Seán Cavanagh (born 16 February 1983) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played for the Moy Tír Na nÓg club and for the Tyrone county team. He is a five-time All Star winner. He won All-Ireland Championships for Tyrone at minor level and three times at senior level, and captained Ireland in the International Rules Series.
His playing style was very attack-minded, considering he is usually deployed as a midfielder like the doc himself, and he usually ended up scoring more than most of the forwards on the team. This was complemented on the team by Brian Dooher's tireless workrate from the half-forward line – something he is the first to admit. 2008 was his most illustrious year as an individual. He won his third All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, captained Ireland to victory in the International Rules Series, and then won his fourth All Star award as well as Player of the Year.
Upon retiring, Cavanagh held the all-time outfield appearances record in championship football, with 89 appearances for his county. He also made a record number of appearances for his county.
His brother Colm has also played for Tyrone.
Background
Cavanagh graduated from the University of Ulster in 2004 with a First Class Honours Degree in accountancy. He has since gone on to follow a career in accountancy.
Playing career
Under-age
Cavanagh was an integral part of the Tyrone Minor Team that won the All-Ireland Minor Championship in 2001,. He also won two Ulster Minor Championships with the county. He 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, with Saint Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh, earning himself an Ulster Colleges All Star along the way, having scored the decisive goal in the final.
Senior
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. He was also a member of the squad that won Tyrone's first ever National League title.
Tyrone defended the National League in 2003. That year he 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. He returned from injury to appear in the drawn Ulster Final against Down, and scored a point in the replay while commanding midfield. In the All-Ireland Quarter final (the next round), Tyrone beat neighbours Fermanagh 1–21 (24 points) to 0–05. Cavanagh again led by example from midfield, and scored Tyrone's goal. Tyrone went on to win the All-Ireland and the year ended with Cavanagh winning his first All Star, at the age of twenty, as well as the Young Player of the Year Award.
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, Cavanagh scored twelve points from midfield over the course of the championship. There was speculation as to whether he would emigrate to Australia to join a professional AFL team, (Brisbane Lions), as Tadhg Kennelly had successfully done a few years prior. However, he declined offers of a contract with Brisbane Lions, saying that he wanted to stay in Ireland and further both his 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.
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 embarked on a surging solo run, and dropping the ball over the bar for a point, inspiring Tyrone to go on to win the match. 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 1990s, and the first midfielder to do it since Jack O'Shea in the early 1980s.
Tyrone's 2006 campaign was plagued by injury from the start, and they were disappointingly knocked out of the championship by Laois. The early exit allowed players to take up 'ringer' positions in American GAA leagues and Cavanagh was one of the players that took up the offer.