Tyrone Minors set for Paul McGirr Cup quest

TYRONE Minors have extra incentive to give it their utmost in their upcoming All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship campaign as the winners of the newly introduced competition will be awarded the repurposed Paul McGirr Cup.

The Red Hands will participate in the Tier Two competition as they fell short in their bid to reach the Ulster final, losing out in a semi-final clash against a formidable Derry side last weekend on a scoreline of 2-14 to 0-10.

In previous years that would’ve spelt the end of their campaign, but the GAA has brought in new All-Ireland competitions at ‘B’ and ‘C’ grade so they still have a chance to win silverware at national level, with their All-Ireland quarter-final details to be confirmed.

It was confirmed over the weekend that the second-tier competition has been named in honour of former Tyrone minor footballer Paul McGirr, who suffered a fatal injury in an accidental collision in an Ulster Minor Championship game against Armagh in June 1997.

The McGirr family subsequently donated a trophy in his memory to be used for the All-Ireland Intercounty Vocational Schools Championship; a competition that Paul had previously won as Sports Studies student in Fermanagh College. The Paul McGirr Cup was first won by Tyrone in 1998.

However, the base of the trophy lists all the winners of that title from it was first played in1960. This competition was discontinued in 2011; the trophy was then repurposed by the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Committee in 2014, and was awarded for the All-Ireland U16.5 football title. That competition was also discontinued in 2019 when it was decided to restrict All Ireland competitions to the U19 age group.

Last Saturday, however, Central Council approved the repurposing of the Paul McGirr and Seamus Heaney Cups which will be presented for the winners in the Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Tier Two and Tier Three Championships.