Tommy Murphy Cup

The Tommy Murphy Cup was a Gaelic football competition, featuring senior county teams eliminated from the early stages of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and also Kilkenny when not fielding a team in the main All-Ireland. The series of games, organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association, were played during the summer months with the final being played in August at Croke Park. The Cup was named after Tommy Murphy, a footballer from County Laois who was, appropriately for the competition, the only member of the Team of the Millennium from a county which had not won an All-Ireland.

Later changes to the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship meant that the 2008 Tommy Murphy Cup featured the eight lowest-ranking teams in National Football League, unless the teams reached the final of their respective provincial championships. Antrim beat holders Wicklow in the final. The cup was cancelled after the 2008 tournament.

Format
The Tommy Murphy Cup is a single elimination tournament. Each team is afforded only one defeat before being eliminated from the championship. Pairings for matches are drawn at random and there is currently no seeding. Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is a period of extra time, however, if both sides are still level at the end of extra time a replay takes place and so on until a winner is found.

Seasons in Tommy Murphy Cup
The number of years that each county has played in the Tommy Murphy Cup between 2004 and 2008. A total of 18 counties have competed in at least one season of the Tommy Murphy Cup. Antrim and London have participated in the most championships. The counties in bold participated in the 2008 Tommy Murphy Cup.

Legend

 * – Champions
 * – Runners-up
 * – Semi-Final
 * – Quarter-finals/Preliminary Round
 * AI – All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

For each year, the number of teams in each championship (in brackets) are shown.

All time table
Legend

Finishing positions

 * Most championships
 * 1, Colours_of_Clare.svg Clare (2004)
 * 1, Colours_of_Tipperary.svg Tipperary (2005)
 * 1, Colours_of_Louth.svg Louth (2006)
 * 1, Colours_of_Wicklow.svg Wicklow (2007)
 * 1, Colours_of_Antrim.svg Antrim (2008)


 * Most second-place finishes
 * 1, Colours_of_Sligo.svg Sligo (2004)
 * 1, Colours_of_Wexford.svg Wexford (2005)
 * 1, Colours_of_Leitrim.svg Leitrim (2006)
 * 1, Colours_of_Antrim.svg Antrim (2007)
 * 1, Colours_of_Wicklow.svg Wicklow (2008)


 * Most semi-final finishes
 * 2, Colours_of_Antrim.svg Antrim (2004, 2006)


 * Most quarter-final finishes
 * 4, Colours_of_London.svg London (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)


 * Most preliminary round finishes
 * 4, Colours_of_Kilkenny.svg Kilkenny (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)

Unbeaten sides

 * All 5 teams have won the Tommy Murphy Cup unbeaten:
 * Colours_of_Clare.svg Clare had 3 wins in 2004.
 * Colours_of_Tipperary.svg Tipperary had 4 wins in 2005.
 * Colours_of_Louth.svg Louth had 4 wins in 2006.
 * Colours_of_Wicklow.svg Wicklow had 3 wins in 2007.
 * Colours_of_Antrim.svg Antrim had 3 wins in 2008.

Beaten sides
The knockout format of the cup has resulted in 0 'back-door' Tommy Murphy Cup champions.

Final success rate
Only 3 counties have appeared in the final, being victorious on all occasions:


 * Colours_of_Clare.svg Clare (2004)
 * Colours_of_Tipperary.svg Tipperary (2005)
 * Colours_of_Louth.svg Louth (2006)

On the opposite end of the scale, only 3 counties has appeared in the final, losing on each occasion:


 * Colours_of_Sligo.svg Sligo (2004)
 * Colours_of_Wexford.svg Wexford (2005)
 * Colours_of_Leitrim.svg Leitrim (2006)

Consecutive participations

 * 5, Colours_of_Antrim.svg Antrim (2004–2008)
 * 5, Colours_of_London.svg London (2004–2008)

Antrim and London have the record number of consecutive participations in the Tommy Murphy Cup, taking part in all 5 seasons.

Winning other trophies
Although not an officially recognised achievement, one team has achieved the distinction of winning the Tommy Murphy Cup and their respective Division in the National Football League:


 * Colours_of_Louth.svg Louth in 2006 (Division 2).

Biggest wins

 * The most one sided finals:
 * 9 points – 2006: Louth 3-14 - 1-11 Leitrim
 * The most one sided matches:
 * 38 points – 2007: Kilkenny 1-00 - 3-32 Antrim

Scoring Events

 * Most goals in a match:
 * 00 – 0000: 000 vs 000
 * Most points in a match:
 * 00 – 0000: 000 vs 000
 * Most goals by one team in a match:
 * 00 – 0000: 000 vs 000
 * Most points by one team in a match:
 * 00 – 0000: 000 vs 000
 * Highest aggregate score:
 * 00 points – 0000: 000 vs 000
 * Lowest aggregate score:
 * 00 points – 0000: 000 vs 000

Successful defending
Some defending champions have a chance to retain their title. None have achieved this. These are:


 * Colours_of_Tipperary.svg Tipperary on 0 attempts out of 1 (2006)
 * Colours_of_Wicklow.svg Wicklow on 0 attempts out of 1 (2008)

Gaps

 * Longest gaps between successive Tommy Murphy Cup final appearances:
 * 1 year: Colours_of_Antrim.svg Antrim (2007–2008)
 * 1 year: Colours_of_Wicklow.svg Wicklow (2007–2008)
 * Longest gap between successive championship appearances
 * 4 years: Colours_of_Sligo.svg Sligo (2004–2008)

Provinces

 * The Tommy Murphy Cup final has never involved two teams from the same province.
 * The province providing the highest number of different winning teams is Leinster and Munster, with 2:
 * Leinster: Colours_of_Louth.svg Louth and Colours_of_Wicklow.svg Wicklow
 * Munster: Colours_of_Clare.svg Clare and Colours_of_Tipperary.svg Tipperary

Longest undefeated run
The record for the longest unbeaten run stands at 00 games held by 000 (0000–0000).

Miscellaneous

 * Best finish by a debuting team
 * Champions, Colours_of_Clare.svg Clare (2004)
 * Best finish by a debuting team (after 2004)
 * Champions, Colours_of_Tipperary.svg Tipperary (2005)
 * Highest winning record
 * 80%, Colours_of_Louth.svg Louth (4 wins in 5 matches)
 * Lowest winning record
 * 0%, Colours_of_Kilkenny.svg Kilkenny (0 wins in 4 matches)
 * 0%, Colours_of_Monaghan.svg Monaghan (0 wins in 1 match)
 * 0%, Colours_of_Offaly.svg Offaly (0 wins in 1 match)
 * Most played match
 * 00, 000 vs 000 (0000)