McCullough Cup

Trophy

The trophy is called The Ian McCullough Memorial Cup. It was donated by a well-known family in Northern Ireland hockey circles, in memory of their son Ian.

Ian (full name – John Truesdale McCullough) was a 15-year-old Newry Grammar School pupil. He was accidentally killed after being struck by a hockey ball during a match against Royal Belfast Academical Institution at Bladon Drive on 3 December 1960.

Teams

The teams that compete for this trophy are the strongest boys' first teams from schools in Ulster. All players must be under 18 on 1 July at the start of the year of the competition. Fourteen teams from thirteen schools competed for the trophy in the 2013–14 season.

Format

The competition started out as a straight knockout event with the first winners being the defunct Bushmills Grammar School. However it was soon decided to move all matches to the winter term, with a league format introduced to provide all schools with a guaranteed number of fixtures.

Under the current format, all teams are divided into two pools, with each school playing all the other schools in their pool once. The top two teams from each pool qualify for the semi-finals.

In the semi-finals the teams in first place in the pools play the second place teams from the other pool.

The winners of the semi-final ties contest the final, which is usually played at a neutral venue on the second Wednesday in December.

Performance by school

Footnote

• † Total includes Annadale Grammar School performance (one win and one beaten finalist). Wellington College was formed as a result of merger involving Annadale Grammar School.

Finals

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Sources

References

1. (15 December 1966)
2. (8 December 1960)
3. (19 May 1962)
4. (4 April 1963)
5. (6 April 1963)
6. (9 May 1964)
7. (10 April 1965)
8. (3 February 1966)
9. (20 March 1968)
10. (22 March 1969)
11. (3 January 1970)
12. (21 December 1970)
13. (8 January 1971)
14. (18 December 1971)
15. (18 December 1972)
16. (16 December 1974)
17. (22 December 1975)
18. (12 December 1977)
19. (18 December 1985)
20. (11 December 1986)
21. (10 December 1987)
22. (8 December 1988)
23. (7 December 1989)
24. (6 December 1990)
25. (5 December 1991)
26. (10 December 1992)
27. (9 December 1993)
28. (15 December 1994)
29. (14 December 1995)
30. (12 December 1996)
31. (11 December 1997)
32. (10 December 1998)
33. (9 December 1999)
34. (11 December 2003). "Paul overcomes family tragedy to help Inst take Cup". www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
35. (12 December 2007). "Cookstown beat Banbridge in final". BBC Sport.
36. (10 December 2008). "Cookstown clinch McCullough Cup". BBC Sport.
37. (9 December 2009). "Banbridge beat Wallace in decider". BBC Sport.
38. (24 February 2011). "Sloan shoots down Bann". Belfast Telegraph.
39. (24 February 2011). "Cookstown clinch McCullough Cup 2010-11 (video content)". BBC Sport.
40. (14 December 2011). "Sloan stars as Cookstown claim cup (video content)". BBC Sport.
41. (19 December 2012). "Banbridge enjoy McCullough Cup success". Belfast Newsletter.
42. (11 December 2013). "Wallace beat Lisburn rivals Friends in schools hockey final(video content)". BBC Sport.
43. (12 December 2013). "O'Hare strikes in extra time to edge out Friends in final". Belfast Newsletter.
44. (11 December 2014). "Banbridge secure McCullough Cup(video content)". BBC Sport.
45. (11 December 2014). "Luke who's Banbridge Academy hero in McCullough Cup showdown". Belfast Telegraph.
46. (9 December 2015). "Sullivan Upper beat Wallace High School in McCullough Cup Final". Belfast Newsletter.
47. (7 December 2016). "Banbridge Academy win schoolboys hockey final". BBC.
48. (6 December 2017). "Sullivan have upper hand in hockey final". BBC Sport.
49. https://ulsterhockey.com/banbridge-academy-lift-the-mccullough-cup/ Ulster Hockey