By Neil Ryan, Tipperary Coiste na nÓg PRO
The All Ireland Under 16 hurling tournament began as a four team inter county tournament in 1988 and has eventually evolved into its present form and status with twelve counties participating. The first sponsors were Nenagh Co-Op. They were later amalgamated into Arrabawn and in 2006 Tipperary Supporters Club came on board as sponsors and we enjoyed their partnership which terminated at the conclusion of last years games. It is only right to thank them as previous sponsors over the years on behalf of the literally thousands of young hurlers who have taken part since 1988. In its history eight counties have won the competition.
Tipperary defeated Galway in the very first Arrabawn game and Limerick in their second. The final against Clare was played in Borrisokane with Tipp winning by 1-10 to 2-5 with one of the stars being the then fourteen year old Thomas Dunne. Year two of the competition saw Waterford and Kerry join in. Again Clare lost the final to Tipperary (4-11 to 3-9). In 1990 the number of teams was up to eight with two Tipperary sides and Offaly becoming the first Lenister team to take part. Winning a medal with Tipperary was future Waterford captain Brian Flannery of Kiladangan. Galway reached the final for the first time. 1991 saw Galway become the first non Tipp winners of the Arrabawn. They beat Limerick in the final. Year five saw Kilkenny and Wexford participate for the first time. On November 14th 1992 in Semple Stadium in possibly the best Arrabawn final of them all, Kilkenny defeated Tipperary by 4-10 to 4-9. On that Tipp team were Brian Horgan, David Kennedy, Paul Shelly, Matty Dowd (now Kildare), Andy Moloney, Philip O’Dwyer, Liam Cahill and Ger Flanagan among others. In 1993 Galway defeated Clare in the final in Cusack Park, Ennis. By now Cork were involved and the Arrabawn was well established.
In the intervening years Tipperary has gone on to win the competition eleven times with Galway successful on seven occasions and Kilkenny with four titles. The rebel county Cork collected their first of two titles in 2011 and are this year’s defending champions. Four other counties have won the trophy Clare, Dublin, Limerick and Wexford.
For many years, Semple Stadium hosted our Cup and Shield finals on the last Sunday prior to All Ireland Senior Hurling finals and was always well attended, as it was a dream come to fruition for the young participants to grace the Field Of Legends. Unfortunately with the present format of having all games concluded on one day it is not feasible.
This year Tipperary Coiste na Nog wish to announce that this years hurling action being hosted by north divisional clubs.
In 2011 resulting from a ruling in conjunction with both Croke Park and the Games & Development we were instructed to run a B competition alongside our A action. Obviously this has put an added burden on both our Bórd and host clubs coupled with a further ruling from Croke Park that both tournaments have to be concluded on the one day.
With the staging of the new tournament in 2011 we presented the original Arrabawn Cup to the winners of the B competition and received a new cup from the Doyle family Holycross in honour of the Legendary John Doyle which is presented each year to the victorious A team.
Ironically Tipperary have yet to appear on that cup as they lost out the 2013 decider to Kilkenny with two goals inside the last minutes of the game.
This year the 29th title is on offer and no doubt many of our visiting counties have their hopes set upon being on the winner’s podium come the eve of the All Ireland Senior Hurling final weekend.
Tipperary Coiste na Nog will be Launching this year’s tournament on Tuesday evening July 19th in the Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh @ 8pm. We warmly welcome representation from all our visiting teams.
