Cork Senior Hurling Championship

The Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Co-Op Superstores Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship and abbreviated to the Cork PSHC) is an annual club hurling competition organised by the Cork County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association and contested by the top-ranking senior clubs and amalgamated teams in the county of Cork in Ireland, deciding the competition winners through a group and knockout format. It is the most prestigious competition in Cork hurling.

Introduced in 1887 as the Cork Senior Hurling Championship, it was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to senior-ranking club teams, with its winner reckoned as the Cork county champion. The competition took on its current name in 2020, adding a round-robin group stage and limiting the number of club and divisional entrants.

In its present format, the Cork Premier Senior Championship begins with a preliminary qualifying round for the divisional teams and educational institutions. The sole surviving team from this stage automatically qualified for the knockout phase. The 12 club teams are drawn into three groups of four teams and play each other in a single round-robin system. The three group winners, three runners-up and three third-placed teams proceed to the knockout phase that culminates with the final match at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in October. The winner of the Cork Premier Senior Championship, as well as being presented with the Seán Óg Murphy Cup, qualifies for the subsequent Munster Club Championship. In 2020, the intended format was disrupted and slightly amended due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The competition has been won by 19 teams, 14 of which have won it more than once. Blackrock is the most successful team in the tournament's history, having won it 33 times. Midleton are the reigning champions, having beaten Glen Rovers by 0-24 to 1-18 in the 2021 final.

History

19th century

Following the foundation of the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1884, new rules for Gaelic football and hurling were drawn up and published in the ''United Irishman'' newspaper. Throughout 1886, county committees were established, with the Cork County Board affiliating on 19 December 1886. Plans to hold championships in both hurling and football were drawn up over the following weeks, with an advert inviting teams to enter appearing in the ''Cork Examiner'' on 15 January 1887. The cost of entering a team was 2s 6d and the closing date for entries was 29 January 1887. The championship draw took place at 23 Maylor Street on the day after the closing date and "the utmost good feeling was displayed, and...the contesting parties were agreeably satisfied" as the draw took place. 22 teams from 20 clubs entered. Agahda and Cork National Hurling Club each entered two teams, while Aghabullogue, Ballinhassig, Ballygarvan, Blarney, Carrignavar, Charleville, Douglas, Evergreen Road, Glasheen, Inniscarra, Little Island, Mogeely, Monkstown, Passage, Quarry Road, St. Finabarr's, St Mary's and Tower Street each entered one team.

All of the matches in the inaugural championship took place at a special enclosure in Cork City Park, with the very first match taking place "in the presence of several thousand persons" at 2;30 pm on 6 March 1887. Mr. J. E. Kennedy acted as referee and Messrs E. Cotter and W. Sheehan performed the duties of goal umpires. Glasheen beat Cork National Hurling Club's 2nd 21 by 1-02 to no score. The championship progressed as matches continued throughout the summer, however, the final stages ended in disarray. The semi-final between Cork Nationals Hurling Club 1st 21 and St. Finbarr's ended after twenty minutes when both sides and the match officials disagreed over the awarding of a point. An emergency meeting of the Cork County Committee was held with representatives from Passage Hurling Club, St. Finbarr's and the Cork Nationals being brought before the meeting. After some discussion, the Passage Hurling Club agreed to withdraw from the championship. St. Finbarr's agreed to a proposal that lots be drawn between themselves and the Cork Nationals to decide who would represent Cork in the 1887 All-Ireland Championship. The Cork Nationals rejected the idea, however, they were later awarded the championship.

The 1888 championship saw an increase in the number of participating teams to 35. In an effort to cut down on travel costs for clubs, the County Board adopted a divisional structure to the championship. The participating teams were divided into six divisions along geographic lines; Cork City, East Cork, Mid Cork, North Cork, North-East Cork and South Cork. There were no hurling clubs in West Cork. The six divisional champions qualified for the county-wide series of games. The first final to be played took place on 29 April 1888, with Tower Street beating Ballygarvan by 4-01 to 0-01. Tower Street later went on to win the very first Munster Championship as the Cork representatives.

Towards the end of 1888, a serious split in the Association in Cork lead to the existence of three rival and distinct county boards. 40 clubs left the official board and affiliated to the Cork Board, under the presidency of Fr. O'Connor, and the O'Brien Board under the presidency of Fr. Carver. These three boards ran their own separate championships over the following two seasons, however, the Cork County Board remained as the official administrative branch of the GAA. In 1890, Aghabullogue, as official county champions, became the first Cork representatives to win the All-Ireland Championship. The three individual boards unified under the banner of the Cork County Board in 1891, with the championship continuing to be run on a divisional basis. There was such intense interest in the championship that year amongst the general public that it was reported in ''The Nation'' newspaper that the attendance of 16,000 at the Blackrock- St. Finbarr's game set a new attendance record for a hurling game in the whole of Ireland. The championship reverted to a straight knock-out format in 1892. 14 teams from 10 clubs entered, with the first and second teams being separated in the draw.

20th century

A delay in the 1904 championship meant that the 1905 championship never took place. In spite of this, St. Finbarr's were subsequently awarded the title after beating Ballymartle in the 1906 final. On 26 January 1908, the newly-built Cork Athletic Grounds hosted the final for the very first time. It remained as the regular final venue for the following 67 years. The War of Independence (1919-1921) saw Cork take a prominent role, something which had an adverse effect on the smooth running of the championships. Civil unrest following a series of events, including the murder of Lord Mayor Tomás Mac Curtain, the death from hunger strike of Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney and the burning of Cork at the height of the war, resulted in the 1920 championship being delayed by two years and the entire cancellation of the 1921 championship.

The first decades of the new century brought new teams but not in a traditional sense. Food production company Crosse & Blackwell, third level educational institution University College Cork (UCC) and Collins Military Barracks all entered teams, however, UCC are the only team to continue fielding a team as of 2020. The creation of the divisional boards in the late 1920s added a new dimension to the championship. These divisional teams were composed of junior and intermediate players and afforded every player in the county the chance of winning a senior championship medal. Avondhu, Carbery and Muskerry

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