Nicky Rackard Cup 2008

The 2008 Nicky Rackard Cup was the 4th annual third tier hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. Sligo beat Louth in the final.

Format

Ten county teams participated in the 2008 Nicky Rackard Cup, with Fingal (north Dublin) and "South Down" (Down excluding the Ards peninsula) bringing the total to twelve.

• Group 3A: Fingal, Longford, Louth
• Group 3B: Fermanagh, Leitrim, South Down
• Group 3C: Donegal, Monaghan, Tyrone
• Group 3D: Cavan, Sligo, Warwickshire

Each team in the group played each other once in the first phase. The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarter-finals.

Group 3A

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score
June 28	Louth	1-13	Fingal	0-14
July 5	Fingal	3-15	Longford	3-07
July 12	Longford	0-15	Louth	0-13

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	+/-
Fingal	2	1	0	1	3-29	4-20	2	+6
Louth	2	1	0	1	1-26	0-29	2	0
Longford	2	1	0	1	3-22	3-28	2	-6

Group 3B

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score
June 28	South Down	3-16	Leitrim	2-16
July 5	Leitrim	2-13	Fermanagh	1-11
July 12	Fermanagh	2-13	South Down	4-15

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	+/-
South Down	2	2	0	0	7-31	4-29	4	+11
Leitrim	2	1	0	1	4-29	4-27	2	+2
Fermanagh	2	0	0	2	3-24	6-28	0	-13

Group 3C

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score
June 28	Donegal	2-11	Tyrone	2-12
July 5	Tyrone	3-08	Monaghan	3-13
July 12	Monaghan	0-19	Donegal	1-15

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	+/-
Monaghan	2	2	0	0	3-32	4-23	4	+6
Tyrone	2	1	0	1	5-20	5-24	2	-4
Donegal	2	0	0	2	3-26	2-31	0	-2

Group 3D

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score
June 28	Sligo	3-15	Cavan	1-12
July 5	Cavan	0-16	Warwickshire	0-12
July 12	Warwickshire	2-10	Sligo	1-15

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	+/-
Sligo	2	2	0	0	4-30	3-17	4	+16
Cavan	2	1	0	1	1-23	3-27	2	-10
Warwickshire	2	0	0	2	2-22	1-31	0	-6

Knockout stages

Match	Date	Venue	Team	Score	Team	Score
Quarter-final	July 19	Parnell Park	Fingal	1-19	Leitrim	0-12
Quarter-final	July 19	Páirc Esler	South Down	2-16	Louth	4-13
Quarter-final	July 19	St Tiernach's Park	Monaghan	1-11	Cavan	0-09
Quarter-final	July 19	Markievicz Park	Sligo	2-15	Tyrone	2-11
Semi-final	July 26	Monaghan	Monaghan	1-13	Louth	0-18
Semi-final	July 26	Markievicz Park	Sligo	1-16	Fingal	0-11
Final	August 3	Croke Park	Louth	3-10	Sligo	3-19

2008 season trivia

Sligo, the eventual winners of the competition finished the preceding league tournament without a win, resulting in relegation to division 4 next year. Donegal, who won every game of the league, were eliminated from the Championship at the first (group stage) hurdle.

Sligo had the opportunity of defending their crown in 2009 after losing 1-17 to 1-13 to Roscommon in the championship promotion/relegation play-off. However a change in the Hurling competition structures with the introduction of a 4th tier championship Lory Meagher Cup meant that sligo and Roscommon both played in the 2009 Nicky Rackard Cup.

See also