Cork Senior Hurling Championship
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| Irish | Cluiche Ceannais Iomána an Chontae |
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| Sponsors | Evening Echo | |
| First played | 1887 | |
| Current Champions | Erin's Own (2nd win) | |
| Most Wins | Blackrock (32 wins) | |
The Cork Senior Hurling Club Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Evening Echo Cork Senior Hurling Club Championship) is an annual club competition between the top Cork Clubs. The winners of the Cork Championship qualify to represent their county in the Munster Club Championship and in turn, go on to the All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship. The current senior hurling champions of Cork are Erin's Own who defeated Cloyne by a scoreline of 2-19 to 3-14.
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[edit] History
The Cork Senior Club Hurling Championship is one of the most hotly-contested club hurling championships in Ireland. Such is the prestige of the competition that it has often been referred to as 'the little All-Ireland.' The first Cork Hurling Championship took place in 1887 when Tower St. were crowned the first Cork County Champions. There was no championship played in 1905 and 1921. Over the years the county final has attracted followers of the game from all over the country and has produced some legendary hurling battles. In 1977 a record-breaking 34,000 spectators watched St. Finbarr’s defeat Glen Rovers in the county final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The Cork SHC was at its strongest in the 1970s when a Cork team won the All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship every year of the decade, except for 1971 and 1976. This success at club level paved the way for the Cork senior hurlers to win three All-Ireland hurling titles in-a-row beween 1976 and 1978.
Blackrock, Glen Rovers and St. Finbarr's are affectionately kown as "the Big Three" in Cork club hurling. Together they have won over 80 Cork County titles. While Blackrock has won the most Glen Rovers has the proud distinction of having won 8 Cork SHC titles in-a-row in the 1930s and 1940s. In recent years the dominance of these three clubs has diminished somewhat as the rural clubs have emerged successful. In the 2006 Cork SHC seven of the eight quarter-finalists were country clubs from East Cork.
[edit] Format
Twenty-five teams take part in the Cork Senior Hurling Championship. All games are played on an open-draw basis, however, these teams are divided into two sections:
- the club section contains 16 teams
- the divisional and college section contains 9 teams.
[edit] Club section
In 2007 the following 16 teams will be participating in the club section of the Cork SHC:
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In Round 1 each team will play one game so 8 games will be played altogether. The 8 winners of these games will advance directly to the last 16 of the championship.
In Round 2 the 8 losing teams from the first round will have another chance to make it to the knock-out stages of the championship. Each team will play one game so 4 games will be played altogether. The 4 winners of these games will advance directly to the last 16 of the championship. The 4 losing teams will be eliminated from the competition.
[edit] Divisional/College section
In 2007 the following 9 teams will be participating in the divisional and college section of the Cork SHC:
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In Round 1 each team will play one game so 4 games will be played altogether. 3 of these will advance directly to the last 16 of the championship.
The fourth team will play the one remaining team in a Round 2 game. The winner of this game will advance directly to the last 16 of the championship. There will be no second chance for a divisional or college side to make in to the knock-out stages.
