All-Ireland Poc Fada Championship

The All-Ireland Poc Fada Hurling & Camogie Championships is an annual tournament testing the skills of Ireland's best hurlers and camogie players. Poc Fada is Irish for "long puck". The championships are sponsored by M Donnelly & Co. (who has been a sponsor since 1996).

The All Ireland Poc Fada Finals take place on the Saturday of the Irish August Bank Holiday each year (since 2005).

The Senior Hurling Final starts at "An Fhána Mór", Annaverna, County Louth, competitors must puck a sliotar with a hurley to the top of Annaverna Mountain, "An Céide," and onwards to "Carn an Mhadaidh"' and after a short break continue down to "An Gabhlán," finishing back at "An Fhána Mór," Annaverna. The whole course measures 5 kilometres (3.1 mi).

Tournaments

Seniors Final - An Corn Setanta (The Setanta Cup)

The 12 competitors competing in this category qualify as the 4 Provincial champions, the 4 Provincial runners-up, the current champion, the 2013 "All Star" goalkeeper and 2 invitationals (in the past competitors have come from USA, Europe and South Africa).

An Corn Setanta ("The Setanta 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.

Comórtas Beirte (Pairs) - An Corn Cualigne (The Cooley Cup) & An Corn Craobh Rua (The Red Branch Cup).

Shared between the pairing drawn prior to the competition as the Pair returning the least number of combined pucks for the course. Record holders still to be clarified! (This competition has been discontinued)

Camogie Final - (The Camogie Poc Fada Cup)

There are 7 competitors in the Ladies event, if there is an invitational place/wildcard on offer there may be 8. Presently the current champion, the 4 Provincial qualifiers, a qualifier from Co. Louth and a qualifier from Co. Armagh (The latter 2 counties being the hosts). In the past the invitational/wildcard has gone to the London Cumann.

The U16 Boys Final - An Corn Sean Og Mac Seáin (The Sean Og Mac Seáin Cup)

There are currently only 4 participants in this event, 1 from each of the 4 provincial qualifiers. If the situation occurs where the winner of the All Ireland final is eligible to compete at the same age group the following year he will be asked to return and defend his All Ireland title. To date this has happened only once when the 2011 Under 16 champion (Cillian Kiely of Offaly) successfully retained the All Ireland title in 2012.

History

The tournament was founded in 1960 by Fr. Pól Mac Sheáin and the Naomh Moninne club based in Fatima, Dundalk, Louth, with the first All Ireland event taking place in 1961 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 "Táin Bó Cuailgne" when Cúchulainn, who as the boy Setanta set out from his home at Dún Dealgan to the King's court at Emain Macha hitting his sliotar before him and running ahead to catch it.

In 2001 the Poc Fada was held at Dundalk Stadium (Dundalk Racecourse) due to foot-and-mouth disease on the Cooley Peninsula, doing two laps of the circuit (2 miles 880 yards / 4,023 metres). The 2005 tournament 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), Paul Dunne (Louth), Mary Henry (Westmeath), 2009 champion Gerry Fallon (Roscommon) and the 2010 champion Graham Clarke (Down) have been the exceptions. The record currently stands at 48 pucks (an average of 104 metres per puck), achieved by Brendan Cummins (Tipperary) in 2004. The current record for the Camogie course is held by Patricia Jackman of Waterford when in 2013 she completed the course in 27 pocs and 7 metres (over the end line). Traditionally the most successful competitors have generally been goalkeepers, owing to the need for goalkeepers to puck the ball far up the field in a game of hurling but increasingly there are more "outfield" Hurlers and Camogs out qualifying their goalkeeping contemporaries at county and provincial final level.

Poc Fada Hall of Fame

Poc Fada Seniors

§ short course 2001 - took place at the Dundalk Racecourse (two and a half-mile) due to foot-and-mouth disease. § Less mountainous course 2012 - The Senior Men's competition was played over the "Lower" course due to the prevailing weather conditions on Finals' Day. They started at the 2.5 km course start line pucking to "An Gábhlan" and back to the start line where they turned and repeated the course for a second time. The course distance was also 5 km.

Camogie Poc Fada since 2004

Uses a shorter course of just 2 stages from "An Fhana Mór" to "An Gabhlan" and back, a distance of 2.5 km (1½ miles). The current record for the Camogie course is held by Patricia Jackman of Waterford when in 2013 she completed the course in 27 pocs and 7 metres (over the end line). Lyndsey Condell of Carlow's record stood from 2008 until 2013 when she completed the course in 28 pocs and 67 metres (over the end line) - Scoresheet not available online but has been verified. Catriona Daly (Galway) finishing 2nd to Patricia in 2013 with 28 pocs and 17.5m is in third place. Mary Henry of Westmeath in fourth place with 28 pocs and 4 metres (over the end line) in 2006.^[1]

Boys U16 Poc Fada since 2007

Uses the same course as the Camogie finalists.

Girls U16 Camogie Poc Fada since 2015

Uses the same course as the Camogie finalists.

References

• An Poc Fada.net - The Poc Fada portal for News, History, Pictures and Results
• The Poc Fada on gaa.ie

External links

• An Poc Fada.net - The Poc Fada portal for News, History, Pictures and Results
• gaapocfada.com - The official website of GAA Poc Fada
• The Poc Fada on gaa.ie

Hurling
Positions
Equipment	Hurley Sliotar Helmet
History	History Olympics Outside Ireland Popular culture Records
Variations	Camogie (Women's) Composite rules shinty–hurling Shinty/Hurling International Series Iomain
National Competitions	Liam MacCarthy Cup Senior Championship 2016 National Hurling League (2016) Intermediate Championship Junior Championship Christy Ring Cup 2016 Nicky Rackard Cup 2016 Lory Meagher Cup 2016 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship 2015–16 Poc Fada All Stars Awards Christy Ring Cup Champion 15 Awards
Provincial Competitions	Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Munster Senior Hurling Championship Connacht Senior Hurling Championship Ulster Senior Hurling Championship Walsh Cup (hurling)
Rivalries	Kilkenny–Tipperary hurling rivalry Cork–Tipperary hurling rivalry Galway–Kilkenny hurling rivalry Limerick–Tipperary hurling rivalry Kilkenny–Waterford hurling rivalry