Cork Junior Hurling Championship | |
---|---|
Irish | Craobh Iomána Shóisear Chorcaí |
Founded | 1895 |
Trophy | John Quirke Cup |
Title holders | Mayfield (3rd title) |
Most titles |
Carrigtwohill (5 titles) Cobh (5 titles) Blackrock (5 titles) Redmonds (5 titles) |
The Cork Junior Hurling Championship is an annual championship of hurling for male players in the junior grade and is organized by the Cork County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). The championship has been awarded every year since the first tournament in 1895.
The series of games is played during the autumn months with the final currently being played in October. The prize for the winning team is the John Quirke Cup. The championship has always been played on a straight knock-out basis whereby once a team lost they were eliminated from the series.
The Cork Junior Hurling Championship is an integral part of the wider Munster Junior Club Hurling Championship. The winners of the Cork county final join the champions of the other hurling counties to contest the provincial championship.
Seven teams currently participate in the Cork Junior Hurling Championship. Carrigtwohill, Cobh, Blackrock and Redmonds are the most successful teams with 5 titles each. The title has been won by 67 different teams, 26 of whom have won the title more than once.
Dungourney are the current holders.
The Cork Junior Hurling Championship features seven teams in the final tournament. 75 teams contest the seven divisional championships with the seven respective champions automatically qualifying for the county series.
Officially known as the Cork Junior A Hurling Championship, it is regarded as one of the most hotly contested and most difficult to win of all the county championships. Established in 1895 as the "seconds championship", by the 1930s it developed along divisional lines due to the increased number of clubs participating.
The first championship took place in 1895 when Blackrock were crowned junior champions.
The winning team is presented with the John Quirke Murphy Cup. A native of Milltown, County Kerry, Johnny Quirke (1911-1983) played hurling for Blackrock. He won four All-Ireland medals with Cork as part of the great four-in-a-row team of the 1940s.