Nicky Rackard Cup


The Nicky Rackard Cup is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. The cup forms the fourth-tier of Hurling for senior county teams. It is contested by the six county teams ranked 24–29 in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Each year, the champions of the Nicky Rackard Cup are promoted to the Christy Ring Cup, and the lowest finishing team is relegated to the Lory Meagher Cup. The winners of the championship receive the Nicky Rackard Cup, named after former Wexford hurler Nicky Rackard regarded as one of the greatest hurlers of all time.
The Nicky Rackard Cup, which was introduced for the 2005 season, is a recent initiative in providing a meaningful championship for third tier teams deemed "too weak" for any higher grades. It effectively replaced the All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship. Originally introduced as a third-tier competition, it is currently the fourth tier overall in the inter-county hurling championship system. Between 2005 and 2017 the Nicky Rackard Cup was the third tier hurling championship. With the introduction of the Joe McDonagh Cup, the Nicky Rackard Cup is the second highest tier of the championship system without entry to that year's All-Ireland finals series.
The title has been won by 10 different counties, 8 of whom have won the title more than once. The all-time record-holders are Donegal, who have won the cup on 3 occasions.Roscommon are the title holders, defeating Mayo by 3-16 to 1-21 in the 2025 Nickey Rackard Cup final

History

Inauguration of the competition

In 2003 the Hurling Development Committee was charged with restructuring the entire hurling championship. The committee was composed of chairman Pat Dunny, Liam Griffin, P. J. O'Grady, Ger Loughnane, Cyril Farrell, Jimmy O'Reilly, Willie Ring, Pat Daly and Nicky English. Over the course of three months they held discussions with managers, players and officials, while also taking a submission from the Gaelic Players Association. The basic tenet of the proposals was to structure the hurling championship into three tiers in accordance with 2004 National Hurling League status.
The top tier was confined to 12 teams, while the next twenty teams would contest the second and third tiers which were to be known respectively as the Christy Ring Cup and Nicky Rackard Cup. There would also be promotion-relegation play-offs between the three championship tiers. The HDC also suggested that these games would be played as curtain raisers to All-Ireland quarter-finals and semi-finals.
The proposal were accepted at the 2005 GAA Congress. The Christy Ring Cup and the Nicky Rackard Cup competitions were launched at Croke Park on 8 December 2004.

Format

2005-2006

The twelve participating teams were divided into three groups of four and played in a round-robin format. Each team was guaranteed at least three games each. The three group winners qualified for the knock-out semi-finals of the competition. The runners-up in groups 3B and 3C contested a play-off with the winner playing the runner up in group 3A in a lone quarter-final. The winner of that match joined the three group winners in the semi-finals.

2007-2008

The twelve participating teams were divided into four groups of three and played in a round-robin format, thus limiting each team to just two games each. The eventual group winners and runners-up qualified for the knock-out quarter-finals of the competition.

2009-2017

In 2009 a double elimination format was introduced, thus guaranteeing each team at least two games before being eliminated from the competition.
  • The eight teams play four Round 1 matches.
  • *The winners in Round 1 advance to Round 2A.
  • *The losers in Round 1 go into Round 2B.
  • There are two Round 2A matches.
  • *The winners in Round 2A advance to the semi-finals.
  • *The losers in Round 2A go into the quarter-finals.
  • There are two Round 2B matches.
  • *The winners in Round 2B advance to the quarter-finals.
  • *The losers in Round 2B go into the relegation playoff.
  • **The losers of the relegation playoff are relegated to the Lory Meagher Cup for the following year.
  • There are two quarter-final matches between the Round 2A losers and Round 2B winners.
  • *The winners of the quarter-finals advance to the semi-finals.
  • *The losers of the quarter-finals are eliminated.
  • There are two semi-final matches between the Round 2A winners and the quarter-final winners.
  • *The winners of the semi-finals advance to the final.
  • *The losers of the semi-finals are eliminated.
  • The winners of the final win the Nicky Rackard Cup and are promoted to the Christy Ring Cup for the following year.

    2018-present

Beginning in 2018, the Nicky Rackard Cup changed format, with initial ties played in group stages, which in 2018 consisted of one of four teams and one of three. Previously it was a double elimination tournament. The top two teams from both groups advance to the cup semi-finals. The bottom team from each group will progress to a relegation final.
The winner of the Nicky Rackard Cup will be promoted to the Christy Ring Cup, For 2018 only, 2 teams will be relegated from the 2018 Christy Ring Cup to the 2019 Nicky Rackard Cup to bring the number of teams in the 2019 edition to an even 8, allowing for two groups of 4.
The loser of the relegation final will be relegated to the Lory Meagher Cup, to be replaced by the winner of the previous years competition.

Teams

2026 Cup

Six counties will compete in the group stage of the 2026 Nicky Rackard Cup, with Sligo relegated from the Christy Ring Cup:
CountyLocationStadiumProvincePosition in 2024 ChampionshipFirst year in ChampionshipIn Championship SinceChampionship TitlesLast Championship Title
ArmaghArmaghAthletic GroundsUlster3rd2005201922012
FermanaghEnniskillenBrewster ParkUlster6th200520250—
LouthDroghedaDrogheda ParkLeinster5th200520230—
MayoCastlebarMacHale ParkConnachtRunners-up2016202422021
SligoSligoMarkievicz ParkConnacht4th2005202522019
TyroneOmaghHealy ParkUlster6th 2007202222015

Venues

Group stage

Fixtures in the five group stage rounds of the cup are played at the home ground of one of the two teams. Each team is guaranteed at least two home games. Some teams get three home games.

Final

The Nicky Rackard Cup final is played at Croke Park.

List of finals

List of Nicky Rackard Cup finals

Roll of honour

Performances by county

Performances by province

Team records and statistics

Legend
  • – Champions
  • – Runners-up
  • – Semi-finals/Quarter-finals
  • – Group Stage
  • – Relegated
  • AI – All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
  • JM – Joe McDonagh Cup
  • CR – Christy Ring Cup
  • LM – Lory Meagher Cup
For each year, the number of teams in each championship are shown.
Team2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Years
ArmaghQFSF2ndCRSF1stCR1stCRCR2nd2nd2ndCR2ndR2SF4th3rd4th3rd16
CavanGSGSGSQFLMLM——————LMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLM4
DerryCR1stCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCR1stCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCR2
DonegalSF2ndSFGSLMLMLMSF1stSFSFSFQF1stCR1stSF3rd2nd1stCR16
FermanaghGSGSGSGSLMLMLMLMLMLMLMRPOLMLMLMLMLM5th6thLM6th8
Fingal———SFSFQFSF——2ndQFSF—————————7
LeitrimGSGSGSQFLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMRPOLMSFQFLMLMLMLM7
London1stCRCRCR2nd2nd1stCRAIAICRCRCRCRCR——CRCRCRCR4
LongfordQFSFQFGSLMLMLMLMLMLMRPOQFQFGSGSR2LMLMLMLMLM10
Louth2ndQFSF2ndQFQF2nd2ndQFR2RPOLMR2RPORPOLMLMLM5th5th5th17
MayoCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCR1stCRCRGS2nd1stCRCR2nd6
MeathCRCRCRCR1stCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRJMCRJMJMJMCRJMCR1
MonaghanGSGSQFSFR2R2SFQFSFRPOQFQFSFSFRPOR2LMLMLM6thLM17
RoscommonCRCR1stCRQFSFQFSF2ndSF1stCRCRCRCRCRCR2nd4th3rd12
SligoGSQFGS1stR2SFQFQFQFRPOLMLMLMLM1stCRCRCRCRCR4th12
South Down———QFLMLMLM——————————————1
TyroneSFGSQFQFLMR2LMLMSF1stSFRPOSFSFSFSF2nd1stCRCRCR15
WarwickshireGSGSQFGSLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLM2ndSF——6thLMLMLM7
WicklowCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCR1stCRCR1