By Niall Gartland

EIGHT teams will be whittled down to four in this weekend’s Cavan Senior Championship quarter-finals – but there’s an abiding sense of déjà vu before a ball has been thrown in.

Three of the quarter-finals are, in effect, rematches from recent group stage encounters and it’ll be interesting to see whether there’ll be different outcomes now that the margin for error has been dispensed with.

Ballyhaise get the action underway against reigning champions Gowna on Friday night at Kingspan Breffni and they’re hoping to spring a repeat of their surprise group stage win against the back-to-back champions. Three first-half goals helped them to a stunning win despite a late Gowna fightback, but it’s a big ask to repeat the trick. Gowna haven’t really fired on all cylinders and slipped into the last eight, finishing seventh in the group stage, but they’re strong favourites to prevail and certainly haven’t become a bad team overnight.

Cavan Gaels take on Mullahoran on Saturday afternoon, the second repeat pairing. They met in the first round robin match, Mullahoran pulling off a surprise 0-14 to 0-11 victory on that occasion. The Dreadnoughts have a rich history but they missed out on relegation to the Intermediate ranks last year by the skin of their teeth. Whatever happens in their quarter-final outing against Cavan Gaels, they can take great encouragement from how they’ve fared in this year’s championship.

There’s two last-eight clashes down for decision on Sunday. Crosserlough have been the form team in this year’s championship and take on outsiders Ballinagh for the second time in their campaign. Crosserlough won all four of their group stage encounters with plenty to spare while Ballinagh just about crept into the quarters. It’s hard to see past Crosserlough booking their spot in the semis.

Finally, Ramor are warm favourites to get the better of a Castlerahan team that have certainly done well to advance to the knock-out rounds, albeit with the caveat that they’ve yet to face one of the big contenders for the title.

Ramor had a stellar league campaign and finished third in the championship table and they should have enough to progress, but it’s not a foregone conclusion as Castlerahan have shown some good form.

There are also two relegation play-off matches. Killygarry take on Lavey while last year’s beaten finalists Kingscourt face Laragh United. The two losers will face off in a do-or-die relegation final with the losers of that particular game demoted to the Intermediate ranks for 2025.