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 and . Westmeath won the match on a scoreline of 2–14 to 1–13.
John Heslin overtook Dessie Dolan 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, while the top scorer for Westmeath in the 2022 Leinster SFC and Tailteann Cup was John Heslin. "Leading scorers" not included in the online edition.
+Cavan Rank PlayerTally Total Matches Average 1Gearóid McKiernan 1–20 (0–5 frees, 0–1 mark) 23 2Paddy Lynch 0–22 (0–11 frees, 0–1 mark) 22 3Raymond Galligan 0–11 (0–7 frees, 0–4 45s') 11 4Thomas Galligan 1–7 10 5Gerard Smith 0–10 10
+Westmeath Rank PlayerTally Total Matches Average 1John Heslin 2–31 (0–19 frees) 37 2Ronan O'Toole 2–10 16 3Sam McCartan 1–11 14 4Luke Loughlin 0–11 (0–1 frees, 0–1 45') 11 5Lorcan Dolan 2–3 (0–1 mark) 9
Officials Derry's Barry Cassidy was the referee for the final. 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. Deegan was absent for what would have been his final inter-county game after contracting COVID-19.
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.
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.
Details
1 Raymond Galligan (c) 2 Jason McLoughlin 3 Padraig Faulkner 4 Killian Brady 5 Oisín Kiernan 6 Killian Clarke 7 Conor Brady 8 Thomas Galligan 9 James Smith 10 Gerard Smith 11 Gearóid McKiernan 12 Conor Moynagh 20 Niall Carolan 14 Paddy Lynch 15 Cian Madden Substitutes:16 Gary O'Rourke 13 Martin Reilly 17 Ciarán Brady 18 Chris Conroy 19 Luke Fortune 21 Niall Murray 22 Stephen Smith 23 Cormac O'Reilly 24 Benjamin Kelly 25 Ryan O'Neill 26 Conor Madden Manager:Mickey Graham1 Jason Daly 2 Jack Smith 3 Kevin Maguire (c) 4 Jamie Gonoud 5 James Dolan 6 Ronan Wallace 22 Sam Duncan 8 Jonathan Lynam 9 Ray Connellan 10 Sam McCartan 11 Ronan O'Toole 12 David Lynch 13 Luke Loughlin 14 John Heslin 15 Lorcan Dolan Substitutes:16 Trevor Martin 7 Nigel Harte 17 Ger Egan 18 Kieran Martin 19 Alex Gardiner 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.
The losing Cavan players received their medals at the Hotel Kilmore on 30 October 2022, alongside their Ulster winners 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