Aishling Sheridan: Embracing Cavan’s rise

Shaun Casey chats to the Breffni ace about their positive start to 2026

DIVISION One football is at Cavan’s fingertips. Their promotion charge could be confirmed this weekend, if they beat Ulster rivals Tyrone, and the rise of ladies football in the Breffni County is a story worth telling.

It’s all about building from the bottom up. Underage structures, school success, thriving clubs. Cavan are on an upward trajectory and for older heads like Aishling Sheridan, she’s loving the journey.

She first came into the panel as a 16-year-old and while Australia was home for a while, having lined out in the striped Collingwood shirt for four seasons, the lure of the blue jersey was too strong.

And they’re reaping the rewards now. Having won the Division Three league last season, and an Ulster Intermediate Championship title, Cavan are now on course to claim back-to-back promotions.

“Coming off the back of last year, we have the same management in place and a lot of the girls stayed on. We had success last year and it was nice to achieve that,” said Sheridan, who experienced plenty of lows as well.

“I’ve been involved with the panel since 2013, and I was only 16 at the time so there were a few years where we were competing in Division Two and we made it to the final, but we never won it.

“At that time, only one team went up (to Division One) so the winners went up and we went through a spell where we were just trying to hold our status at senior level and in Division Two.

“We probably didn’t really achieve much, and I think at the time, when you look back, there was a good few years when we were just getting by, so it has been nice to actually go out and compete and have a bit of faith or confidence in ourselves.”

Sheridan herself powered Mullahoran to an Ulster Intermediate title in 2024 while Knockbride went one better in 2025, claiming an All-Ireland crown at that level.

Cavan are the kingpins in the provincial scene at underage level, with five Ulster U-16 titles in a row and back-to-back Ulster Minor titles. Now, it’s about making that success count with the seniors.

“We have had such good underage success and there’s so many girls on our senior panel now that have All-Ireland medals. You look at the last few years in underage, Cavan are one of the tops teams,” she added.

“There still was a stage where we maybe didn’t transition as well as you would have liked. I was lucky when I was 16, I was allowed to be involved in the senior panel and that did take a bit of management because I was doing my Leaving Cert and I was on the county minors.

“As of the last few years, you can only play your age group, so we don’t have access to the minors until their competition has finished and I think that has caused a little bit of hardship.

“The jump from minor to senior is so big and you have to be involved in the panel for my two years before you maybe get a consistent starting place for some players.

“I think now that they have introduced an u-20 competition, it will be beneficial because they can bridge that gap, any of the girls that aren’t on the senior panel can play u-20s and hopefully keep developing.

“You look at the schools’ football, the club football and the underage success, the talent is there. Now we’re just trying to merge it and keep good systems in place by having S&C coaches available to most teams and things like that.”

The Aussies came calling in 2020 and Sheridan experienced the life Down Under and enjoyed every minute of it. Her real love of Cavan was also going to be too strong, but the opportunity to try her hand in the professional game was too good to turn down.

Much has been made of the AWFL stealing the best players in Ireland for their own game, but Sheridan would encourage anyone to at least give it a go.

“It would be hypocritical of me if I was to say that everyone should stay in Ireland and play. I had the opportunity to go out, and it was 100 per cent a brilliant opportunity and experience, it benefited me so much as a person, an athlete and just a player in general.

“In regard to players going out, it is scary that there are more and more players going out but it was such a brilliant opportunity for me and if anyone asked me should they go, I would tell them to go for a year and if they didn’t like it, home is always a flight away.

“Even there in the past year, I had the opportunity to go back when I came home and for me, I’d done my time and football was always my love and I wouldn’t have said that too much back then.

“I loved the opportunity that I got to play football out in Australia, but I was content that I could come home and put on my club and county jerseys and represent them here, that was probably as massive decision for me.

“I would still tell people to test it and try and if they don’t like it then they can come home and they shouldn’t be afraid to come home.”

Being in Australia opened her eyes to the professional game and Sheridan hasn’t looked back since. “There was so much off field that helped me in how I approach my trainings, how I approach games, leadership qualities, all that kind of thing.

“I’m vice-captain with Cavan and I’m very lucky to get the captain’s role in my club so I definitely think I learned so much. You do take so much, you’re working with top S&C coaches, nutritionists, you have access to anything you want.

“Even watching back the games, understanding that you’re playing a game you have never played before and you’re probably not going to be great at the start but how can you adapt and what can you do to become successful.

“When I first went out, it was a completely new game and I had to put in so many extra hours just to get confidence in it and even that itself, building confidence to know that you can put in that hard work to get to where you want to be.”

Off the field, Sheridan now has her own pilates studio and is heavily involved in all aspects of health and fitness. “Growing up, I never really knew what I wanted to do,” she added.

“I knew I wanted to do something in sport or health and fitness and I always really enjoyed helping people. It was only when I was in Australia that I found my love for pilates and then I became certified in both mat work and reformer.

“It’s brilliant to help people feel better or move better, it just warms my heart that little bit. I’m very lucky that I’m my own boss and set my hours up to work alongside my training.

“If we have county training midweek and a Friday and a match at the weekend, I try to plan my hours alongside that.

“I do a lot of nutritional talks around different clubs in Cavan or other counties on how to fuel for your sport. Social media can be so conflicting, especially for younger girls, it’s really hard to know what to eat so I do more on that sort of subject.”

Sheridan has been a major key in the Cavan cog for a long time now, and whether promotion is achieved this weekend or not ladies football in the Breffni County is heading in the right direction.