2021 Christy Ring Cup

2021 Christy Ring Cup
Dates	26 June - 1 August 2021
Teams	5
Champions	Offaly (1st title); Ben Conneely (captain); Michael Fennelly (manager)
Runners-up	Derry; Cormac O'Doherty (captain); Dominic McKinley (manager); Cormac Donnelly (manager)
Relegated	Roscommon
Tournament statistics
Matches played	8
Goals scored	23 (2.88 per match)
Points scored	338 (42.25 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Eoghan Cahill (0-36)
← 2020 (Previous)	(Next) 2022 →

The 2021 Christy Ring Cup was the 17th staging of the Christy Ring Cup since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2005. The cup began on 26 June 2021 and ended on 1 August 2021.^[1]

Covid-19 caused all London games to be postponed for an extra year.

The final was played on 1 August 2021 at Croke Park in Dublin, between Offaly and Derry, in what was their first ever meeting in a final. Offaly won the match by 0-41 to 2-14 to claim their first ever cup title.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Offaly's Eoghan Cahill was the Ring Cup's top scorer with 0-36.

Team changes

To Championship

Relegated from the Joe McDonagh Cup

None

Promoted from the Nicky Rackard Cup

None

From Championship

Promoted to the Joe McDonagh Cup

Down
Kildare

Relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup

None

Teams

General Information

County	Last Cup title	Last provincial title	Last All-Ireland title	Position in 2020 Championship	Appearance
Derry	—	2001	—	Round 2	15th
Offaly	—	1995	1998	Semi-finals	2nd
Roscommon	—	1913	—	Semi-finals	13th
Sligo	—	—	—	Round 2	2nd
Wicklow	—	—	—	Round 2

Personnel and kits

County	Manager	Captain(s)	Sponsor
Derry
Offaly
Roscommon
Sligo
Wicklow

Competition format

Cup format

The format has been changed for 2021 with 5 teams playing across two groups, one with 3 teams and one with 2 teams based on an open draw.^[1]

Group A will feature 3 teams and be played in a single Round Robin format with each team having one home game and one away game.

Group B will feature 2 teams who will play a single fixture.

All teams will play a knockout format after this group stage, with the group winners and second-placed team in Group A being placed in the semi-finals. A tie between the third-placed team in Group A and second-placed team in Group B will determine the fourth semi-finalist.

Promotion

The winner of the final will be promoted to the Joe McDonagh Cup.

Relegation

The loser of the quarter-final will be relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	SF	SA	Diff	Pts	Qualification
1	Derry	2	2	0	2-42	1-33	+12	4	Advance to Semi-Finals
2	Wicklow	2	1	1	2-36	3-34	-1	2	Advance to Semi-Finals
3	Roscommon	2	0	2	2-26	2-37	-11	0	Advance to Quarter-Finals

Group A round 1

26 June 2021 Round 1	Wicklow	2-18 - 1-11	Roscommon	Aughrim County Ground
	A O'Brien (0-10, 9f), G Hughes (1-1), M Lee (1-3), E Kearns (0-1); L Evans (0-1), C Moorehouse (0-1, sideline), E McCormack (0-1).	Report	C Egan (1-5, 5f, 1p), C Dolan (0-5, 1f), P Kellehan (0-1).	Referee: T Gleeson (Dublin)

Group A round 2

3 July 2021 Round 2	Roscommon	1-15 - 0-19	Derry	Dr. Hyde Park
	C Dolan (0-6f); C Kennelly (1-0), C Mulry (0-2), D Heavey (0-2); C Egan (0-2), E Costello (0-1), B McGahon (0-1), C Kenny (0-1).	Report	C O’Doherty (0-8, 4f, 2 ‘65s); D Foley (0-2), G Bradley (0-2), S McGuigan (0-2), C Kelly (0-1), M McGuigan (0-1), O McKeever (0-1), B Cassidy (0-1), S Cassidy (0-1).	Referee: C Mooney (Dublin)

Group A round 3

10 July 2021 Round 3	Derry	2-23 - 0-18	Wicklow	Owenbeg
	O McKeever (2-2), C O'Doherty (0-7, 5f, 1 65), S McGuigan (0-4), G Bradley (0-3), E Cassidy (0-2), B Cassidy (0-2), M McGuigan (0-1), D Foley (0-1), P Nelis (0-1).	Report	A O'Brien (0-12, 9f), S Cranley (0-1), C Moorehouse (0-1), D Staunton (0-1), E Kearns (0-1), G Hughes (0-1), L Evans (0-1).	Referee: C McDonald (Antrim)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	SF	SA	Diff	Pts	Qualification
1	Offaly	1	1	0	0	2-39	2-17	+22	2	Advance to Semi-Finals
2	Sligo	1	0	0	1	2-17	2-39	-22	0	Advance to Quarter-Finals

Group B round 1

3 July 2021 Round 1^[1]	Sligo	2-17 - 2-39	Offaly	Markievicz Park
	G O'Kelly-Lynch 2-12 (12f), T Cawley, G Connolly, C Hanniffy, F Cawley and A Kilcullen 0-1 each.	Report	E Cahill 0-15 (9f and 3 '65s'), B Duignan 0-6, A Treacy and S Dooley 1-1 each, L Langton 0-5, J Murphy 0-4, O Kelly and K Sampson 0-2 each, L Fox, J Sampson and L O'Connor 0-1 each.	Referee: A Kelly (Galway)

Knockout stage

Bracket

Quarter-Finals - 17 July

Semi-Finals - 24 July

Final - 1 August

1A

Derry

0-28

2B

Sligo

2-17

2B

Sligo

2-18

3A

Roscommon

1-20

1A

Derry

2-14

1B

Offaly

0-41

1B

Offaly

6-30

2A

Wicklow

0-11

Quarter-final

17 July 2021 Quarter-final	Roscommon	1-20 - 2-18	Sligo	Dr. Hyde Park
	C Dolan (4f) 0-8, C Kenny 0-4, N Kilroy 1-0, B McGahon 0-3, O Kelly, C Mulry 0-2 each, M Brennan 0-1	Report	M Hanniffy 2-1, G O’Kelly-Lynch 0-6 (5f), T Cawley, A Kilcullen 0-3 each, F Cawley 0-2, G Connolly, C Hanniffy, J McHugh 0-1 each.

Roscommon are relegated to the 2022 Nicky Rackard Cup.

Semi-finals

24 July 2021 Semi-final	Derry	0-28 - 2-17	Sligo	Owenbeg
	C O’Doherty 0-12 (8 fs), G Bradley 0-5, S McGuigan 0-3, Brian Cassidy and O McKeever 0-2 each, R Mullan, E Cassidy, M McGuigan, D Foley 0-1 each	Report	G O’Kelly-Lynch 1-6 (5 fs), J McHugh 1-4, C Hanniffy 0-2, T Cawley, A Kilcullen, E Comerford, L O’Kelly-Lynch 0-1 each.

24 July 2021 Semi-final	Offaly	6-30 - 0-10	Wicklow	Bord na Móna O'Connor Park
	E Cahill 0-8 (3f and one sideline), B Duignan 1-4, O Kelly 2-1, L Fox 1-2, B Conneely 1-1, K Sampson 1-0, J Murphy and E Kelly 0-3 each, J Sampson and S Dooley (2f) 0-2 each, A Treacy, L Langton, L O'Connor and C Gath 0-1 each.	Report	A O'Brien 0-8 (7f), E McCormack, G Weir and W Kinsella 0-1 each.

Final

1 August 2021 Final	Derry	2-14 - 0-41	Offaly	Croke Park
	C O'Doherty (0-5, 5f), B Cassidy (0-3), D Foley (0-1), G Bradley (1-1), O McKeever (1-1), S Cassidy (0-2), R Mullan (0-1).	Report	E Cahill (0-13, 8f), O Kelly (0-7), J Murphy (0-5), L Fox (0-2), L Langton (0-1), B Conneely (0-1), J Sampson (0-1), A Treacy (0-3), L O'Connor (0-2), S Kinsella (0-2), S Dooley (0-2, 2f), D Egan (0-1), K Sampson (0-1).	Referee: T Gleeson (Dublin)

Offaly are promoted to the 2022 Joe McDonagh Cup.

Statistics

Top scorers

Top Scorer Overall

Rank	Player	County	Tally	Total	Matches	Average
1	Eoghan Cahill	Offaly	0-36	36	3	12.00
2	Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch	Sligo	3-24	33	3	11.00
3	Cormac O'Doherty	Derry	0-32	32	4	8.00
4	Andy O'Brien	Wicklow	0-30	30	3	10.00
5	Cathal Dolan	Roscommon	0-19	19	3	6.33
6	Oisín Kelly	Offaly	2-10	16	3	5.33
7	Odhran McKeever	Derry	3-06	15	4	3.75
8	Gerald Bradley	Derry	1-11	14	4	3.50
9	Brian Duignan	Offaly	1-10	13	3	4.33
10	John Murphy	Offaly	0-12	12	3	4.00

In a single game

Rank	Player	Club	Tally	Total	Opposition
1	Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch	Sligo	2-12	18	Offaly
2	Eoghan Cahill	Offaly	0-15	15	Sligo
3	Eoghan Cahill	Offaly	0-13	13	Derry
4	Andy O'Brien	Wicklow	0-12	12	Derry
4	Cormac O'Doherty	Derry	0-12	12	Offaly
6	Andy O'Brien	Wicklow	0-10	10	Roscommon
7	Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch	Sligo	1-06	9	Derry
8	Odhran McKeever	Derry	2-02	8	Wicklow
	Cillian Egan	Roscommon	1-05	8	Wicklow
	Andy O'Brien	Wicklow	0-08	8	Offaly
	Cormac O'Doherty	Derry	0-08	8	Roscommon
	Eoghan Cahill	Offaly	0-08	8	Wicklow
	Cathal Dolan	Roscommon	0-08	8	Sligo

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Draws announced for McDonagh, Ring, Rackard, and Meagher Cups". www.gaa.ie.
^ "Derry defeated but no disgrace as Offaly lift Christy Ring Cup in Croke Park". Derry Journal. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
^ "Free-scoring Offaly crush Derry to win Christy Ring". RTE Sport. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
^ "Offaly hit 0-41 in massive Christy Ring Cup final victory over Derry". The 42. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.

[auto-1] "Draws announced for McDonagh, Ring, Rackard, and Meagher Cups". www.gaa.ie.

[2] "Derry defeated but no disgrace as Offaly lift Christy Ring Cup in Croke Park". Derry Journal. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.

[3] "Free-scoring Offaly crush Derry to win Christy Ring". RTE Sport. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.

[4] "Offaly hit 0-41 in massive Christy Ring Cup final victory over Derry". The 42. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.

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