GLists: Cavan’s all-time leaderboard

1. Cornafean – 20 titles

THIS once great Gaelic stronghold was ravaged by rural depopulation so they haven’t won a Senior Championship title since 1956, but they’re still away ahead at the top of the Cavan leaderboard with 20 titles. They had a brilliant team in the early days, winning six championships in seven years between 1909 and 1915. Their other glory days were in the ‘30s and ‘40s, when they had a heated rivalry with Mullahoran and Cavan Slashers. Players from the club featured in all of Cavan’s All-Ireland Championship victories at the time, including Willie Young, Mick Dinneny, Packy Phair and Tom ‘Big Tom’ O’Reilly. They also produced Cavan legend John Joe O’Reilly, who captained the county to the Sam Maguire in 1947 and 1948.

2. Cavan Gaels – 14 titles

WHILE the top spot eludes them, Cavan Gaels have achieved an admirable degree of consistent success since winning their first Senior Championship title in 1965 (the club was founded less than 10 years previously in 1957). The new millennium heralded their most successful era as they appeared in every final from 2000 to 2011, winning eight titles and two trebles. They’ve produced many of the top Cavan players of the last 20 years or so, including Seanie Johnston, Nicholas Walsh, Anthony Forde and Michael Lyng. Perhaps the only asterisk attached to their success is that they didn’t manage to win an Ulster title, though they came close in 2017 when they reached the final, losing to Sleacht Néill in the decider.

3. Mullahoran – 12 titles

The Dreadnoughts are an impressive third on our list with 12 Senior Championship titles to their name. Nine of their titles were won in a 16-year period between 1935 and 1950, but the story didn’t end there as they picked up another in 1963 before adding another two in 1998 and 2000.

Famous players produced by the club include Damien O’Reilly, Phil ‘The Gunner’ Brady, who won three All-Ireland medals with Cavan, and world champion handball champion Paul Brady.

One of the special things about the club is their well-roundedness having also starred in hurling and handball, while their ladies team won the inaugural Ladies All-Ireland Club Championship in 1977.

4. Kingscourt Stars – 11 titles

KINGSCOURT almost came out of nowhere to achieve serious success in the ‘80s and early ‘90s in Cavan. They had to wait almost 60 years to win their second title (1980), but once they got started there was no stopping them. They had a host of well-known players at the time, including Jim Reilly, Pat Faulkner and Joe Dillon senior, and they came agonisingly close to winning an Ulster title, losing narrowly to Lavey in 1990. Their success built a tradition in the club and they won the Oliver Plunkett Cup in 2010 and 2015 as well, and lost last year’s final after a replay.

5. Crosserlough – 10 titles

The reigning Cavan club champions actually had to wait a hell of a long time for their 10th title, but they were fifth on the all-time leader board regardless as they shored up nine titles between 1958 and 1972. Seven senior titles in-a-row were won between 1966 and 1972, and the platform for their history-making years was set when they won a Minor Championship in 1954. That was a special team and the likes of John Byers, Jimmy Smith, Donal Crotty, and Philip Maguire all went on to play a huge part in their success at senior level. 1967 was a particularly memorable year as they became the first club in Cavan to win the senior and junior championship in the same season.

6 Cavan Slashers – 8 titles

Jiminy jillikers, what a name. Vaguely terrifying and all that. Defunct now, obviously. Anyway, Cavan Slashers won their eight titles between 1917 and 1941, and at times they even got the better of a brilliant Cornafean side. For the uninitiated, they amalgamated with Cavan Harps to form Cavan Gaels, back in the day. That’s a little more palatable for squeamish among us. They also produced some of the county’s best ever players, including Louis Blessing who starred in Cavan’s 1935 All-Ireland SFC final success as an archetypal full-forward target-man.

7 Gowna – 7 titles

Gowna won all seven of their Senior Championship titles between 1988 and 2002, and what’s more they appeared in every final bar one between 1994 and 2002, so it was a truly remarkable period for the club running along the border of Cavan and Longford.

Their maiden success was fantastic victory over the red-hot favourites for the title, Laragh, back in 1988, but they achieved the bulk of their success under Derry legend Eamonn Coleman. Their most well-known player was Dermot McCabe, but they were strong in every sector when they won their final crown (to date, obviously) with a fantastic victory over Cavan Gaels, who were strong favourites heading into the game.

8 Bailieborough Shamrocks

– 5 titles

BAILIEBOROUGH had an absolutely sensational team for a lengthy spell during the ‘50s and ‘60s, winning three of their five championship titles. They’ve slipped down the ranks since, and the reason for that is that it was a thriving town back in the day and workers from outside the area ended up playing for the club.

They did, however, manage to win another title in 1995, and they actually ended up reaching the Ulster final, losing to south Armagh club Mullaghbawn.

9 Laragh, Ramor and Virgina

– 4 titles each

THIS is where we’ll draw the line as it’s a dead heat between these three clubs. However, it is worth mentioning that Ramor United was partially formed out of the Virginia Blues club, who won four titles between 1916 and 1962.

Ramor subsequently won their four championships between 1974 and their most recent success in 2016. Finally, Laragh may have slipped down the pecking order in Cavan (though they still have a strong team), but they came out on top in the Senior Championship as well in 1979, 1982, 1983 and 1984 (a treble in any man’s language).