Cork Premier Under-21 A Hurling Championship (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Evening Echo'' Cork County Premier Under-21 A Hurling Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Cork County Board of the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include t ...

since 1973 for the top tier under-21 hurling teams in the county of Cork in Ireland. The series of games are played from the summer to the winter months with the county final currently being played at

Páirc Uí Rinn Páirc Uí Rinn (), also known as Páirc Chríostóir Uí Rinn, is a Gaelic Athletic Association stadium located between Ballinlough and Ballintemple in Cork. It was previously known as Flower Lodge and was used as an association football ...

. The prize for the winning team is the Dick Barrett Cup. The championship uses a double elimination format whereby each team is guaranteed at least two games. 22 clubs currently participate in the Premier Under-21 Championship. The title has been won at least once by 16 different clubs. The all-time record-holders are

Midleton Midleton (; , meaning "monastery at the weir") is a town in south-eastern County Cork, Ireland. It lies approximately 16 km east of Cork City on the Owenacurra River and the N25 road, which connects Cork to the port of Rosslare. A satellit ...

, who have won six championship titles. Fr. O'Neill's are the 2018 title-holders after defeating

Midleton GAA Midleton Hurling and Football Club is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in the town of Midleton in County Cork, Ireland. The club plays in the Imokilly division of Cork GAA. History The concept of a Gaelic Athletic Association was first m ...

by 3-24 to 4-18 (AET) in the final.

History

Beginnings

The

All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling Under-20 All-Ireland Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Bord Gáis Energy GAA Hurling Under-20 All-Ireland Championship) is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (G ...

at inter-county level was created in 1964 and had proved successful in bridging the gap between the minor and senior grades. In 1973 the Cork County Board developed their own under-21 championship. It was the fifth county championship to be created in Cork, after the senior, intermediate,

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

and minor championships.

Team dominance

Due to the limited time frame that players compete in the grade, it has been difficult for individual clubs to dominate the championship. In spite of this, several clubs have enjoyed limited dominance over the years. Between 1990 and 1994 St. Finbarr's dominated the championship with much of the same team by winning four championships in five seasons. Newtownshandrum ended the century by winning three successive championships between 1998 and 2000. The first decade of the new century saw Erin's Own dominate by winning three championships between 2002 and 2005.

Blackrock BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with trill ...

enjoyed a sustained period of dominance by winning three championships from five successive final appearances between 2012 and 2016.

Formats used

From 1973 until 2015 the championship used a divisional format. The seven respective champions from Avondhu,

Carbery Carbery or Carbury may refer to: ;People: * Brian Carbury (1918–1961), New Zealand fighter ace * Douglas Carbery (1894–1959), British soldier and airman * Ethna Carbery (1864–1902), Irish writer * James Joseph Carbery (1823–1887), Irish ...

, Carrigdhoun,

Duhallow Duhallow () is a barony located in the north-western part of County Cork, Ireland. Legal context Baronies were created after the Norman invasion of Ireland as divisions of counties and were used in the administration of justice and the raisin ...

Imokilly Imokilly ( ga, Uí Mhic Coille) is one of the baronies of Ireland, an historical geographical unit of land. Its chief town is Youghal. It is one of 24 baronies in the county of Cork. Other neighbouring baronies include Barrymore to the west (wh ...

Muskerry Muskerry ( ga, Múscraí) is a central region of County Cork, Ireland which incorporates the baronies of Muskerry WestSeandún contested the county championship. That county-wide championship used a single elimination format whereby once a team lost they were eliminated. In 2016 the under-21 championship underwent a major restructuring whereby the divisional system for the top tier was abolished and the strongest 22 clubs entered a new countywide championship.

Sponsorship

Since 2005 the Premier Under-21 Championship has been sponsored by the ''

Evening Echo ''The Echo'', formerly known as the ''Evening Echo'', is an Irish morning newspaper based in Cork. It is distributed throughout the province of Munster, although it is primarily read in its base city of Cork. The newspaper was founded as a bro ...

''. The competition was previously sponsored by TSB Bank.

Roll of honour

Premier 2 Under-21 Hurling Championship

Under-21 A Hurling Championship

Under-21 B Hurling Championship

This competition is confined to clubs who compete at the B level in each of the regional divisions in County Cork. The winners are presented with the Gene Fitzgerald Cup. This cup commemorates

Gene Fitzgerald Eugene Fitzgerald (21 August 1932 – 14 December 2007) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Finance from 1980 to 1981, Minister for the Public Service from 1980 to 1981 to March 1982 to December 1982, Minister for ...

, the former politician who also had administrative positions with Cork GAA County Board.

References

Sources

Cork Under-21 Hurling Final results
* Cork GAA - A History 1886-1986 Jim Cronin {{Cork GAA

Hurling competitions in County Cork Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field ...