahan v Ballinagh

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

Lavey v Lacken

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

Castlerahan v Kingscourt Stars

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

Gowna v Cavan Gaels

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

Crosserlough v Ramor United

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

Lacken v Lavey

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

Semi-finals

Gowna v Crosserlough

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

Lavey v Castlerahan

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

Crosserlough v Gowna

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

Lavey v Castlerahan

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

Final

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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

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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.

Cootehill v Shercock

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

Killygarry v Ballinagh

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

Cootehill v Ballinagh

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