Christy Ring Cup

Christy Ring Cup

Founded	2005–present
Country	Ireland
Number of teams	8
Level on pyramid	3
Promotion to	Joe McDonagh Cup
Relegation to	Nicky Rackard Cup
Current champions	Offaly (2021)
Most championships	Westmeath, Kildare, Carlow (3 titles)
TV partners	TG4
Website	Official GAA site
Current: 2021 Christy Ring Cup

The Christy Ring Cup (Irish: Corn Chriostóir Uí Rinn)^[1] is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. Originally introduced as a second tier competition, it is currently the third tier overall in the inter-county hurling championship system. Each year, the champions of the Christy Ring Cup are promoted to the Joe McDonagh Cup, and the lowest finishing team is relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup. Kildare are the 2020 title-holders. The competition is named in honour of Christy Ring, a legendary player from Cork.

The Christy Ring Cup, which was introduced in 2005, replaced the All-Ireland B Hurling Championship (1974-2004). Between 2005 and 2017 the Christy Ring Cup was the second tier hurling championship. With the introduction of the Joe McDonagh cup, the Christy Ring Cup is the highest tier of the championship system without entry to that year's All-Ireland finals series (the top two teams in the Joe McDonagh Cup usually gain entry to preliminary quarter-finals of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship).

At present (2021), Wicklow holds the longest tenure in the Christy Ring Cup. They have appeared in every season of the cup. Down and Kildare had appeared in every season until 2021, when they participated in the Joe McDonagh Cup.

History[]

In 2003 the Hurling Development Committee (HDC) was charged with restructuring the entire hurling championship. The committee was composed of chairman Pat Dunny (Kildare), Liam Griffin (Wexford), P. J. O'Grady (Limerick), Ger Loughnane (Clare), Cyril Farrell (Galway), Jimmy O'Reilly (Down), Willie Ring (Cork), Pat Daly (GAA Games Development Officer) and Nicky English (Tipperary). Over the course of three months they held discussions with managers, players and officials, while also taking a submission from the Gaelic Players Association. The basic tenet of the proposals was to structure the hurling championship into three tiers in accordance with 2004 National Hurling League status. The top tier was confined to 12 teams, while the next ten teams would contest the second tier which was to be known as the Christy Ring Cup. There would also be promotion-relegation play-offs between the three championship tiers. The HDC also suggested that these games would be played as curtain raisers to All-Ireland quarter-finals and semi-finals.^[2]

The proposal were accepted at the 2004 GAA Congress. The Christy Ring Cup and the Nicky Rackard Cup competitions were launched at Croke Park on 8 December 2004.

Format[]

2005-2007[]

The ten participating teams were divided into two groups of five and played in a round-robin format. Each team was guaranteed at least four games each. The eventual group winners and runners-up qualified for the knock-out semi-finals of the competition.

The bottom two teams of both groups were involved in a four-way relegation play-off with the eventual loser being relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup. In 2006 the relegation play-off was limited to just the bottom teams in both groups, while in 2007 there was no relegation.

2008[]

The competition was expanded to include twelve teams. The participating teams were divided into four groups of three and played in a round-robin format, thus limiting each team to just two games each. The eventual group winners and runners-up qualified for the knock-out quarter-finals of the competition.

The bottom team in each group went into the relegation play-offs. The eventual losers were relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup, however, the relegation play-offs in 2008 were rendered meaningless as all four bottom-placed teams were relegated.

2009-2017[]

In 2009 a double elimination format was introduced, thus guaranteeing each team at least two games before being eliminated from the competition.

The eight teams play four Round 1 matches.

• The winners in Round 1 advance to Round 2A.
• The losers in Round 1 go into Round 2B.

There are two Round 2A matches.

• The winners in Round 2A advance to the semi-finals.
• The losers in Round 2A go into the quarter-finals.

There are two Round 2B matches.

• The winners in Round 2B advance to the quarter-finals.
• The losers in Round 2B go into the bottom playoff. The losers of this match play a relegation/promotion match with the winners of the Nicky Rackard Cup. If they lose they are relegated to the Nicky Rackard cup for the following year.

There are two quarter-final matches between the Round 2A losers and Round 2B winners.

• The winners of the quarter-finals advance to the semi-finals.
• The losers of the quarter-finals are eliminated.

There are two semi-final matches between the Round 2A winners and the quarter-final winners.

• The winners of the semi-finals advance to the final.
• The losers of the semi-finals are eliminated.

The winners of the final (with the exception of Down in 2013, are promoted to the Liam MacCarthy Cup for the following year.

From 2018[]

2018 saw the reintroduction of a group phase format to all tiers of the hurling Championship structure. The eight participating teams are divided into two groups of four and will play in a round-robin format. Each team will be guaranteed at least three games each. The eventual group winners and runners-up will qualify for the knock-out semi-finals of the championship.

2020 and the coronavirus pandemic[]

The Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 significantly affected the GAA season, with the Chisty Ring Cup reverting for one season only to the partial double elimination format that existed until 2017.

Champions, Runners-Up and Relegated Teams By Year[]

Season	Champions	Score	Runner-up	Score	Venue	Winning captain	Losing captain	Relegated team(s)
2005	Westmeath	1-23	Down	2-18	Croke Park	John Shaw	Simon Wilson	Derry
2006	Antrim	5-13	Carlow	1-07	Croke Park	Karl McKeegan	Robbie Foley	Roscommon
2007	Westmeath	2-15	Kildare	0-13	Croke Park	Darren McCormack	Colm Buggy	N/A
2008	Carlow	3-22	Westmeath	4-16	O'Connor Park	Edward Coady	Brendan Murtagh	Armagh, London, Meath, Roscommon
2009	Carlow	1-15	Down	0-14	Croke Park	Mark Brennan	Graham Clarke	N/A
2010	Westmeath	2-16	Kerry	1-18	Croke Park	Andrew Mitchell	Colin Harris	N/A
2011	Kerry	2-21	Wicklow	2-08	Croke Park	Mikey Boyle	Jonathan O'Neill	Armagh
2012	London	4-18	Wicklow	1-17	Croke Park	Colm Quinn	Enan Glynn	N/A
2013	Down	3-16	Kerry	2-17	Croke Park	Paul Braniff	Paud Costello	N/A
2014	Kildare	4-18	Kerry	2-22	Croke Park	Niall Ó Muineacháin	John Egan	N/A
2015	Kerry	1-20	Derry	0-12	Croke Park	John Griffin	Seán MacCullagh	Mayo
2016 (R)	Meath	2-17 4-21	Antrim	1-20 5-17	Croke Park	James Toher	Neal McAuley	Derry
2017	Carlow	5-23	Antrim	4-15	Croke Park	Marty Kavanagh	Conor Carson	Roscommon
2018	Kildare	3-19	London	1-11	Croke Park	Brian Byrne	Liam Gavaghan	Armagh & Mayo
2019	Meath	4-19	Down	2-15	Croke Park	Seán Geraghty	Stephen Keith	Donegal
2020	Kildare	3-16	Down	0-22	Croke Park	Brian Byrne	Stephen Keith
2021	Offaly	0-41	Derry	2-14	Croke Park	Ben Conneely	Cormac O'Doherty	Roscommon

Winners Table[]

Team	Won	Runner-up	Years won	Years runner-up
Westmeath	3	1	2005, 2007, 2010	2008
Carlow	3	1	2008, 2009, 2017	2006
Kildare	3	1	2014, 2018, 2020	2007
Kerry	2	3	2011, 2015	2010, 2013, 2014
Meath	2	0	2016, 2019	—
Down	1	4	2013	2005, 2009, 2019, 2020
Antrim	1	2	2006	2016, 2017
London	1	1	2012	2018
Wicklow	0	2	—	2011, 2012
Derry	0	1	—	2015

Wins by Province

	Province	Wins	Last win	Biggest contributor	Wins
1	Leinster	11	2020	Carlow, Westmeath	3
2	Munster	2	2015	Kerry	2
3	Ulster	2	2013	Antrim, Down	1
4	Other	1	2012	London	1
5	Connacht	0	-	-	0

Top scorers[]

Top Scorers Overall[]

Season	Top scorer	Team	Score	Total
2005		Kildare	2-39	45
2006	Paul Braniff	Down	6-26	44
2007	Shane Brick	Kerry
2008	Brendan Murtagh	Westmeath	2-37	43
2009	Shane Brick	Kerry	1-42	45
2010	Darragh O'Connell	Kerry	1-38	41
2011	Darragh O'Connell	Kerry	1-33	36
2012	Martin Finn	London	5-29	44
2013	Paul Braniff	Down	3-34	43
2014	Mikey Lee	Wicklow	4-38	50
2015	Shane Nolan	Kerry	2-35	41
2016	Ciarán Clarke	Antrim	3-43	52
2017	Denis Murphy	Carlow	0-45	45

Top Scorers In The Final[]

Season	Top scorer	Team	Score	Total
2005	Andrew Mitchell	Westmeath	0-9	9
2006		Antrim	2-4	10
2007		Kildare	0-7	7
2008	Brendan Murtagh	Westmeath	2-10	16
2009	Simon Wilson	Down	0-7	7
2010	Darragh O'Connell	Kerry	0-8	8
2011	Darragh O'Connell	Kerry	1-9	12
2012	Jonathan Maher	London	3-4	13
2013	Shane Nolan	Kerry	1-9	12
2014	Shane Nolan	Kerry	1-4	7
	Gerry Keegan	Kildare	1-4	7
2015	Shane Nolan	Kerry	1-8	11
2016	James Toher	Meath	0-12	12
	Ciarán Clarke	Antrim	2-9	15
	James Burke	Kildare	0-8	8
		Down	1-8	11

See also[]

• Christy Ring Cup records and statistics

References[]