The 2007

O'Byrne Cup The O'Byrne Cup is a Gaelic football competition organized by the Leinster GAA and first staged in 1954. History The competition is named in honour of Matt Byrne (b. 14 February 1870), a former Wicklow GAA club and county officer. By virtue of ...

was a

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

competition played by the teams of

Leinster GAA The Leinster Council is a Province (Gaelic games)#Provincial councils, provincial council of the Gaelic Athletic Association sports of hurling, Gaelic football, camogie, rounders and Gaelic handball, handball in the province of Leinster. The L ...

. The competition differs from the

Leinster Senior Football Championship The Leinster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship and shortened to Leinster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster GAA, Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Asso ...

as it also features further education colleges.

O'Byrne Cup

First round

The first round saw the withdrawal of

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

who were then replaced by Dundalk IT. Dundalk IT later dropped out of the competition which means that

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

go on to play in the quarter-final on January 4, 2007. The first match of the O'Byrne

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

was played between

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

and

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the east of Ireland, south of Dublin. According to the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had ...

. It was a much anticipated game as it was the debut of the new Wicklow senior football manager

Mick O'Dwyer Michael O'Dwyer (9 June 1936 – 3 April 2025) was an Irish Gaelic football manager and player. He most famously managed the senior Kerry county team between 1974 and 1989, during which time he became the county's longest-serving manager, and ...

. Wexford, Wicklow, DIT, Offaly, Laois, Louth, Westmeath and Dublin went on to play in the quarter-finals of the O'Byrne Cup. The teams that exited in the first round were Carlow, Longford, UCD, Kildare, Meath, Athlone IT, and DCU who went on to play in the O'Byrne Shield. Dundalk IT did not continue to the O'Byrne Shield as they dropped out of the competition at the O'Byrne Cup first round stage.

Quarter-finals

The teams that went on to the semi-final stage of the competition are

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in honour of Philip II of Spain ...

Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

. The teams that exited at the quarter-final stage are

Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

, DIT,

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia ** Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

. Unlike, the teams in the first round, the losing teams did not go on to play in the O'Byrne Shield, their loss means that they no longer took part in any O'Byrne competition in 2007.

Semi-finals

Final

O'Byrne Shield

Quarter-finals

The O'Byrne Shield involves the losing sides from the O'Byrne Cup. The quarter finals involved

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of ...

, UCD,

Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...

, Athlone IT, DCU, Dundalk IT and

. Longford and Kildare qualified for the semi-finals by beating their respective opponents. Dundalk IT did not continue after dropping out of the

as replacements for

, therefore their expected opponents Carlow qualified directly for the Shield semi final. DCU withdrew from the competition, conceding to Athlone IT and therefore Athlone IT continued to the semi without kicking a ball.

Semi-finals

In the semi-finals, Longford defeated Kildare by a point in spite of having been reduced to 14 players before half time when their midfielder Liam Keenan was sent off for a second yellow card offence, while Athlone IT caused a surprise by beating Carlow by three points.

Final

External links

2007 O'Byrne Cup to be Televised
{{O'Byrne Cup

O'Byrne Cup

O'Byrne Cup

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

O'Byrne Shield

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

See also

External links