John Cleary couldn’t be more frank in his assessment of the returning McGrath Cup and its worth to the Cork set-up. Having the two competitions on top of each other, Cleary insisted, defeats the purpose of bringing back into the calendar the McGrath Cup, FBD League, McKenna Cup, and O’Byrne Cup. “This is the last year of the McGrath Cup, really. “The McGrath Cup should be the platform to do that, but at this stage, we physically can't because we are not going to pull them away from their colleges. Under Cleary, Cork have never failed to claim the January silverware.

Source: Irish Examiner January 06, 2026 09:10 UTC