2022 Tailteann Cup final

The 2022 Tailteann Cup final was the final of the 2022 Tailteann Cup, the first edition of the GAA's second-tier Gaelic football competition for county teams. The match was played at Croke Park in Dublin on 9 July 2022, between Cavan and Westmeath. Westmeath won the match on a scoreline of 2–14 to 1–13.^[1]

2022 Tailteann Cup final

Match programme cover
Event	2022 Tailteann Cup
Cavan Westmeath 1–13 (16) 2–14 (20)
Date	9 July 2022 (2022-07-09)
Venue	Croke Park, Dublin
Man of the Match	Ronan O'Toole (Westmeath)
Referee	Barry Cassidy (Derry)
2023 →

John Heslin overtook Dessie Dolan as Westmeath's all-time championship top scorer in this game.^[2]

Paths to the final

Cavan

Cavan v Down

28 May 2022 Round 1 (N)	Cavan	0-24 – 1-12	Down	Kingspan Breffni
	Pts: Raymond Galligan 7, 4f, 3 45s, Gearoid McKiernan 6, 4f, Paddy Lynch 4, 1f, James Smith 2, Gerard Smith 2, Oisin Kiernan 1, Thomas Edward Donohoe 1, Niall Carolan 1	Report	Gls: Ruairi O'Hare 1 Pts: Liam Kerr 3, Andrew Gilmore 2 (1f), Barry O'Hagan 2 (1f), Anthony Doherty 1, Odhran Murdock 1, Ryan Magill 1, Ruairi McCormack 1	Referee: David Gough (Meath) Attendance: 3,616

Fermanagh v Cavan

5 June 2022 Quarter-final (N)	Fermanagh	0-13 – 2-16	Cavan	Brewster Park
	Pts: Sean Quigley 8 (8f), Daragh McGurn (1f), Ryan Jones 2 each, James McMahon 1	Report	Gls: Thomas Galligan 1, Padraig Faulkner 1 Pts: Thomas Galligan 4, Gearoid McKiernan 5, Paddy Lynch 3 (2f), Raymond Galligan (45), Jason McLoughlin, Conor Brady, Cormac O'Reilly 1 each	Referee: Paul Faloon (Down)

Sligo v Cavan

19 June 2022 Semi-final	Sligo	1-14 – 0-20	Cavan	Croke Park, Dublin

Westmeath

Westmeath v Laois

29 May 2022 Round 1 (S)	Westmeath	1-13 – 0-13	Laois	MW Hire O'Moore Park
	Gls: S McCartan 1 Pts: S McCartan 1, J Heslin 5 (4f), L Loughlin 4 (1 '45'), R O'Toole, J Lynam, R Forde 1 each	Report	Pts: M Barry 5 (4f), E O'Carroll 4 (1f), E Lowry 2 (1m), J Finn (f), D Kingston 1 each	Referee: D O'Mahoney (Tipperary)

Carlow v Westmeath

5 June 2022 Quarter-final (S)	Carlow	2-13 – 1-21	Westmeath	Netwatch Dr Cullen Park
	Gls: N Hickey 1, J Moore 1 Pts: D Foley 5 (5f), R Dunphy, C Hulton 2 each, M Bambrick, S Clarke, C Doyle, J Clarke (f) 1 each	Report	Gls: J Heslin 1 Pts: J Heslin 9 (7f), L Loughlin 4 (1f), S McCartan 3, R O'Toole 2, J Gonoud, S Duncan, L Dolan (1m) 1 each	Referee: Conor Lane (Cork)

Westmeath v Offaly

19 June 2022 Semi-final	Westmeath	3-22 – 2-16	Offaly	Croke Park, Dublin

Pre-match

Scoring

Ahead of the game, the top scorer for Cavan in the 2022 Ulster SFC and Tailteann Cup was Gearóid McKiernan, while the top scorer for Westmeath in the 2022 Leinster SFC and Tailteann Cup was John Heslin.^[3]

Cavan Rank Player Tally Total Matches Average 1 Gearóid McKiernan 1–20 (0–5 frees, 0–1 mark) 23 2 Paddy Lynch 0–22 (0–11 frees, 0–1 mark) 22 3 Raymond Galligan 0–11 (0–7 frees, 0–4 45s') 11 4 Thomas Galligan 1–7 10 5 Gerard Smith 0–10 10

Westmeath Rank Player Tally Total Matches Average 1 John Heslin 2–31 (0–19 frees) 37 2 Ronan O'Toole 2–10 16 3 Sam McCartan 1–11 14 4 Luke Loughlin 0–11 (0–1 frees, 0–1 45') 11 5 Lorcan Dolan 2–3 (0–1 mark) 9

Officials

Derry's Barry Cassidy was the referee for the final.^[4] Maurice Deegan of Laois had originally been listed to referee the final of the inaugural competition, but the GAA confirmed a change of referee on 6 July.^[5] Deegan was absent for what would have been his final inter-county game after contracting COVID-19.^[6]

Match

Team news

Both teams made one change from the match programme before the game – Niall Carolan replaced Martin Reilly for Cavan, while Sam Duncan replaced Nigel Harte on the Westmeath side.^[7]

Summary

Westmeath became the inaugural winners of the Tailteann Cup, scoring 1–4 without reply in the final 13 minutes to take the trophy.^[8]

A red card for Cavan's Thomas Galligan in the 58th minute was the turning point of the game. Cavan were leading by two, 1–13 to 1–11, when Galligan caught Westmeath's Ronan O'Toole with a high frontal shoulder. O'Toole went on to be the man-of-the-match.^[9]

Details

9 July 2022

15:00 IST (UTC+1)

Cavan	1–13 (16) – (20) 2–14 HT: 0–9 – 1–8	Westmeath
Gearóid McKiernan 0–3 (0–1f), Gerard Smith 0–3, Paddy Lynch 0–3, Padraig Faulkner 1–0, Jason McLoughlin 0–1, Oisín Kiernan 0–1, James Smith 0–1, Stephen Smith 0–1	Report	Ronan O'Toole 0–5, John Heslin 0–3 (0–2f), Sam McCartan 0–3 (0–1 '45), Lorcan Dolan 1–0, Kieran Martin 1–0, Luke Loughlin 0–2, Ronan Wallace 0–1

Croke Park, Dublin

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)

Cavan

Westmeath

1 Raymond Galligan (c) 2 Jason McLoughlin 3 Padraig Faulkner 4 Killian Brady  71' 5 Oisín Kiernan 6 Killian Clarke  71' 7 Conor Brady  51' 8 Thomas Galligan  58' 9 James Smith 10 Gerard Smith 11 Gearóid McKiernan 12 Conor Moynagh  66' 20 Niall Carolan 14 Paddy Lynch  70' 15 Cian Madden  HT' Substitutes: 16 Gary O'Rourke 13 Martin Reilly  51' 17 Ciarán Brady 18 Chris Conroy 19 Luke Fortune  66' 21 Niall Murray 22 Stephen Smith  HT' 23 Cormac O'Reilly  71' 24 Benjamin Kelly 25 Ryan O'Neill 26 Conor Madden  71' Manager: Mickey Graham

1 Jason Daly 2 Jack Smith 3 Kevin Maguire (c) 4 Jamie Gonoud 5 James Dolan  41' 6 Ronan Wallace 22 Sam Duncan 8 Jonathan Lynam  58' 9 Ray Connellan 10 Sam McCartan 11 Ronan O'Toole 12 David Lynch 13 Luke Loughlin  70' 14 John Heslin 15 Lorcan Dolan  60' Substitutes: 16 Trevor Martin 7 Nigel Harte 17 Ger Egan  58' 18 Kieran Martin  60' 19 Alex Gardiner  70' 20 Robbie Forde 21 Charlie Drumm 23 Conor Dillon 24 David Giles 25 Andy McCormack 26 Kevin O'Sullivan Manager: Jack Cooney

Aftermath

Thousands of people came out to celebrate in Mullingar after Westmeath's victory over Cavan in the final.^[10]

The losing Cavan players received their medals at the Hotel Kilmore on 30 October 2022, alongside their Ulster winners medals from 2020.^[11]

The winning Westmeath players received their medals at the Mullingar Park Hotel on 2 December 2022, alongside medals given to the winners of the 2008 National Football League Division 2 title (they had not received them for 14 years) and the hurlers who won the 2021 Joe McDonagh Cup.^[12]