Collingwood Cup

2014 Participants

The Collingwood Cup features several clubs/teams that play in leagues and divisions within the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland football league systems.

Notes

Format

Traditionally the Collingwood Cup has been played as a straight knockout competition. It is currently played in February over one week with all games hosted by one of the universities. However, in the past it has also been played using a group stage format. In 1971 the Collingwood Plate was introduced as a consolation tournament for teams knocked out in the early stages. In 2006, when the competition reverted to a straight knockout format, the Plate was replaced with three consolation cups. The Duggan Cup and the Spillane Cup features teams knocked out in the first round, while the Farquhar Cup featured the defeated quarter-finalists.

Bertram Collingwood

Bertram J. Collingwood (1871-1936), a nephew of Lewis Carroll, was appointed professor of physiology and histology at University College Dublin in 1912. Collingwood, an Oxford graduate, was also a keen amateur footballer. He represented New College, Oxford and later played as a right half for Corinthians. Partly inspired by the recently inaugurated Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cups, similar competitions for gaelic football and hurling, Collingwood donated a trophy for an intervarsity association football competition.

Early years

Four teams – University College Dublin, Queen's University Belfast, Dublin University and University College Galway – entered the first Collingwood Cup tournament which was hosted by UCD in February 1914. In the semi-finals played at Prospect Park in Glasnevin, UCD beat Dublin University 5–2 and QUB beat UCG 3–1. The final of the first tournament was played at Dalymount Park and it ended in a victory for UCD over QUB by 2–1. Due to the First World War and Irish War of Independence, it was not until 1920 that the second Collingwood Cup tournament was played. This competition began in Dublin, with UCD defeating Dublin University 8–1 in a match played in Terenure. Both teams then travelled to Belfast to play QUB who eventually emerged as the second winners of the Collingwood Cup. For the rest of the 1920s, UCD and QUB established themselves as the two strongest teams in the competition. UCD won the cup outright on five occasions while QUB achieved the same feat twice. They also shared the Cup on two occasions, following drawn matches.

UCD/QUB monopoly

UCD and QUB dominated the Collingwood Cup between 1943 and 1966. In the mid-1940s University College Galway rejoined the competition and University College Cork made their debut in 1954. In 1955 UCG – with a team featuring nine players from County Galway – caused a major shock by beating UCD in the final. However UCD and QUB quickly reasserted control and they shared all victories between them until Dublin University broke their run with a their win in 1967. From then until 1985, UCD and QUB won the competition more times than anyone else, but the cup was more widely shared than previously.

New winners

UCG were winners three times in four years between 1968 and 1971, and UCC won the competition for the first time in 1974, a feat they repeated in 1978. In 1976 Kevin Moran was a member the UCD winning team and in 1979 Dublin University won with a team featuring Hugo MacNeill and coached by Liam Tuohy. In 1980 Ulster Polytechnic, later to become the Ulster University at Jordanstown, won the Collingwood for the first time.

1980s and 1990s

The 1980s were dominated by UCD with six wins while in the 1990s five different clubs won the Collingwood. UCD won it three times in a row while UCC, UCG and UUJ all won it twice in a row. In 1998 St Mary's University College, Belfast won it for the first time.

Maynooth win

In 2014, as part of a scholarship scheme between St Patrick's Athletic and Maynooth University, five St Pat's players – Seán Hoare, Daniel Campbell, Conor Mahoney, Stephen Dunne and Jake Corrigan – were "loaned" to Maynooth. In addition St Pat's captain, Ger O'Brien, and their goalkeeper, Brendan Clarke, managed and coached the team during their Collingwood Cup campaign. As part of their preparations for the tournament, Maynooth played St Pat's first team in a friendly. Seán Hoare captained the Maynooth team and scored the winner as they knocked out the tournament favourites, UCD, in the quarter final by a 2–1 scoreline. After knocking out UCC in the semi-final, Maynooth faced NUI Galway in the final at the UCD Bowl. This match was broadcast live on Setanta Sports. Maynooth subsequently won 2–1, winning their first ever Collingwood Cup. Seán Hoare was named Player of the Tournament after the game.

Ulster University dispute

On Sunday, 22 February 2015, UU Jordanstown were due to play UCD in the first round of the Collingwood Cup. However, on Friday, 19 February, just two days earlier, the Irish Universities Football Union barred them from the competition. UUJ were banned because they planned to field players from Magee College in the team. Ulster University wanted to enter a single team featuring players from three campuses – Coleraine, Jordanstown and Magee. However football officials at Coleraine opposed this idea and entered the Collingwood Cup under their own name. Meanwhile, UU decided to enter the tournament as Jordanstown, while Magee opted not to enter the competition. With the Magee club not involved, UU decided to enter a joint team that included players from both Jordanstown and Magee. However, they were informed by IUFU that it was against Collingwood Cup rules to select players from more than one campus. As UU refused to comply with the IUFU requests and enter a team that only consisted of players from the Jordanstown campus, the IUFU opted to expel them from the competition. Meanwhile, the team representing Coleraine competed in the tournament, however according to club officials, they did not received any funding from their Ulster University, who do not recognise them as an official university team.

UCC successes

Since the turn of the century, UCC have emerged as one of the strongest teams, winning the Collingwood Cup seven times. After winning it in 2000 they then won it four times in a row between 2002 and 2005. In 2011, with a team featuring Josh O’Shea and Michael McSweeney and managed by John Caulfield, UCC won the Collingwood Cup again. O’Shea, McSweeney and Caulfield all subsequently joined Cork City F.C.. In 2015 UCC A.F.C. enjoyed one of its most successful intervarsity seasons. In addition to winning the senior Collingwood Cup, they also won the Crowley Cup, the reserve team competition, and the Harding Cup, featuring teams made up of freshers or first year students. In February 2015 UCC A.F.C. hosted the Harding Cup. The UCC freshers team defeated teams representing Dublin City University, NUI Galway and University of Limerick over three consecutive days to claim the cup. In the final played at The Mardyke on 8 February, UCC defeated Limerick 1–0. Later in the same month the UCC senior team won the Collingwood Cup. In the quarter finals they defeated defending champions Maynooth University, once again managed by Ger O’Brien, 7-6 on penalties. In the semi-final they defeated NUI Galway 1–0. The final, which was played at Eamon Deacy Park on 26 February, saw UCC defeat Dublin University 3–1. In March UCC completed an Intervarsity treble when they also won the Crowley Cup.

Trophy

During the 1930s no trophy or cup was awarded to the winners as the original cup that Bertram Collingwood had donated had disappeared towards the end of the 1920s. One legend claims that it was thrown into the River Boyne by a QUB team who were travelling south for a tournament they had no chance of winning. They had vowed that the trophy would never return south ! Another legend claims that a landlady accepted the cup from a UCD captain in lieu of rent due to her. A new cup was donated in 1940 and was immediately named the Collingwood Cup. This cup remains in use today. The cup disappeared again in 1972 but turned up after three months in a Dublin hotel.

List of winners by year

2017 University College Cork UCC