All-Ireland Poc Fada Championship

The All-Ireland Poc Fada Championship is an annual tournament testing the skills of Ireland's best hurlers. "Poc Fada" is Irish for "long puck".Known for sponorship reasons as the M DONNELLY POC FADA [cite web |url=http://www.mdonnelly.ie/sport-page20740.html |title=M DONNELLY POC FADA |accessdate=2008-04-07]

Twelve competitors are invited to play each year. The competition is held every year on the Cooley mountains, Co. Louth, beginning in Annaverna. Competitors must puck a sliotar with a hurley (they may lift and strike or hit the ball from the hand). They play to the top of "Carn an Mhadaidh" and after a short break continue back down to finish in Aghameen. The whole course measures three miles 320 yards (5,121 metres).

"An Corn Cuailgne" ("The Cooley Cup") is awarded to the player who takes the lowest number of pucks. Ties are broken by the distance by which the player's last puck crosses the finish line.

There is also the "comórtas beirte" (pairs competition) in which the competitors are randomly assigned partners, the pair with the lowest combined score winning "An Corn Setanta" ("The Setanta Cup") and the "Corn na Craoibhe Rua" ("The Trophy of the Red Mountain").

History

The tournament was founded in 1961 by Fr. Pól Mac Seáin and the "Naomh Moninne" club based in Fatima, Dundalk, Louth, with Limerick man Vincent Godfrey the first winner, out of 16 hurlers invited. The competition went off the calendar after 1969 before returning in 1981 with 12 competitors. The concept of the competition originates in the Irish legend of Cúchulainn, where the young Setanta, as Cúchulainn is called in his youth, sets out from his home to the king's court at Emain Macha hitting his sliotair before him as he walks.

Since 1996 the tournament has been sponsored by M Donnelly Builders Providers. In 2001 the "Poc Fada" was held at Dowdalshill racecourse due to foot-and-mouth disease, doing two laps of the circuit (2 miles 880 yards / 4,023 metres). The 2005 tournmant was won by Albert Shanahan of Limerick, with international soccer player Niall Quinn (who played for Dublin in the All-Ireland minor final of 1983) also competing.

Almost all of the winners have been from the traditional hurling counties, but Dinny Donnelly (Meath), Gerry Goodwin (Tyrone), Colin Byrne (Wicklow) and Paul Dunne (Louth), and Mary Henry (Westmeath) have been the exceptions. The record currently stands at 48 pucks (an average of 107 metres per puck), achieved by Brendan Cummins (Tipperary) in 2004, while for the camogie course Mary Henry has the record with 28.The current Champion is Brendan Cummins [cite web |url=http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2007/0804/pocfada.html |title=Cummins retains Poc Fada title|accessdate=2008-04-07]

Roll of Honour 1961-69 (sixteen competitors)

References

External links

* [http://www.anpocfada.ie An Poc Fada, Monaghan]
* [http://www.gaa.ie/page/poc_fada.html The Poc Fada on gaa.ie]
* [http://www.mdonnelly.ie/sport-page20740.html M Donnelly (sponsor) page on the Poc Fada. News, History, Pictures and Results]
* [http://www.louthgaa.ie/poc-fada/pf_2005.htm Detailed results for 2005 tournament]