The MacRory Cup is an inter-college (school) Gaelic football tournament in

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

at senior "A" grade. The MacLarnon Cup is the competition for schools at senior 'B' grade. Players must be under nineteen at the start of the tournament. The winners advance to the semi-finals of the

Hogan Cup The Hogan Cup ( ga, Corn Uí Ógáin), also known as the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior A Football Championship, is the top level Gaelic football championship for secondary schools (sometimes referred to as colleges) in Ireland. The com ...

, the All-Ireland colleges "A" senior football championship. The competition and trophy are named after

Joseph MacRory Joseph Cardinal MacRory ( ga, Seosamh Mac Ruairí; 19 March 1861 – 13 October 1945) was an Irish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Armagh from 1928 until his death. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1929. ...

, then

Bishop of Down and Connor The Bishop of Down and Connor is an episcopal title which takes its name from the town of Downpatrick (located in County Down) and the village of Connor (located in County Antrim) in Northern Ireland. The title is still used by the Catholic Chur ...

, who donated the first cup in 1923. The current champions are St Mary's Grammar School, Magherafelt, who beat first-time finalists

Holy Trinity College, Cookstown Holy Trinity College ( Irish: ''Coláiste na Tríonóide Naofa)'' is an 11–18 mixed, Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form in Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, labe ...

in the 2022 final. The final is held every year on (or close to)

Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...

and is televised live on BBC Northern Ireland along with the Ulster Rugby Schools Cup final. The venue for the last number of years has been the Athletic Grounds in Armagh. Previous finals have been held in

Coalisland Coalisland () is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, with a population of 5,682 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. Four miles from Lough Neagh, it was formerly a centre for coal mining. History Origins In the late ...

and

Casement Park Casement Park ( ga, Páirc Mhic Asmaint) is the principal Gaelic games stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and serves as the home ground of the Antrim football and hurling teams. It is located in Andersonstown Road in the west of the city, a ...

History

An inter-seminary football competition between St Macartan's College, Monaghan and

St Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh St Patrick's Grammar School ( ga, Scoil Ghramadaí Naomh Pádraig), Armagh, is a Roman Catholic boys' non-selective voluntary grammar school in the city of Armagh, Northern Ireland. The present-day school was officially opened on Thursday, 27 O ...

had been started in 1902. This was a soccer competition until, in the aftermath of the 1916 Rising, a vote was taken to change over to Gaelic rules and St Patrick's won the first Gaelic encounter in 1918 by 4–4 to 0–1. Bishop

, the Bishop of Down and Connor at this time, "offered" to present a Cup for the winners of an Ulster Secondary schools' competition. The "offer" was not honoured for another five seasons however, and, in the interim, the matches between other seminaries and St Patrick's Armagh are recorded as "challenges" until the arrival of the first MacRory Cup in late spring 1923. Over the next five seasons the competition was played on a league basis until in 1928 an Ulster Colleges' Committee was established and the MacRory Cup competition became the new body's main competition. Participation in the MacRory Cup in its early years was confined to those who attended boarding schools. St Patrick's Armagh were the first winners in 1923, and dominated the competition in its early years. First time victories by other challengers were recorded by St Macartan's (1930), St Patrick's College, Cavan (1935), and

St Colman's College, Newry St Colman's College is a Roman Catholic English-medium grammar school for boys, situated in Newry, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The college was founded in 1823 as the Dromore Diocesan Seminary by Father J. S. Keenan and placed under the ...

(1949). The 1930s was notable for the affiliation of a number of Christian Brothers' schools. These were "day schools" (i.e. non boarding schools) which catered mainly for boys from humble backgrounds, but they did not yet have the prowess to compete with the established diocesan colleges, as was confirmed by comprehensive defeats for Monaghan CBS (1935), and Abbey CBS, Newry (1944 and 1947). 1954 was a watershed year in that the triumph of

Abbey CBS The Abbey School (formerly Abbey CBS) is a Christian Brothers Secondary School in the town of Tipperary, County Tipperary, Ireland. The Abbey is an all-boys school and has about 412 students. In recent years the school has been extended twice ...

after a replay over St Patrick's Cavan was the first MacRory Cup win by a "day school"; the

repeated this feat in 1959 and 1964, but no other day school made the breakthrough until St Mary's CBS in 1971; next came Omagh CBS in 1974. 1976 marks another significant landmark in the history of the competition although that particular final ended in defeat for

St Patrick's College, Maghera St. Patrick's College, also known as St. Patrick's Co-Ed Comprehensive College, is a co-educational 11–18 secondary school in Maghera, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It teaches within the Roman Catholic ethos. St Patrick’s’ Maghe ...

a. It ushered in an extraordinary sequence of 14 final appearances by

in the following 15 years, 8 of which were won, including 4 consecutive victories 1982–85. Those 15 years witnessed a legendary rivalry between

and

when they faced one another in 10 Finals, including replays. These included the iconic 1989 final, won by

on the scoreline 4–10 to 4–9. Those were the days when the blanket defence would have been regarded as a distasteful, unchivalrous, and unthinkable option. The 1990s marked the arrival of

St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon Saint Patrick's Academy ( Irish: ''Acadamh Naomh Pádraig'') is a voluntary grammar school located in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It formed on 1 September 2003 when the two single-sex Saint Patrick's Academies, which coexisted ...

and St Michael's College, Enniskillen at centre stage, and accelerated change in the educational domain with the disappearance of the remaining boarding departments in schools, and an equalisation in standards across a greater range of schools. The new millennium produced a victory in 2000 for the original kingpins, St Patrick's Armagh, their first victory since 1953, and the next decade was marked by the emergence and appearance of

Omagh CBS The Christian Brothers Grammar School, Omagh (known locally as CBS Omagh, Omagh CBS, or the Brothers) is a boys grammar school in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the largest grammar school in Omagh. It is under the trusteeship of ...

in 7 Finals. The MacRory Cup, first donated by Bishop MacRory in 1923, is now contested by 10 schools annually. The original trophy was replaced in 1962, and that trophy, in turn, was retired and donated to the O’Fiaich Library in February 2012. A replacement trophy was donated to Ulster Colleges by Cardinal Brady, thereby perpetuating the historic link between the Archdiocese of Armagh and this competition. The trophy won in March 2012 by St Michael's, Enniskillen is therefore the third cup to bear Cardinal MacRory's name. The 2020 final, along with all other Gaelic game activity, between St Colman's, Newry and St Patrick's, Maghera was postponed due to the

impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games As with other sports, the COVID-19 pandemic caused disruption to Gaelic games, primarily in Ireland but also elsewhere in the world. Competitions were cancelled, postponed or restructured, while some teams were withdrawn or were unable to pa ...

. Ulster Colleges announced in June 2020 that they hoped to find a date in October to play the MacRory and McLarnon Cup finals. Ulster Colleges had provisionally scheduled the MacRory final for 9 October 2020. However the decision to cancel the final was made after an emergency Ulster Schools GAA meeting. As a result, the 2019/20 Danske Bank MacRory Cup was shared between St Patrick's Maghera and St Colman's Newry. Fifteen schools have their names on the MacRory Cup with

winning the first of their record 19 titles in 1949 and

, who are in second place with 15 crowns, won their first in 1977.

and

also lead the way in terms of

titles won by Ulster schools with eight and five respectively.

Competition format

;Current format The format introduced at the start of the 2017–18 season continues. Sixteen teams compete in four groups of four teams. After the group rounds, all matches are knock-out. The four group winners are given byes to the quarter-finals. The four teams who finished third play the four teams who finished fourth in playoff round 1 with the winners playing the four group runners-up in playoff round 2 for the four remaining quarter-final places. ;2016-17 format The format was changed for the 2016–17 season. Fourteen teams competed in three groups - Groups A and B had five teams and Group C had four teams. The three group winners and the best group runner-up advanced to the quarter-finals. The fifth-placed teams in groups A and B were eliminated. The remaining eight teams played-off in four matches with the four winners completing the quarter-final line-up. From the quarter-finals onwards all matches were knock-out. ;Previous format The competition began with a round-robin tournament consisting of two groups of six teams. The top two teams from each group advanced to the knockout stages. Four playoff matches were held between the bottom four teams of Group A and Group B to complete the quarter final lineup.

List of titles by college

List of finals by year

* Until 1935 the MacRory Cup was played on a league basis with the league winners claiming the title. * The number in brackets is the number of the title win e.g. ⁽¹⁵⁾ is that school's 15th title. * The 2001 and 2020 titles were shared as neither competition could be completed. * Teams in bold went on to win the

in the same year. * The

Iggy Jones Ignatius "Iggy" Jones ( 1927 – 4 September 1992) was a Gaelic footballer who is now considered one of the greats of Tyrone football. He was part of the breakthrough Tyrone team that won back-to-back Ulster Championships in 1956 and 1957 – ...

Man of the Match trophy was first awarded in 1993. * The

Man of the Match trophy has only been awarded to players on the losing side on three occasions.

Martin Clarke Martin "Marty" Clarke ( ga, Máirtín Ó Cléirigh; born 13 November 1987) is a Gaelic and former Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 2007 to 2009 and again fr ...

and Joe Ireland for St Louis, Kilkeel in consecutive finals, and Colm Greenan for St Macartan's Monaghan. *

made their final debut in 1976, and then went on to feature in every final until 1986. They won 6 and lost 5 of those finals. *

and

dominated the competition between 1975 and 1991, with at least one of the schools featuring in the final. The schools won 14 titles in 17 years, including every title between 1975 and 1985. *

didn't win a final against their illustrious rivals until 1989.

won the first 5 finals ('76, '78,'79, '81, and '88) between the two sides. * Between 1988 and 1990 St. Patrick's College, Maghera and

played 6 MacRory finals. The 1988 final went to a second replay and the 1990 final went to a replay * The MacRory Cup had first time winners in 2017 St. Mary's Grammar School, Magherafelt and 2018 St Ronan's Lurgan. Prior to that the competition did not have a first time winner since

St. Patrick's Academy, Dungannon Saint Patrick's Academy ( Irish: ''Acadamh Naomh Pádraig'') is a voluntary grammar school located in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It formed on 1 September 2003 when the two single-sex Saint Patrick's Academies, which coexisted ...

's victory in 1991 *

(1950–52), St Michael's College, Enniskillen (1968-70) and

(1989–91) are the only schools to have lost 3 consecutive finals.

Longest winning streaks

won 7 consecutive MacRory Cups (One Shared), when the winners were decided on a league basis.

Most common finals

Longest gap between title victories

Noted footballers / College All Stars

In 2000 a Millennium team was selected by the participating schools as a best team 1988–2000.
1. Jonathon Kelly
2. Paddy McGuinness
3. Seán Marty Lockhart - Won consecutive MacRory Cups with

4. Fergal P. McCusker
5.

Tony McEntee Tony McEntee (born 30 June 1977) is a Gaelic football manager and former player. He has managed the senior Sligo county team since 2020. McEntee played for the Crossmaglen Rangers club and at senior level for the Armagh county team. He won A ...

Kieran McGeeney Kieran McGeeney (born 18 October 1971) is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player, who currently manages his native county, having previously managed the senior Kildare county team from 2007 until 2013. McGeeney played football wi ...

7. Karl Diamond - Won consecutive MacRory & Hogan Cups with

8. Paul Brewster
9. Paul McGrane
10.

Éamonn Burns Éamonn Burns (born 24 January 1972) is a Gaelic footballer who played for Ballinascreen and the Derry county team in the 1990s and early 2000s. He was part of Derry's first ever All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winning side in 1993 an ...

- Won consecutive MacRory & Hogan Cups with

11. John Duffy
12. Paddy McKeever
13. Raymond Gallagher
14.

James McCartan Jr. James McCartan is an Irish people, Irish Gaelic football Manager (Gaelic games), manager and former player who played at senior level for the Down county football team, Down county team between 1990 and 2000. McCartan was part of the Down team t ...

- Won MacRory and Hogan Cups with St Colman's College, Newry
15.

Oisín McConville Oisín McConville ( ga, Oisín Mac Conmhaoil; born 13 October 1975) is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player. He has been manager of the Wicklow county team since 2022. McCoville played at senior level for the Armagh county team ...

played for

.
Other notable players include: *

Dermot McNicholl Dermot McNicholl (born 6 November 1965) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played for the Derry county team in the 1980s and 1990s. He was part of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland Championship winning side, also winning Ulster Senior Football C ...

played in five MacRory Cup finals in the early 1980s with St. Patrick's College, Maghera. Winning four titles and was twice the victorious captain. *

produced a number of memorable displays in 2005 and captained his school St Louis, Kilkeel in 2006. *

Michael Murphy Michael, Mick, or Mike Murphy may refer to: Artists and entertainers * Michael Murphy (actor) (born 1938), American actor * Mike Murphy (musician) (1946–2006), American drummer for the Bee Gees and Chicago * Michael Bryan Murphy, lead singer ...

played for

St Eunan's College St Eunan's College ( ; ga, Coláiste Adhamhnáin), known locally as The College to distinguish it from the cathedral and GAA club, is a voluntary Roman Catholic all-male secondary day school (and former boarding school) in County Donegal, Ire ...

, reaching the 2008 semi-final.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macrory Cup Gaelic football competitions in Ulster Gaelic football cup competitions