Irish Corn Fergal Maher First winner Athlone IT | Founded 2002 | |
Code Hurling (Third Division) Region Third-Level Institutions (GAA) Title holders GMIT Letterfrack (1st title) | ||
The Fergal Maher Cup is a hurling cup competition for Third-level Colleges. The Cup is awarded to the winner of the Third Division Championship, the Fitzgibbon Cup and Ryan Cup being the trophies for the Premier and Second Division Higher Education Hurling Championships. The Fergal Maher Cup Championship is administered by Comhairle Ard Oideachais Cumann Lúthchleas Gael (CLG), the Gaelic Athletic Association's Higher Education Council which oversees Third-Level GAA championships. The GAA Higher Education Cup Championships are currently sponsored by the Independent.ie following on from the Irish Daily Mail, Ulster Bank, Datapac and Bus Éireann.
Contents
History
The Cup is named in memory of Fergal Maher, a student and hurler at Dublin City University who hailed from Leixlip. Fergal was fatally injured when struck by a car near The Sheaf O'Wheat at Bracetown, Clonee, Co. Meath on 22 March 1998. At the time of his death Fergal Maher was a 2nd year engineering student at DCU and was Honorary Secretary of the DCU Hurling club. He played Ryan Cup hurling for DCU and at age 18 he captained the Kildare U21 hurling team.
The Cup was first presented for the Third Division Championship in 2002, the inaugural winner being Athlone Institute of Technology. In 2002/03 IT Tallaght achieved its maiden hurling title in this competition. The most notable winner of the Fergal Maher Cup is The Honorable Society of King's Inns, the institution which controls the entry of barristers-at-law into the Irish justice system. King's Inns was established in 1541 and named in honour of King Henry VIII. The hurling club was launched in 2005/06 by senior judges and succeeded in winning the trophy in its first year of competition. The first President of the King's Inn Hurling Club was the President of the High Court (2001-2006), the Honourable Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan. In 2007/08 Edinburgh Napier University, winners of the British University Hurling Championship in both 2006/07 and 2007/08, became the first overseas winner of the Fergal Maher Cup.
2016-17 Group A Qualifying
Qualifiers: Marino Institute of Education; Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology Letterfrack
2016-17 Group B Qualifying
Qualifiers: St Mary's University College, Belfast; Ulster University Coleraine