Cavan GAA

:See also: "Cavan Senior Club Football Championship or Cavan Senior Club Hurling Championship."infobox GAA county
county gaa = Cavan GAA
crest =
irish = An Cabhán
province = Ulster
nickname = The Breffni Men
county colours = Blue and white
grounds = Kingspan Breffni Park, Cavan
dominant sport = Gaelic football
nfl div = Division 2
nhl div = Division 4
football champ = Sam Maguire Cup
hurling champ = Nicky Rackard Cup
ladies football = Brendan Martin Cup
camogie = O'Duffy Cup
pattern_la= |pattern_b=|pattern_ra=
leftarm=0000ff |body=0000ff |rightarm=0000ff |shorts=FFFFFF |socks=0000ff
|The Cavan County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( _ga. Cummann Luthchleas Gael Coiste An Cabhán) or Cavan GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Cavan. The county board is also responsible for the Cavan inter-county teams

History

Cavan were the first county to organise in Ulster, dominating that championship and even competing in Leinster in 1895, lining out against Louth in a handsome rig-out of pink knicks and white jerseys.

Gaelic football

Cavan's five All Ireland titles were won in a 19-year period: they foiled Kerry's five-in-a-row bid with a last minute goal from Vincent McGovern at Breffni Park in 1933, beat Galway and Kildare in the 1933 and 1935 finals, won the famous 1947 final in the Polo grounds, followed it up with an extraordinary win over Mayo in 1948 on the day of the "big wind" (Cavan led 3-2 to nil at half-time and won by 4-5 to 4-4) and beat Meath in a replay in 1952 through a free-taking display by Mick Higgins.

They became famous for their handpass, perfected by players such as Simon Deignan, and were involved in several handpass controversies. In 1928 Kildare's Paddy Loughlin almost certainly threw the winning goal into the Cavan net in the All-Ireland final. Cavan got revenge in 1935, but when Packie Boylan handpassed what would have been the winning point against Kerry in the All-Ireland final it was disallowed, and Cavan lost the replay, if not before the celebration bonfires were lit because the Radio Éireann commentator had not noticed the referee's decision.

Controversy was never far from Cavan in the early days of the Association. In 1917 they proposed a new province of Tara, comprising Meath, Louth, Westmeath, themselves and Longford, because of a series of disputes with the Ulster Council, and also tried to play in Connacht instead. They staged a famous rebellion before the 1930 Ulster final over the venue. Cavan official Barney Fay gathered up a rebel team, they lost the final, and Fay was suspended by his own County Board.

Famous Players

*Tom O'Reilly
*John Joe O'Reilly

Honours

*All-Ireland Senior Football Championships: 5
**1933, 1935, 1947, 1948, 1952
*All-Ireland Junior Football Championships: 1
**1927
*All-Ireland Minor Football Championships: 2
**1937, 1938
*National Football League:
**1948
*Ulster Senior Football Championships: "39"
**1891, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1915, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1928, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1962, 1964, 1967, 1969, 1997

Hurling

Honours

*Ulster Senior Hurling Championships: 0
**Represented Ulster in the 1908 All-Ireland series. Lost the delayed Ulster final for that year when it was played (the following year) to Derry.

Ladies' Gaelic football

Honours

*All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championships: 1
**1977

Camogie

Honours

*All-Ireland Junior Camogie Championships: 1
**1981

External links

* [http://www.hoganstand.com/Cavan/ Cavan on Hoganstand.com]
* [http://www.hoganstand.com/Cavan/Profile.aspx National and provincial titles won by Cavan teams]
* [http://www.hoganstand.com/Cavan/Titles.aspx Club championship winners]
* [http://cavan.gaa.ie/ Cavan GAA site]
* [http://www.gaelicsurvival.com Gaelic Survival - Player Profiles Every Inter County Hurler and Footballer, Fantasy GAA Game]