Castlerahan 1-9 Ramor United 0-10
Castlerahan retained their Cavan senior football title after a dogfight against neighbours Ramor at Kingspan Breffni Park.
The final has been decided by more than four points just twice this decade and that was again the case here as the teams cancelled each other out for the most part.
In the end, Castlerahan’s experience told. They struck for an early goal from the excellent Oisín O’Connell and were never headed thereafter.
Before a crowd of 7,705, the Ballyjamesduff side – who won their first title last year – survived a stern test.
O’Connell’s seventh-minute goal put two between them, a gap which was reduced to one at the end of an attritional first half.
Ramor target man Adrian Cole looked to have the beating of the full-back line but while he landed two points in the first half, they struggled to locate him after the break.
Beside him, James Brady was the Virginia side's main outlet. His late score helped Ramor go in one in arrears, 1-5 to 0-7, at half-time, with Paul Smith and county players Cian Mackey and Oisín Kiernan doing damage for the winners.
O'Connell and Brady traded scores on the resumption as Ramor gathered momentum but they couldn't get their noses in front. An excellent point from Mackey steadied Castlerahan's nerves and they had the final say from Karl Cosgrove, with Ramor spurning some late chances.
CASTLERAHAN: J Leahy; S Cooney, P Smith (0-1), E O'Connell (0-1); S O'Reilly (0-1, free), O Kiernan (0-1), F Reilly; F Flanagan (0-1), C Daly (0-1); K Cosgrove (0-1), B Ennis, C Mackey (0-1); E Flanagan, R Flanagan, O O'Connell (1-1).
Subs: B Coleman for O'Reilly (35 mins).
RAMOR UNITED: L Brady; Matthew Magee, Mark Magee (0-1), B O'Connell; A O'Connell (0-1), Jack Brady, B Smith; K Maguire (0-1), L Caffrey; E Somerville, S Cadden, C Maguire (0-1); James Brady (0-4, two frees), A Cole (0-2), C Bradley.
Subs: R Patterson for Somerville (50 mins), G Mannion for Caffrey (51), S Cole for Mannion (53, b/c), M Smart for K Maguire (59), S Keogan for C Maguire (60).
Referee: J McQuillan.
