Dr. McKenna Cup

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The Dr McKenna cup is a gaelic football competition played between counties and universities in the province of Ulster. It is the secondary gaelic football competition based in Ulster behind the Ulster Senior Football Championship, and the fourth most important inter-county competition in which Ulster counties take part, behind the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Ulster Championship and the National Football League.

The 2008 edition of the competition is known for sponsorship reasons as The Gaelic Life McKenna Cup

1 Origins of the Dr. McKenna Cup
2 Current Champions
3 Format for the 2008 edition
4 The Addition of the Universities
5 Recent developments
- 5.1 Tyrone ineligibility crisis of 2007
6 Competing teams in 2008
7 Roll of Honour
8 See also
9 References

[edit] Origins of the Dr. McKenna Cup

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]

When Bishop Patrick McKenna, Bishop of Clogher presented the McKenna Cup to the Ulster Council in 1925, he was one of only a small group willing at that time to be publicly associated with the GAA in Ulster. Ireland in the 1920’s was slowly emerging from war, unrest and change.

When the Ulster Council sought donors for trophies there wasn’t a queue to their door with offers. From 1923 the council were actively looking for a donor for their senior championship and in 1925 the treasurer of the council proposed the establishment of a second competition to prepare teams for the championship.

Two loyal GAA stalwarts came to the council’s rescue in 1925. JF O Hanlon, owner of the Anglo-Celt newspaper presented a trophy to BC Fay, secretary of the Council. It was decided to use the trophy for the Ulster senior championship and it was first presented to Cavan who won the 1925 Ulster championship. Treasurer O’ Duffy was successful in securing a trophy from the bishop of Clogher and the new cup was presented to Council in 1925 although it was not until 1927 that the competition got underway.

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, to date, Fermanagh's only inter-county title.

[edit] Current Champions

The 2008 champions are Down. Down's victory, 1-12 to 1-6 over Derry was their eleveneth in the competition,^[2] and broke the recent Dr. McKenna cup dominance of Tyrone, who were on a streak of four triumphs dating back to 2004.

[edit] Format for the 2008 edition

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-finals, and the winners of the semi-finals play each other in the Final in Belfast, in February.

In 2008, the competition has been compacted entirely into the month of January. This has had several considerations for all participants, because the students in the university teams have exams in January, while the county teams, who would not have played together for up to six months, have to play three matches in a week. In spite of this, the university teams seem to have a slight advantage, causing several upsets early in the competition.^[3]^[4]

[edit] The Addition of the Universities

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,^[5] and the added experience against playing teams of such a high standard is expected to be beneficial to the University teams in the principle Gaelic football competition for Irish universities, 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 - historically, universities in the south of Ireland have dominated.

[edit] Recent developments

From 2007, the games were broadcast live on Irish language channel, TG4.^[6] This, along with the fact that attendances are in the region of 20,000 for the later matches,^[7] suggests that the tournament is held in higher esteem than its counterparts in other provinces, such as the O'Byrne Cup.

[edit] Tyrone ineligibility crisis of 2007

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.^[8]

Although Tyrone won the final, beating Donegal by 2-09 to 0-05, Tyrone were 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.^[9]. However, Tyrone's victory was reinstated upon appeal.^[10]

[edit] Competing teams in 2008

The counties-

The universities-

[edit] Roll of Honour

Team	Winning Years
Monaghan (13 wins)	1928, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1948, 1952, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1995, 2003
Down (11)	1944, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1972, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2008
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
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