The O'Byrne Cup is 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 organized by the

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 ...

and first staged in 1954. Meath donal

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 a quirk in translation, the Corn Uí Bhroin became known as the O'Byrne cup even though Matt had never used an 'O' in his surname. Byrne was a native of Baltinglass and taught at the local national school. Deeply involved in GAA activities at all levels throughout his life, he was regarded as a good footballer in his youth and an excellent handballer. He was the first secretary of the Maurice Davins' club in Baltinglass and served as a member of the Wicklow County Board for over 50 years, mostly as registrar. He represented Wicklow on

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

and Central Councils and served as President of the Irish Handball Council from 1941-44. Byrne died on 21 September 1947. The competition is contested by the eleven Leinster county teams (excluding

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 ...

), although Third-level College teams have taken part occasionally. The competition is, together with the Walsh Cup and Kehoe Cup, part of a Leinster GAA Series which takes place each January. The most recent O'Byrne Cup winners were

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 ...

, who beat

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 ...

in the 2024 final. The O'Byrne Shield was introduced in 2006 for teams knocked out at the first-round stage of the competition. It was later abandoned in 2013 due to the introduction of group stages in the competition, but re-introduced in 2024 when the O'Byrne Cup reverted to straight knockout format.

Recent developments

In September 2024, GAA delegates voted to remove the O'Byrne Cup from the 2025 fixtures calendar on a one-year trial basis.

Top winners

List of finals

''Wexford awarded title as Westmeath refused to play extra time''.

O'Byrne Shield

Top winners

References

{{Leinster Council Leinster GAA inter-county football competitions Gaelic football cup competitions 1954 establishments in Ireland Recurring sporting events established in 1954