Canon O'Brien Cup

The Canon O'Brien Cup is an annual hurling match contested by Cork and University College Cork. The match, usually played in January at the Mardyke Sports Ground, is often regarded as a pre-season warm-up game for the two participants.

Canon O'Brien Cup
Irish	Corn Uí Bhriain
Code	Hurling
Founded	2013; 11 years ago (2013)
Region	Cork (GAA)
Trophy	Canon O'Brien Cup
No. of teams	2
Title holders	University College Cork (2nd title)
First winner	Cork
Most titles	Cork (5 titles)

Organised by the Cork County Board, admission to the match is free; however, those attending the game are asked to make a donation to volunteer collectors on the day, with all proceeds going to the Irish Alzheimer's Society. The fixture was first played in 2013.

The current holders (2020) are University College Cork.

History

The Canon O'Brien Cup was launched in 2013 by GAA President Liam O'Neill. The Cup was planned to be an annual challenge match between Cork and University College Cork. Canon Michael O'Brien, who was heavily involved as a coach with both teams, led UCC to eight consecutive Fitzgibbon Cup titles between 1981 and 1988 and led Cork to the 1990 All-Ireland title.^[1]

Cup

The cup was donated by the O’Brien family and is a replica of the Fitzgibbon Cup. It was presented to Canon O'Brien in 1983 by the UCC hurling squad after he had helped them to win three Fitzgibbon Cup titles in-a-row.^[2]

List of finals

Year	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Score	Venue	Winning Captain	Winning Team
2013	Cork	3-20	University College Cork	1-16	The Mardyke	Pa Cronin	A Nash; S O'Neill, C Spillane, S McDonnell; T Kenny, C Joyce, S White; D Kearney, P Cronin; B Corry, C McCarthy, S Moylan; P Horgan, M Cussen, P O'Sullivan. Subs: R O'Shea, M O'Sullivan.	[3]
2014	Cork	2-19	University College Cork	1-14	The Mardyke	Anthony Nash	A Nash; C Joyce, S O’Neill, K Murphy; E Keane, M Ellis, W Egan; P Haughney, L McLoughlin; B Lawton, C McCarthy, M O’Sullivan; S Moylan, P Horgan, J Coughlan. Subs: L O’Farrell, D Kearney, S White, A Ryan, S O’Farrell.	[4]
2015	Cork	1-26	University College Cork	2-12	The Mardyke	Anthony Nash	A Nash; C Joyce, C Barry, W Kearney; A Walsh, L McLoughlin, C Murphy; D Kearney, P Cronin; S Harnedy, B Cooper, B Lawton; D McCarthy, P O’Sullivan, P Horgan. Subs: C McCarthy, S Moylan, W Kearney, L O’Farrell, P Haughney.	[5]
2016	Cork	2-12	University College Cork	0-13	The Mardyke	Shane O'Neill	A Nash; C O’Sullivan, P O’Mahony, A Dennehy; S O’Neill, W Egan, N Cashman; P Haughney, D Kearney; P O’Sullivan, W Leahy, S Moylan; L Meade, P Cronin, D Lee. Subs: D Browne, D Fitzgibbon, M Coleman, C Buckley.	[6]
2017	University College Cork	0-22	Cork	1-13	The Mardyke		D Desmond; I Kenny, C Spillane, S Roche; N Motherway, C Gleeson, R Cahalane; J Barron, R O’Shea; M O’Brien, B McCarthy, S Hegarty; A Cadogan, J O’Flynn, A Spillane. Subs: J Barry, G O’Brien, D Hannon, N Cashman, C Browne, D O’Brien, B O’Sullivan.	[7]
2018	No competition							[8]
2019	Cork	1-24	University College Cork	1-23	The Mardyke		P Collins; S O’Donoghue, D Cahalane, C O’Callaghan; C Joyce, P Leopold, W Kearney; D Kearney, C Murphy; S Kennefick, P Horgan, C Walsh; J Coughlan, D Dalton, C Beausang. Subs: R Downey, S Condon, T O’Connell, C Power, C O’Brien.	[9]
2020	University College Cork	2-18	Cork	1-20	The Mardyke	Eoghan Murphy	S Hurley; D Lowney, E Murphy, S Roche; B Hennessy, N O’Leary, P O’Loughlin; A Casey, R Connolly; D Fitzgibbon, S Kingston, C Boylan; J O’Sullivan, S Conway, M O’Halloran. Subs: J Cashman, S Roche, N Montgomery, B Sheehan, S Hayes, W Henn.	[10]
2021	No competition							[11]
2022	Cork	1-17	University College Cork	1-15	The Mardyke		G Collins; D Cahalane, G Millerick, S O'Donoghue; J O'Flynn, M Coleman, T O'Mahony; D Fitzgibbon, C Joyce; M Keane, S Harnedy, C Lehane; S Kingston, A Cadogan, L Meade. Subs: P Power, R O'Flynn, C O'Brien, S Twomey, L Meade.	[12]
2023	Cork	0-25	University College Cork	1-15	The Mardyke		G Connolly; C O’Callaghan, S O’Leary-Hayes, S O’Donoghue; E Downey, T O’Connell, R Downey; S Quirke, B O’Sullivan; B Keating, C Lehane, L Meade; C Walsh, D Dalton, B Hayes. Subs: D Harrington, A Walsh-Barry, D Healy, M Kelly, K Moynihan, J Cashman, J O’Carroll, A Myers.	[13]

Records

Scoring

All time top scorers

Rank	Player	Team	Scores	Tally	Games	Era	Average
1	Patrick Horgan	Cork	3-23	32	3	2013-2015	10.66
2	Willie Griffin	U.C.C.	2-15	21	2	2013-2014	10.50
3	Paudie O'Sullivan	Cork	3-07	16	3	2013-2016	5.33
4	Rob O'Shea	Cork U.C.C.	0-13	13	5	2013-present	2.60
5	Stephen Moylan	Cork	1-09	12	4	2013-2016	3.00
6	Anthony Spillane	U.C.C.	1-06	9	3	2015-present	3.00
7	Paul Haughney	Cork	0-08	8	4	2014-2016	2.00
8	Conor Lehane	Cork U.C.C.	0-07	7	2	2013-present	3.50
9	Séamus Harnedy	Cork U.C.C.	0-05	5	2	2013-2015	2.50
	Cian McCarthy	Cork	0-05	5	4	2013-2016	1.20

Top scorers in a single game

Season	Top scorer	Team	Score	Total
2013	Patrick Horgan	Cork	2-08	16
2014	Patrick Horgan	Cork	1-09	12
2015	Anthony Spillane	U.C.C.	1-04	7
2016	Paudie O'Sullivan	Cork	1-04	7
	Rob O'Shea	U.C.C.	0-7	7
2017	Alan Cadogan	U.C.C.	0-07	7
2018
2019	Patrick Horgan	Cork	0-09	9

Miscellaneous

• Daniel Kearney of Cork holds the record for playing in five Canon O'Brien Cup-winning teams.
• Colm Spillane won Canon O'Brien Cup titles as a member of both the Cork (2013) and University College Cork (2017) teams.

References

1. Hurley, Denis (17 January 2013). "Students honour Canon O'Brien". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
2. Crowe, Dermot (26 January 2014). "The Canon a key contributor to Cork honours list". Irish Independent. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
3. O'Flynn, Diarmuid (21 January 2013). "Encouraging signs from Rebels". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
4. Hurley, Denis (27 January 2014). "Newcomers encourage JBM". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
5. Hurley, Denis (9 January 2015). "Jimmy Barry-Murphy content as new skipper Anthony Nash leads Cork home". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
6. Hurley, Denis (11 January 2016). "Second-half goals seal victory for Cork". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
7. Hurley, Denis (7 January 2017). "Cork outplayed as UCC finally get their hands on Canon O'Brien Cup". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
8. "Tonight's Canon Michael O'Brien Cup clash is off". Hogan Stand. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
9. O'Callaghan, Therese (7 January 2019). "Useful workout for Cork ahead of clash with Cats". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
10. O'Callaghan, Therese (7 January 2020). "Hayes fires winning scores as UCC outsmart Rebels". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
11. "Tonight's Canon Michael O'Brien Cup clash is off". Hogan Stand. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
12. "Mark Keane and Conor Lehane score as Cork beat UCC in Canon O'Brien Cup". Echo Live. 14 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
13. "Cork push on in second half to beat UCC in Canon O'Brien Cup". Echo Live. 10 January 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2023.