The 2022 Tailteann Cup Final was the inaugural

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the

Tailteann Cup The Tailteann Cup is a second tier Gaelic football championship competition held annually since 2022 and organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is contested by those county teams who do not qualify for the All-Ireland Senior Foo ...

and the culmination of the 2022 Tailteann Cup. The match was played at

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

on 9 July 2022, between

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...

and

Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

. Westmeath won the match on a scoreline of 2–14 to 1–13. The game was televised nationally on

RTÉ2 RTÉ2 is an Television in the Republic of Ireland, Irish free-to-air television channel operated by public service broadcaster RTÉ. It was launched in 1978 as the Republic of Ireland's second television channel. History In the 1970s, the Iri ...

as part of '' The Saturday Game'' live programme, presented by

Joanne Cantwell Joanne Cantwell (born 30 September 1979) is an Irish sports presenter. Personal life Cantwell was raised in Dublin, one of five daughters. She studied journalism at Dublin City University. Cantwell is married with two daughters and lives in O ...

from the outdoor

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

-proofed studio at

, with analysis from

Enda McGinley Enda McGinley (born 1981) is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player for the Errigal Ciarán club and the Tyrone county team. He managed the Antrim county team between 2020 and 2022. McGinley was part of Tyrone's All-Ireland-win ...

Pat Spillane Patrick Gerard Spillane (born 1 December 1955), better known as Pat Spillane, is an Irish former Gaelic football pundit and player. His National Football League (Ireland), league and All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, championship career ...

and

Lee Keegan Lee Keegan (born 25 October 1989) is a Gaelic footballer who plays as a defender for Westport and, formerly, for the Mayo county team. Many regard Keegan as his county's greatest ever footballer. He is also the highest scoring defender of all ...

. Match commentary was provided by

Ger Canning Ger Canning is an Irish sports commentator with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). Career Ger Canning was born in Cork on 10 May 1951. He was a secondary school teacher at South Presentation school in Cork City when he began his broadcasting ca ...

and

Kevin McStay Kevin McStay (born 9 May 1962) is an Irish Gaelic football Manager (Gaelic games), manager, commentator, analyst and former Gaelic football, player. He has been manager of the senior Mayo county football team, Mayo county team since 2022. McSta ...

John Heslin John Heslin (born 27 June 1992) is a Gaelic footballer who plays for the Westmeath county team and Australian rules footballer for the Irish Warriors. Heslin was drafted by Australian Football League club Richmond in 2011, with Pick #90 o ...

overtook

Dessie Dolan Dessie Dolan (born 11 July 1979) is an Irish Gaelic football manager who has been manager of the senior Westmeath county team since 2022. He played for the Garrycastle club and for the Westmeath county team, as well as international rules foo ...

as Westmeath's all-time championship top scorer in this game.

Paths to the final

Cavan

Westmeath

Pre-match

Scoring

Ahead of the game, the top scorer for Cavan in the 2022 Ulster SFC and Tailteann Cup was

Gearóid McKiernan Gearóid McKiernan (born 17 September 1990) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for the Cavan county team. He plays with the Cavan Gaels club, and formerly with his home club Swanlinbar. Playing career Club Swanlinbar McKiernan joined the ...

, while the top scorer for Westmeath in the 2022 Leinster SFC and Tailteann Cup was

Officials

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

's Barry Cassidy was the referee for the final.

Maurice Deegan Maurice Deegan (born 1972) is a former inter-county referee from County Laois. A member of the Stradbally club, he refereed three finals of the All-Ireland SFC. Career Deegan began refereeing when the Stradbally club secretary asked if he would ...

Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medi ...

had originally been listed to referee the final of the inaugural competition, but the GAA confirmed a change of referee on 6 July. Deegan was absent for what would have been his final inter-county game after contracting

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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 Sam Duncan is a Gaelic footballer who plays for Milltownpass and at senior level for the Westmeath county team. He plays primarily as a defender, but he has also played in midfield and as a corner-forward. He was a member of the team that def ...

replaced

Nigel Harte Nigel Harte is a Gaelic footballer who plays for Tyrrellspass and at senior level for the Westmeath county team. He was a U20 player in the 2018 All-Ireland Under 20 Football Championship. Harte won the 2022 Tailteann Cup. He was put in to t ...

on the Westmeath side.

Summary

Westmeath became the inaugural winners of the Tailteann Cup, scoring 1–4 without reply in the final 13 minutes to take the trophy. 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 In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

Details

Aftermath

Thousands of people came out to celebrate in

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, with a population of 20,928 in the 2016 census. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 proclaimed Westmeat ...

after Westmeath's victory over Cavan in the final. The losing Cavan players received their medals at the Hotel Kilmore on 30 October 2022, alongside their Ulster runners-up medals from 2020. 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.

References

{{GAA 2022 2022 in Gaelic football Cavan county football team matches Westmeath county football team matches

Tailteann Cup