Boards posts surplus of 210k

While Cavan County Board recorded a strong uplift in income in the year ended 30 September last, with increases across most key revenue streams when compared with the previous year, expenditure continued to rise.

The board posted a surplus of €120,580, down from €203,980. Cavan spent €2,957,284 in the last financial year; that figure, while static on 2024 (when the JP McManus €1m contribution is factored in) is up by €1m since 2022, with income rising by approximately €700,000 in the same period.

Gate receipts showed one of the most significant rises. Matchday gate income increased from €492,552 in 2024 to €589,615 in 2025, a rise of €97,063, representing an increase of approximately 19.7 per cent.

Streaming income grew even more sharply, rising from €36,700 to €55,765, an increase of €19,065 or just under 52 per cent. Taken together, total gate-related income rose from €529,252 to €645,380, an increase of €116,128, equivalent to a year-on-year rise of about 21.9 per cent.

“It shows that more people are interested in our games and watching our games. Our gate receipts are up because our championship were good quality and the new rules got more people interested to come out and have a look at it for themselves, we really appreciate that,” said Treasurer Tom Moore.

Commercial income moved in a positive direction overall. Total commercial income increased from €763,689 in 2024 to €845,644 in 2025, an improvement of €81,955, or approximately 10.7 per cent. Sponsorship income, the largest single contributor within this category, rose from €415,900 to €466,953, an increase of €51,053, representing growth of about 12.3 per cent.

Income from O’Neill’s commission on sales of replica jerseys increased from €71,490 to €77,330, a rise of €5,840, or roughly 8.2 per cent. Advertising and signage income recorded one of the stronger percentage increases, climbing from €47,853 in 2024 to €59,588 in 2025, an increase of €11,735, or approximately 24.5 per cent.

Catering income dipped slightly from €83,783 to €81,607, a decrease of €2,176, representing a reduction of around 2.6 per cent, but Moore was still very happy with this outcome.

“It’s phenomenal money, the ladies in the kitchen don’t get enough credit for what they do,” he said.

Rental income also declined, falling from €113,674 in 2024 to €102,268 in 2025, a drop of €11,406, or just over 10 per cent. Shop contribution, which did not appear in the previous year’s figures, generated €35,156 in 2025.

“As you all know Kiernan’s withdrew from the shop and mineral bar in Kingspan Breffni during the year after a long number of years supporting Cavan GAA. We didn’t have time to look for somebody else to take it on so we decided to have a crack at it ourselves and run out the rest of the year with it. And as you can see, it turned out to be worth our while doing that so we’ll look at it again for the coming year.”

Commercial income

Sponsorship income for the year ended 30 September 2025 was drawn from a wide base of supporters, ranging from major national partners to a large number of local businesses. Kingspan was again the largest contributor, providing €155,000, followed by O’Neill’s on €90,000. The O’Reilly Group contributed €30,000, with McHugh Insulation Ltd close behind at €29,453.

“He (Brían McHugh) is involved in looking after some of the team expenses. He’s a very valuable sponsor to Cavan GAA and we’re very glad to have him,” Moore said.

Kyte Powertech provided €22,000, while Wilton Recycling contributed €20,000.

Rudden Service Station increased its contribution to €10,500, while Greenline Plumbing and Mannok Build Ltd each provided €10,000. Brady’s Volkswagen Arva contributed €7,000, as did Callaghan Electrical Ltd, Imperial Bar and Romar Heating, all at €7,000 apiece.

A number of sponsors contributed €5,000 each during the year. These included ATA Group, Cavan Crystal Hotel, Corlurgan Training Centre, Elliott Construction Ltd, Erne Motor Works, Fire Protection Ireland, Hillcrest Foods, Hotel Kilmore, iLiv Property Management, McCabe Group, McCarren Meats and Streamline Coaches. Gilsenan Floors & Doors contributed €2,000.

"That's a total of €466,953, a very valuable contribution to the county board, I can assure you that,” Moore said.

Income from Associated Bodies totalled €701,166, with the €215,000 central distribution the largest figure there.

Cavan received €78,095 as a share of NFL proceeds but were down €805 on the hurling league.

Grants from Ulster and Central Council were up.

“Team grants from Central Council have moved up from €106,000 to €151,000,” Martin Cahill explained, “the reason for that is because our hurling team was twice in the UK last year, played London in the National League and Warwickshire in the Lory Meagher Cup, we get an allowance from Croke Park towards that, that’s €38,000 and as you progress in football and hurling, you get an additional allowance.”

Fundraising income

The Monthly Club draw took in €125,843, up from €101k. “We did a good bit of work on that this year, I’d thank Martin because he really pushed it through the office and ClubSpot.

“We had a few very good draws, a few good initiatives. There is a big lift there and I would appeal to anyone who can support it to do so, it is a good draw, it’s not overly expensive,” said Moore.

Costs associated with the Monthly Draw were €75,953, meaning it produced a profit of €50,000.

Club Breifne stayed relatively steady at €76,000, with Moore explaining this figure oscillates slightly each year. “Some members were away or missed out but they’ll come back, they always do,” Tom commented.

The Cub Breifne Race Day took in €44,060, up from €40,410, “this is increasing year on year”.

The Breffni Bash, reduced from three nights to two, produced revenue of €106,793. Last year, the initiative made a loss of approximately €20,000, however this was offset by a donation from Donal Keogan.

Elsewhere in the accounts, it was detailed that costs for the Breffni Bash were €96,000, returning a relatively meagre €9,000 profit. However, the board intend to keep going and are of the belief that there is potential in the venture.

“We’ve run it for two years, we’ll probably look into it again and we’ll see where it’s taking us. We’d be hoping to build it into an annual event, it’s still valuable to us, we’ll not go away from it too easily,” Moore said.

Under ‘Other Income’, Kingspan Breffni Development Levy, contributed by clubs, remained static at €124,000.

Cúl Camp income was down from €98,115 to €89,237.

Under Sundry Income was a figure of €3,180, which Moore explained “comes from a book celebrating the 100th anniversary of Kingspan Breffni written by George Cartwright, that’s the money George brought in on the back of those sales”.

Expenditure

Match day costs rose from €173,075 in 2024 to €212,017 in 2025, an increase of €38,942, equivalent to a rise of approximately 22.5 per cent. Referees’ expenses showed the most significant increase within this category, rising from €23,166 to €57,366, an increase of €34,200, or about 147.6 per cent.

“A couple of underage competitions have been introduced, we had a weekend where we had 17 finals for example and every one of them had to be covered. While it might not sound a lot, it takes a lot of work and costs a lot of money. There were a few late payments to referees at the end of the year that weren’t in last year’s accounts,” Moore explained.

Medal and trophy costs increased from €15,231 to €18,903, up €3,672, which was explained by the extra underage finals. Match expenses declined from €24,129 to €15,950. Security and parking costs increased modestly from €20,199 to €21,374. Programme costs rose from €33,367 to €41,424. Match day catering remained broadly stable, edging down from €55,783 to €55,600, a marginal decrease of 0.3 per cent.

Team administration costs increased overall from €985,519 in 2024 to €1,090,778 in 2025, an increase of €105,259, representing growth of approximately 10.7 per cent. Player mileage decreased from €125,394 to €113,144, a reduction of €12,250, or 9.8 per cent.

“It’s well minded, it’s well documented, hence we have a reduction,” Moore said.

Spending on team managers and selectors remained broadly unchanged, dipping slightly from €147,883 to €146,958, down 0.6 per cent. Backroom team personnel costs fell from €256,220 to €223,943, a decrease of €32,277, or 12.6 per cent.

Meals, catering and nutrition costs increased significantly, rising from €167,114 in 2024 to €226,370 in 2025, an increase of €59,256, or approximately 35.5 per cent.

Travel and accommodation costs also rose sharply, increasing from €31,894 to €117,440, an increase of €85,546.

Gear and equipment spending declined from €113,997 to €93,030. Facility hire costs rose from €13,334 to €16,578, an increase of €3,244, or 24.3 per cent. Medical expenditure increased from €122,842 to €147,555, up €24,713.

“We had a number of serious injuries, cruciate ligaments and stuff like that which had to be dealt with,” stated the Treasurer, who indicated that there is some money due to come back from insurance.

Contributions to the player injury fund declined from €6,840 to €5,760.

Expenditure on the upkeep of grounds also increased year on year. Total costs rose from €397,434 in 2024 to €422,495 in 2025. Light and heat costs fell from €99,888 to €72,750, a reduction of 27.2 per cent.

Pitch maintenance costs increased from €89,407 to €117,873, up €28,466, or 31.8 per cent.

Grounds maintenance spending rose from €83,447 to €100,270, an increase of €16,823. Groundsman and caretaker expenses declined slightly from €79,724 to €77,022. Insurance costs fell from €7,700 to €7,073, a decrease of 8.1 per cent.

Rates increased from €30,778 to €43,489, an increase of €12,711, or 41.3 per cent.

Hire of equipment declined from €6,490 to €4,018. Coaching and games development expenditure also rose overall, increasing from €358,875 in 2024 to €391,705 in 2025, an increase of €32,830, or 9.1 per cent. Wages and salaries declined from €221,225 to €137,775, a reduction of 37.7 per cent.

This decrease was offset by the introduction of a CLG coaching charge of €152,849 in 2025, which was related to Croke Park taking over the staffing in counties.

“Croke Park are all the time moving staff from Cavan employment to their own employment. There are about six months of the coaching staff employed by Cavan and six months employed by Croke Park,” Secretary Martin Cahill explained.

Pension costs increased slightly from €2,400 to €2,581. Coaching and Games expenses declined from €44,421 to €22,119, a reduction of 50.2 per cent. Cúl Camps costs also decreased, falling from €90,829 to €76,381, a reduction of €14,448.