Christy Ring Cup

Christy Ring Cup

Country	Ireland (7 teams)  England (1 team)
Founded	2005–present
Number of teams	8
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
Relegation to	Nicky Rackard Cup
Current champions	Kerry (2015)
Most championships	Westmeath (3 titles)
TV partners	TG4 (Final only)
Website	Official GAA site
2016 Christy Ring Cup

The Christy Ring Cup (often referred to as the Ring Cup) is the second-highest senior championship overall in hurling after the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Each year, the champion team in the Christy Ring Cup is promoted to the All-Ireland Championship, and the lowest finishing team enters a play-off with possible relegation to the Nicky Rackard Cup.

The Christy Ring Cup, which was introduced for the 2005 season, was the latest initiative in providing a meaningful championship for second tier teams deemed "too weak" for the provincial and All-Ireland series of games. It replaced the All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship (1974-2004).

The winners of the championship receive the Christy Ring Cup, named after former Cork hurler Christy Ring who many regard as the greatest hurler of all time.

In the 2015 season, Kerry were the Christy Ring Cup champions, Derry were the runners up, and Mayo were relegated.

History

For history before 2004, see All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship

Christy Ring of Cork.

In 2003 the Hurling Development Committee (HDC} was charged with restructuring the entire hurling championship. The committee was composed of chairman Pat Dunny (Kildare), Liam Griffin (Wexford), P. J. O'Grady (Limerick), Ger Loughnane (Clare), Cyril Farrell (Galway), Jimmy O'Reilly (Down), Willie Ring (Cork), Pat Daly (GAA Games Development Officer) and Nicky English (Tipperary). Over the course of three months they held discussions with managers, players and officials, while also taking a submission from the Gaelic Players Association. The basic tenet of the proposals was to structure the hurling championship into three tiers in accordance with 2004 National Hurling League status. The top tier was confined to 12 teams, while the next ten teams would contest the second tier which was to be known as the Christy Ring Cup. There would also be promotion-relegation play-offs between the three championship tiers. The HDC also suggested that these games would be played as curtain raisers to All-Ireland quarter-finals and semi-finals.^[1]

The proposal were accepted at the 2005 GAA Congress. The Christy Ring Cup and the Nicky Rackard Cup competitions were launched at Croke Park on 8 December 2004.

Format

2005-2007

The ten participating teams were divided into two groups of five and played in a round-robin format. Each team was guaranteed at least four games each. The eventual group winners and runners-up qualified for the knock-out semi-finals of the competition.

The bottom two teams of both groups were involved in a four-way relegation play-off with the eventual loser being relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup. In 2006 the relegation play-off was limited to just the bottom teams in both groups, while in 2007 there was no relegation.

2008

The competition was expanded to include twelve teams. The participating teams were divided into four groups of three and played in a round-robin format, thus limiting each team to just two games each. The eventual group winners and runners-up qualified for the knock-out quarter-finals of the competition.

The bottom team in each group went into the relegation play-offs. The eventual losers were relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup, however, the relegation play-offs in 2008 were rendered meaningless as all four bottom-placed teams were relegated.

2009-present

In 2009 a double elimination format was introduced, thus guaranteeing each team at least two games before being eliminated from the competition.

• The eight teams play four Round 1 matches.
  • The winners in Round 1 advance to Round 2A.
  • The losers in Round 1 go into to Round 2B.
• There are two Round 2A matches.
  • The winners in Round 2A advance to the semi-finals.
  • The losers in Round 2A go into to the quarter-finals.
• There are two Round 2B matches.
  • The winners in Round 2B advance to the quarter-finals.
  • The losers in Round 2B go into the relegation playoff.
    • The losers of the relegation playoff are relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup for the following year.
• There are two quarter-final matches between the Round 2A losers and Round 2B winners.
  • The winners of the quarter-finals advance to the semi-finals.
  • The losers of the quarter-finals are eliminated.
• There are two semi-final matches between the Round 2A winners and the quarter-final winners.
  • The winners of the semi-finals advance to the final.
  • The losers of the semi-finals are eliminated.
• The winners of the final win the Christy Ring Cup and are promoted to the Liam McCarthy Cup for the following year.

Teams participating in the 2016 season

The following 8 teams will be competing in the 2016 Christy Ring Cup.

Team	Finishing position last season
Antrim	Relegated from the All-Ireland Championship
Derry	Runners-up
Down	Semi-finalists
Kildare	Semi-finalists
London	Quarter-finalists
Meath	Quarter-finalists
Roscommon	Promoted from the Nicky Rackard Cup
Wicklow	Round 2B

Stadiums 2016

Team	Stadium	Location	Capacity
Antrim	Páirc Mac Uílín	Ballycastle	4,900
Derry	Owenbeg Centre of Excellence	Dungiven	6,800
Down	McKenna Park	Ballycran	5,000
Kildare	St. Conleth's Park	Newbridge	6,200
London	Emerald GAA Grounds	Ruislip	5,000
Meath	St. Loman's Park	Trim
Roscommon	Athleague Sportsfield	Athleague
Wicklow	Pearse Park	Arklow	5,000

Previous seasons

Champions, runners-up and relegated teams

Season	Champions	Score	Runner-up	Score	Venue	Winning captain	Losing captain	Relegated team(s)
2005	Westmeath	1-23	Down	2-18	Croke Park	John Shaw	Simon Wilson	Derry
2006	Antrim	5-13	Carlow	1-7	Croke Park	Karl McKeegan	Robbie Foley	Roscommon
2007	Westmeath	2-15	Kildare	0-13	Croke Park	Darren McCormack	Colm Buggy	N/A
2008	Carlow	3-22	Westmeath	4-16	O'Connor Park	Edward Coady	Brendan Murtagh	Armagh, London, Meath, Roscommon
2009	Carlow	1-15	Down	0-14	Croke Park	Mark Brennan	Graham Clarke	N/A
2010	Westmeath	2-16	Kerry	1-18	Croke Park	Andrew Mitchell	Colin Harris	N/A
2011	Kerry	2-21	Wicklow	2-8	Croke Park	Mikey Boyle	Jonathan O'Neill	Armagh
2012	London	4-18	Wicklow	1-17	Croke Park	Colm Quinn	Enan Glynn	N/A
2013	Down	3-16	Kerry	2-17	Croke Park	Paul Braniff	Paud Costello	N/A
2014	Kildare	4-18	Kerry	2-22	Croke Park	Niall Ó Muineacháin	John Egan	N/A
2015	Kerry	1-20	Derry	0-12	Croke Park	John Griffin	Seán MacCullagh	Mayo

Top scorers

Championship

Season	Top scorer	Team	Score	Total
2005	Mattie Dowd	Kildare	2-39	45
2008
2007	Shane Brick	Kerry
2008	Brendan Murtagh	Westmeath	2-37	43
2009	Shane Brick	Kerry	1-42	45
2010	Darragh O'Connell	Kerry	1-38	41
2011	Darragh O'Connell	Kerry	1-33	36
2012	Martin Finn	London	5-29	44
2013	Paul Braniff	Down	3-34	43
2014	Mikey Lee	Wicklow	4-38	50
2015	Shane Nolan	Kerry	2-35	41

Final

Season	Top scorer	Team	Score	Total
2005	Andrew Mitchell	Westmeath	0-9	9
2006	Johnny McIntosh	Antrim	2-4	10
2007	Billy White	Kildare	0-7	7
2008	Brendan Murtagh	Westmeath	2-10	16
2009	Simon Wilson	Down	0-7	7
2010	Darragh O'Connell	Kerry	0-8	8
2011	Darragh O'Connell	Kerry	1-9	12
2012	Jonathan Maher	London	3-4	13
2013	Shane Nolan	Kerry	1-9	12
2014	Shane Nolan	Kerry	1-4	7
	Gerry Keegan	Kildare	1-4	7
2015	Shane Nolan	Kerry	1-8	11

See also

• Christy Ring Cup records and statistics

References

1. Keys, Colm (10 December 2003). "Hurling evangelists have radical tiers in their eyes". Irish Independent. Retrieved 30 August 2015.