2008 Nicky Rackard Cup

The 2008 Nicky Rackard Cup was the 4th annual third tier hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. Sligo beat Louth in the final.

Team changes

To Championship

Entered Championship

• Fingal
• South Down

From Championship

Promoted to the Christy Ring Cup

• Armagh
• Roscommon

Format

Ten county teams participated in the 2008 Nicky Rackard Cup, with Fingal (north Dublin) and "South Down" (Down excluding the Ards Peninsula) bringing the total to twelve.

• Group 3A: Fingal, Longford, Louth
• Group 3B: Fermanagh, Leitrim, South Down
• Group 3C: Donegal, Monaghan, Tyrone
• Group 3D: Cavan, Sligo, Warwickshire

Each team in the group played each other once in the first phase. The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarter-finals.

Group A

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	SF	SA	Diff	Pts	Qualification
1	Fingal	2	1	0	1	3-29	4-20	+6	2	Advance to Knockout Stage
2	Louth	2	1	0	1	1-26	0-29	0	2
3	Longford	2	1	0	1	3-22	3-28	-6	2

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score
28 June	Louth	1-13	Fingal	0-14
5 July	Fingal	3-15	Longford	3-07
12 July	Longford	0-15	Louth	0-13

Group B

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	SF	SA	Diff	Pts	Qualification
1	South Down	2	2	0	0	7-31	4-29	+11	4	Advance to Knockout Stage
2	Leitrim	2	1	0	1	4-29	4-27	+2	2
3	Fermanagh	2	0	0	2	3-24	6-28	-13	0

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score
28 June	South Down	3-16	Leitrim	2-16
5 July	Leitrim	2-13	Fermanagh	1-11
12 July	Fermanagh	2-13	South Down	4-15

Group 3C

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score
28 June	Donegal	2-11	Tyrone	2-12
5 July	Tyrone	3-08	Monaghan	3-13
12 July	Monaghan	0-19	Donegal	1-15

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	+/-
Monaghan	2	2	0	0	3-32	4-23	4	+6
Tyrone	2	1	0	1	5-20	5-24	2	-4
Donegal	2	0	0	2	3-26	2-31	0	-2

Group 3D

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score
28 June	Sligo	3-15	Cavan	1-12
5 July	Cavan	0-16	Warwickshire	0-12
12 July	Warwickshire	2-10	Sligo	1-15

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	+/-
Sligo	2	2	0	0	4-30	3-17	4	+16
Cavan	2	1	0	1	1-23	3-27	2	-10
Warwickshire	2	0	0	2	2-22	1-31	0	-6

Knockout stage

Final

GK 1 Ciarán Brennan (Coolera/Strandhill) RCB 2 Fiachra Coyne (Calry/St. Joseph's) FB 3 Walter Gill (Turloughmore, Galway) LCB 4 Ronan Cox (Calry/St. Joseph's) RHB 5 Dermot Clarke (Mullagh, Galway) CHB 6 Mark Burke (Tubbercurry) LHB 7 Liam Reidy (Calry/St. Joseph's) MF 8 John Mullins (Mullagh, Galway) MF 9 David Colleary (Calry/St. Joseph's) RHF 10 Michael Gilmartin (Calry/St. Joseph's) CHF 11 Damien Burke (Calry/St. Joseph's) (c) LHF 12 Paul Seevers (Tubbercurry) RCF 13 Joe Bannerton (Naomh Eoin) FF 14 Keith Raymond (Calry/St. Joseph's) LCF 15 Larry Cadden (Coolera/Strandhill) Substitutes: 16 Colin Herity (Dunnamaggin, Kilkenny) for Cadden 17 Mick Shelly (Calry/St. Joseph's) for Bannerton 18 Conor O'Mahony (Coolera/Strandhill) for Gilmartin Manager: Michael Galvin

GK 1 Stephen Smyth (Pearse Óg) RCB 2 Conor Kerrigan (Knockbridge) FB 3 Tony Teefy (Knockbridge) LCB 4 Brian Hassett (Pearse Óg) RHB 5 Donnach Callan (Pearse Óg) CHB 6 Aidan Carter (Wolfe Tones) LHB 7 Johnny Carter (Wolfe Tones) MF 8 Trevor Hilliard (Knockbridge) MF 9 Shane Kerrigan (Knockbridge) RHF 10 Shane Fennell (Knockbridge) CHF 11 Ronan Byrne (Knockbridge) LHF 12 Gerard Smyth (Pearse Óg) RCF 13 Seán Conroy (Pearse Óg) FF 14 Shane Callan (Pearse Óg) LCF 15 Diarmuid Murphy (Naomh Moninne) Substitutes: 16 Mark Kirwan (Wolfe Tones) for Teefy 17 David Dunne (Knockbridge) (c) for G. Smyth 18 Eddie McCarthy (Pearse Óg) for S. Kerrigan 19 Collins Connolly (Dicksboro, Kilkenny) for Fennell 20 Paul Dunne (Knockbridge) for Conroy Manager: Pat Clancy

Scores

Match	Date	Venue	Team	Score	Team	Score
Quarter-final	19 July	Parnell Park	Fingal	1-19	Leitrim	0-12
Quarter-final	19 July	Páirc Esler	South Down	2-16	Louth	4-13
Quarter-final	19 July	St Tiernach's Park	Monaghan	1-11	Cavan	0-09
Quarter-final	19 July	Markievicz Park	Sligo	2-15	Tyrone	2-11
semi-final	26 July	Monaghan	Monaghan	1-13	Louth	0-18
semi-final	26 July	Markievicz Park	Sligo	1-16	Fingal	0-11
Final	3 August	Croke Park	Louth	3-10	Sligo	3-19

Miscellaneous

2008 season facts

• Sligo, the eventual winners of the competition finished the preceding league tournament without a win, resulting in relegation to division 4 next year. Donegal, who won every game of the league, were eliminated from the Championship at the first (group stage) hurdle.
• Sligo had the opportunity of defending their crown in 2009 after losing 1–17 to 1–13 to Roscommon in the championship promotion/relegation play-off. However a change in the Hurling competition structures with the introduction of a 4th tier championship Lory Meagher Cup meant that sligo and Roscommon both played in the 2009 Nicky Rackard Cup.

See also

• 2008 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
• 2008 Ulster Senior Hurling Championship
• 2008 Christy Ring Cup (Tier 2)