Dr. McKenna Cup
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The Dr McKenna cup (known for sponsorship reasons as The Gaelic Life McKenna Cup) is a gaelic football competition played between counties and universities in the province of Ulster. It is the secondary Gaelic football competition in Ulster behind the Ulster Senior Football Championship.
The cup was donated to the Ulster Council in 1924 by the Most Rev. Dr. McKenna with the first tournament being played in 1927.[1] The inaugural competition was won by Monaghan, defeating Donegal in the final. Monaghan are the most successful team in the tournament with 13 wins. Fermanagh, with four wins, are the least successful of the county teams. The McKenna Cup is Fermanagh's only inter-county title. The current champions are Tyrone, and are on a streak of four triumphs dating back to 2004.
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[edit] Format
The competition is a group-based tournament of twelve teams, with three groups of four. Each group includes a University team, and three inter-county teams. Each team plays three matches, with two points acquired for a win, one for a draw, and no points for a loss. The winners of each group, plus the best runner-up, qualify for the semi-final, and the winners of the semi-finals play each other in the Final in Clones, in February.
[edit] Universities addition
Until the early 2000's, the competition was purely an intercounty competition, but the Ulster counties allowed the three main Universities in Ulster, Queen's University, St Mary's University College, and the University of Ulster. The stipulation of this was that University teams will get first choice for any player who is eligible to play for both the University team and the county team.
The University teams have, naturally, emerged as among the weaker teams, but are by no means the 'whipping boys' of the competition, having beaten teams such as Antrim in 2007,[2] and the added experience against playing teams of such a high standard is expected to be beneficial to the University teams in the Sigerson Cup. This initiative seems to be bearing fruit, given that the 2007 Sigerson Cup final was contested by Queen's University and University of Ulster - when it was usually the southern Universities who would dominate.
[edit] 2007
In 2007, the games have started to be broadcast live on Irish language channel, TG4.[3] This, along with the fact that attendances are in the region of 20,000 for the later matches,[4] suggests that the tournament is held in higher esteem than its counterparts in other provinces, such as the O'Byrne Cup.
Tyrone caused controversy in 2007 when they fielded four players who had already been selected by University teams. The official rule is that Universities have first choice on players, so in effect, they were fielding ineligible players. Tyrone manager, Mickey Harte claimed it was the players own decision to choose to play for the county team over their University. Tyrone were docked two points as a punishment, but this did not effect their progression into the semi-final stage.[5]
Despite the fact that Tyrone won the final, beating Donegal by 2-09 to 0-05, Tyrone have been stripped of their title for fielding the ineligible University players in the match. The players had not been listed on the official team sheet, which was another breach of the rules.[6]
The top scorer in the 2007 competition is Derry's Paddy Bradley with 0-18 (3 frees).
[edit] Competing Teams in 2007
The counties-
The universities-
[edit] Semi Finals
Donegal - 0-09
Armagh - 0-07[7]
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Monaghan - 0-08
Tyrone - 2-16[8]
[edit] Final
Tyrone - 2-09
Donegal - 0-05[9]
[edit] Roll of Honour
| Team | Winning Years |
|---|---|
 Monaghan (13 wins) |
1928, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1948, 1952, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1995, 2003 |
 Cavan (11) |
1936, 1940, 1943, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1962, 1968, 1988, 2000 |
 Derry (10) |
1947, 1954, 1958, 1960, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1993, 1999 |
 Down (10) |
1944, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1972, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1996, 1998 |
 Tyrone (9) |
1957, 1973, 1978, 1982, 1984, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 |
 Armagh (8) |
1929, 1938, 1939, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1986, 1990 |
 Antrim (6) |
1941, 1942, 1945, 1946, 1966, 1981 |
 Donegal (5) |
1963, 1965, 1967, 1975, 1985 |
 Fermanagh (4) |
1930, 1933, 1977, 1997 |
[edit] See also
O'Byrne Cup
Ulster Senior Football Championship
Sigerson Cup
[edit] References
- ^ Ulster GAA [1]
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/6285019.stm
- ^ http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=70542
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/low/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/6100490.stm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/6295781.stm
- ^ Tyrone stripped of McKenna Cup. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.
- ^ Donegal win scrappy McKenna semi. Retrieved on February 15, 2007.
- ^ Harte’s men turn on the style. Retrieved on February 15, 2007.
- ^ Fourth successive McKenna triumph for Tyrone. Retrieved on February 19, 2007.
