Sean Cavanagh

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**Sean Cavanagh**
Personal information
Sport	Gaelic Football
Place of birth	Tyrone, Ireland
Club information
Club	Moy
Position	Midfield
Club(s)*
Club	Years	Apps (scores)
Moy
Inter County
County	Tyrone
Position	Midfield
Inter County(ies)**
County	Years	Apps (scores)
Tyrone	2002-present
Inter County Titles
Ulster Titles	1
All-Ireland	2
All-Stars	3
* club appearances and scores correct as of . **Inter County team apps and scores correct as of 20:05 20 October 2006 (BST).

Sean Cavanagh (sometimes Seán Cavanagh) is a Tyrone Gaelic Footballer. Despite the fact he has only been on the Inter-county scene for a few years, he is already marking himself out as one of the greats in the game.

1 Under-Age
2 Senior Career
3 International Series
4 External Links

[edit] Under-Age

Cavanagh was an integral part of the Tyrone Minor Team that won the All-Ireland in 2001^[1], and then went on to win two Ulster Under-21 Championships in 2002 and 2003. He was also enormously successful as School level, winning the Ulster Colleges Championship, The MacRory Cup in 2000, earning himself an Ulster Colleges All Star along the way.^[2]

[edit] Senior Career

Cavanagh made his Tyrone Senior debut in 2002, against neighbouring rivals, and eventual All Ireland Champions, Armagh scoring a goal which earned Tyrone a replay.^[3] He was also a member of the squad that won Tyrone's first ever National League campaign.

In 2003, Cavanagh was pivotal in Tyrone's quest to their first ever All-Ireland Championship. He was voted Man-of-the-Match in their first round replay against Derry.^[4]
He returned from injury to appear in the drawn Ulster Final against Down, and scored a point in the replay (one of Tyrone's twenty three), while commanding midfield.^[5]
In the All-Ireland Quarter final (the next round), Tyrone beat neighbours Fermanagh 1-21 (24 points) to 0-05. Cavanagh again ran the show from midfield, and scored Tyrone's goal.^[6]
The year ended with Cavanagh winning his first All Star, as well as the Young Player of the Year Award^[7]

Tyrone's 2004 campaign was foreshadowed by the untimely death of their newly appointed captain, Cormac McAnallen. Tyrone were ultimately knocked out of the Championship by eventual finalists, Mayo. Cavanagh won Tyrone's only All Star that year.

In 2005, Tyrone went through an epic ten-match march to the final, playing in some of the greatest matches in the history of the GAA. Cavanagh scored twelve points from midfield over the course of the championship. There was constant speculation as to whether he would emigrate to Australia to join a professional A.F.L. team, (Brisbane Lions), as Tadhg Kennelly had successfully done a few years prior.^[8]
Cavanagh was approached by Brisbane Lions agents Gerard Scholly and the Brisbane coach Greame Allan at his home town of the Moy. He declined the offer saying that he wanted to stay and further his Gaelic football career and his career as an accountant. He claims that when he travelled to play Australia in 2005, he saw that Australia was a great place, but not somewhere he would be happy to settle. He remains adament that he will be happiest remaining in his native Ireland and Tyrone.^[9]

In the All-Ireland Semi-Final, Tyrone played Armagh for the third time in the Championship. With only a few minutes left, and Tyrone two points down, Cavanagh stepped up and scored an unforgettable point, inspiring Tyrone to victory.^[10]
Tyrone came through the year, defeating Kerry in the final, winning their second All-Ireland.^[11] Cavanagh was again awarded an All-Star, his third in a row - the only Ulsterman to do that apart from Peter Canavan, in the mid 90's and the first midfielder to do it since Jack O'Shea in the early 80's.^[12]

Tyrone's 2006 campaign was plagued by injury from the start, and they were disappointingly knocked out of the championship by Laois.^[13] The early Championship exit allowed the players to take up 'ringer' positions in American GAA leagues. Cavanagh was one of the players that took up the offer.

[edit] International Series

Cavanagh has represented Ireland several times in the International rules football Series, and has been chosen to play for them for the 2006 campaign,^[14] scoring three points for Ireland in the opening test.^[15]

	Tyrone Senior Football Team
1 John Devine \| 2 Ryan McMenamin (Cap.) \| 3 Cormac McGinley \| 4 Michael McGee \| 5 David Harte \| 6 Cairan Gourley \| 7 Phillip Jordan \| 8 Kevin Hughes \| 9 Sean Cavanagh \| 10 Ryan Mellon \| 11 Raymond Mulgrew \| 12 Enda McGinley \| 13 Martin Penrose \| 14 Eoin Mulligan \| 15 Colm McCullagh \| Subs: 16 Pascal McConnell, 17 Adrian Ball, 18 Dermot Carlin, 19 Gerard Cavlan, 20 Gavin Devlin, 21 Brendan Donnelly, 22 Peter Donnelly, 23 Joe McMahon, 24 Brian Meenan, 25 Mickey Murphy, 26 Stephen O'Neill Unavailable Panellists: Conor Gormley, Colin Holmes, Brian McGuigan, Brian Dooher Manager: Mickey Harte (Team as of July 2006 versus Laois)

	Tyrone Panel: 2005 All-Ireland Final
1 Pascal McConnell \| 2 Ryan McMenamin \| 3 Joe McMahon \| 4 Michael McGee \| 5 David Harte \| 6 Conor Gormley \| 7 Phillip Jordan \| 8 Enda McGinley \| 9 Sean Cavanagh \| 10 Brian Dooher (Cap.) \| 11 Brian McGuigan \| 12 Ryan Mellon \| 13 Peter Canavan \| 14 Stephen O'Neill \| 15 Eoin Mulligan \| Subs: 16 John Devine, Colin Holmes, Chris Lawn, Manager: Mickey Harte (Team as of September 2005 versus Kerry)

	Tyrone Panel: 2003 All-Ireland Final
1 John Devine \| 2 Cairan Gourley \| 3 Cormac McAnallen \| 4 Ryan McMenamin \| 5 Conor Gormley \| 6 Gavin Devlin \| 7 Phillip Jordan \| 8 Kevin Hughes \| 9 Sean Cavanagh \| 10 Brian Dooher \| 11 Brian McGuigan \| 12 Gerard Cavlan \| 13 Enda McGinley \| 14 Peter Canavan (Cap.) \| 15 Eoin Mulligan \| Subs: 16 Pascal McConnell, 17 Dermot Carlin, 18 Mark Harte, 19 Colin Holmes, 20 Paul Horisk, 21 Chris Lawn, 22 Peter Loughran, 23 Declan McCrossan, 24 Michael McGee, 25 Cormac McGinley, 26 Frank McGuigan 27 Seamus Mulgrew 28 Stephen O'Neill 29 Brian Robinson 30 Michael Coleman Manager: Mickey Harte (Team as of September 2003 versus Armagh)