South West Junior A Hurling Championship


The South West Junior A Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Carbery Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1925 for junior hurling teams in the Barony of Carbery in County Cork, Ireland.
The series of games begin in May, with the championship culminating with the final in September. The championship includes a knock-out stage and a "back door" for teams defeated in the first round.
The South West Junior Championship is an integral part of the wider Cork Junior A Hurling Championship. The winners and runners-up of the South West Championship join their counterparts from the other six divisions to contest the county championship.
As of 2019, 11 clubs currently participate in the South West Championship. The title has been won at least once by 13 different clubs. The all-time record-holders are Clonakilty, who have won a total of 16 titles.
Ballinascarthy are the title-holders after defeating Kilbree by 2-18 to 1-11 in the 2019 championship final.

The championship

Overview

The South West Junior Championship is effectively a knockout tournament with pairings drawn at random — there are no seeds.
Each match is played as a single leg. If a match ends as a draw 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.

Participating teams

TeamLocationColours
BallinascarthyBallinascarthyRed and white
BandonBandonYellow and white
ClonakiltyClonakiltyGreen and red
Diarmuid Ó Mathúna'sCastletown-KinneighBlue and gold
DohenysDunmanwayGreen and white
KilbreeRossmoreBlue and white
NewcestownNewcestownRed and yellow
St. Colum'sKealkillBlack and orange
St. James'sArdfieldGreen and gold
St. Mary'sEnniskeanGreen and gold
St. Oliver Plunkett'sAhiohillBlack and white

Qualification for subsequent competitions

The South West Junior Hurling Championship winners and runners-up qualify for the subsequent Cork Junior A Hurling Championship. Prior to 2017, qualification for the county series was limited to just the championship-winning team.

Trophy

The winning team is presented with the Flyer Nyhan Cup. A native of Clonakilty, John "Flyer" Nyhan was a member of some excellent Clonakilty teams which contested the county middle grade hurling final in 1912, won the county intermediate football title in 1913 and then won the prestigious South Coast Railway Shields in both football and hurling in 1914.

Roll of honour

#TeamWinsWinning Years
1Clonakilty161939, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1950, 1952, 1961, 1962, 1976, 1977, 1983, 2004, 2012, 2015, 2017
2Courcey Rovers151947, 1948, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1973, 1974
3Bandon131929, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1949, 1960, 1971, 1975, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2009
4Kilbrittain121925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1978, 1984, 1985
5Newcestown91967, 1969, 1972, 1979, 1980, 1988, 1991, 1992, 2014
6Barryroe71981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1994, 2006, 2007
7Ballinascarthy51989, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2019
7Diarmuid Ó Mathúna's52001, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2010
8Dohenys41958, 1959, 1963, 2013
9Skibbereen31931, 1932, 1933
9Argideen Rangers31993, 1996, 2003
10Kilbree22016, 2018
11St. Oliver Plunkett's12011

List of finals

YearWinnersScoreRunners-upScore
2015ClonakiltyDiarmuid Ó Mathúna's
2016Kilbree3-07St. Colum's0-12
2017Clonakilty2-21Ballinascarthy1-16
2018Kilbree1-18Ballinascarthy2-12
2019Ballinascarthy2-18Kilbree1-11

Records

By decade

The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of South West Junior Hurling Championship titles, is as follows:
Top five longest gaps between successive championship titles:

The Double

Five teams have won the South West Junior Hurling Championship and the South West Junior Football Championship in a single year as part of a hurling-Gaelic football double. Kilbrittain became the first team to win the double in 1926. Bandon are the record holders having claimed the double on four occasions - 1929, 1960, 1971 and 1975. Dohenys are the only club to have won a back-to-back double - 1958 and 1959. Newcestown and Clonakilty complete the list of double-winning teams.
Club sides Argideen Rangers, Ballinascarthy and O'Donovan Rossa also hold the distinction of being dual divisional junior championship-winning teams, however, these were not achieved in a single calendar season.