Dr. Croke Cup

The Dr. Croke Cup is the trophy presented to the winner of the All Ireland Secondary Schools Senior "A" hurling championship. Before that it was an inter-county GAA competition in hurling. The first Croke Cups (which included Hurling and Gaelic Football) took place between 1896 and 1915. Clare was the first winner of the Dr Croke Cup for Hurling in 1896. In 1909 Ulster were expelled from the Dr. Croke Cup because of "bad gates" but the decision was later rescinded. Since 1944 however, it is the pinnacle of colleges hurling to win the "Dr. Croke Cup", named after Thomas Croke, Archbishop of Cashel in whose honour Croke Park is also named.