GAA Interprovincial Championship
The GAA Interprovincial Championship or Railway Cup is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster GAA teams are composed of the best players from the counties in each province. The games are organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association.
The Railway Cup was a revival of the Railway Shield which ran from 1905 to 1907 and from 1905 to 1908. The first Railway Cup competitions were held in 1927, with Munster winning the first football title and Leinster winning the first hurling title. Presently, Ulster hold the record for the most football Railway Cup wins with 30, while Munster has won the most hurling titles with 43. The longest hurling streak was Munster's six-in-a-row from 1948 to 1953, while Ulster won a football five-in-a-row from 1991 to 1995.
The Railway Cup has gone into severe decline in recent years. Some blame the GAA for this decline due to the low level of promotion given and the lack of a fixed date to be played each year. The finals, held on Saint Patrick's Day, attracted huge crowds in the 1950s and 1960s, however, by the 1990s attendances at the once prestigious competition had reduced to only a few hundred. The All-Ireland Club Finals have superseded them in popularity and have taken over the Saint Patrick's Day fixture in Croke Park.
Hurling
The GAA Interprovincial Hurling Championship was an annual inter-provincial hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association and traditionally contested by the four historic provinces of Ireland, deciding the competition winners through a knockout format. Starting in 1927, it was contested until its abolition in 2017.Connacht, Leinster and Munster were the first participating provinces, before being joined by Ulster in 1944 and the Combined Universities in 1972. The final, traditionally held at Croke Park on St. Patrick's Day, was the culmination of a series of knock-out games, with the winning team receiving the Railway Cup. At its peak it was one of the most prestigious competitions in Gaelic games, with players regarding it as a great honour to be included on their provincial team. Crowds of up to 50,000 regularly attended the final, however, interest waned since its heyday with only 562 attending the last final in 2016.
The title was won by three different teams, all of whom won the title more than once. The all-time record-holders are Munster, who won the championship on 47 occasions.
History
After the success of the inter-county All-Ireland Championship, which had been held since 1887, the Gaelic Athletic Association launched an inter-provincial competition in 1905. Sponsored by the Great Southern and Western Railway, the Railway Shield ran until 1908 when the competition ended after Leinster retained the title for a second successive year.After a lapse of nearly 20 years, the idea of an inter-provincial tournament was resurrected. The Railway Cup, once again sponsored by the Great Southern Railways, was first held in 1927, with Ulster being the only province not to field a team. The very first match took place at Portlaoise on 21 November 1926, with Leinster beating Connacht by 7-06 to 3-05. Leinster went on to win the inaugural title after a 1-11 to 2-06 win over Munster in the final. The holding of the final at Croke Park on St. Patrick's Day set a precedent that linked the competition to that date for many years to follow.
The 1944 Railway Cup was the first occasion when all four provinces took part, with Ulster fielding a team for the first time. They reached the 1945 final, after beating Leinster in the semi-final, but lost out to Munster. In late 1971 an application from the Universities' Council to enter a Combined Universities team was discussed by the Central Council of the Association. The proposal was readily accepted and the Combined Universities team was permitted to participate in the 1972 Railway Cup.
Sponsorship
became the first title sponsor of the championship, serving in that capacity from 1991 until 1993. After a sponsor-less decade, businessman Martin Donnelly offered financial support in terms of sponsorship in 2002. He withdrew his sponsorship of the competition in 2014.Venues
Early rounds
Fixtures in the early rounds of the Railway Cup were usually played at a neutral venue that was deemed halfway between the participating teams. On occasions, Connacht and Ulster received home advantage, hosting semi-finals at Pearse Stadium, Duggan Park, Parkmore Sportsfield, Corrigan Park and Casement Park. The midlands regularly provided venues for Leinster-Connacht and Munster-Connacht matches, with O'Moore Park, O'Connor Park, St. Brendan's Park, St. Cronan's Park and MacDonagh Park being used.Final
The final was played at Croke Park in Dublin every year from 1927 until 1977. A decline in popularity, coupled with the All-Ireland Club Championship taking the St. Patrick's Day slot at Croke Park, led to the Railway Cup final being moved around the country for the following 25 years. Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Semple Stadium, Cusack Park, Breffni Park, Nowlan Park and a number of smaller grounds all hosted the final at various stagesIn 2003, the final was held in the Giulio Onesti Sports Complex in Rome. The success of that overseas trip led GAA chiefs to look into the possibility of making the staging of the final in Europe a regular date in the calendar. The final never returned to Europe, however, the 2005 final took place at the Irish Cultural Centre in Boston, while the 2009 final was held at Ghantoot Racing and Polo Club in Abu Dhabi.
The final returned to Croke Park for one final time in 2014, while Semple Stadium hosted the very last Railway Cup final in 2016.
Managers
s in the Railway Cup were involved in the day-to-day running of the team, including the training, team selection, and sourcing of players. The manager was usually assisted by a team of two or three selectors and a backroom team consisting of various coaches.| Manager | Team | Wins | Winning years |
| John Conran | Leinster | 3 | 2006, 2008, 2009 |
| Noel Skehan | Leinster | 2 | 2002, 2003 |
| Joe Dooley | Leinster | 2 | 2012, 2014 |
| Vincent Mullins | Connacht | 1 | 2004 |
| Joe O'Leary | Munster | 1 | 2005 |
| Michael Ryan | Munster | 1 | 2007 |
| Liam Sheedy | Munster | 1 | 2013 |
| Anthony Daly | Munster | 1 | 2016 |
Roll of Honour
| Province | Wins | Years won | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Records and statisticsFinalTeams
By decadeThe most successful team of each decade, judged by number of Railway Cup titles, is as follows:
All time
By yearIn a single gameIn finalsFootballManagerss in the Railway Cup were involved in the day-to-day running of the team, including the training, team selection, and sourcing of players. The manager was usually assisted by a team of two or three selectors and a backroom team consisting of various coaches.
Roll of Honour
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