MacLarnon Cup
Up until 1960, the only Colleges football competition at Senior level was the MacRory Cup, and a number of schools had emerged which were anxious to participate but which did not have the numbers or resources to compete against the large diocesan boarding schools.
In 1959, Dean MacLarnon presented a trophy to the Ulster Colleges Council for a Provincial ‘B’ championship which would address the needs of these emerging schools. Coincidentally or otherwise, the first winners in 1960 were St Patrick’s Academy Dungannon, the school in which Dean MacLarnon was Headteacher!
A notable feature over the intervening decades since 1960 has been the egalitarian nature of this particular competition, as evidenced by the fact that in March 2012 St Paul’s Bessbrook became the 24th different school to lift this title. There is an additionally important historical dimension to the list of past winners in that it includes a number of schools which have now disappeared from the educational landscape due to demographic changes and/or amalgamations e.g. Armagh CBS, St Michael’s Omeath, De La Salle, Ballyshannon, St Tiernach’s Clones.
This 2nd tier championship is currently contested by 18 schools annually, and its ongoing unpredictability confirms the breadth of standards across such a large number of schools. The 2012 champions, St Paul’s Bessbrook, went on to lift the All Ireland ‘B’ title (the Noonan Cup).
The original MacLarnon Cup was retired in February 2012, and presented to the O’Fiaich Library in Armagh. A number of Past Pupils of St Patrick’s Academy Dungannon, convened by Peter Herron who is a well known coach in the school, presented Ulster Colleges with a magnificent new trophy, thereby maintaining the link between the Academy and this illustrious competition.
MacLarnon Cup Roll of Honour
2020 St. Pius X, Magherafelt / Our Lady & St. Patrick’s, Knock (Shared due to Covid 19)
2019 St Patrick’s Downpatrick
2018 Holy Trinity College Cookstown
2017 St Ciaran’s College, Ballygawley
2016 Patrician High School Carrickmacross
2015 Our Ladys Secondary School, Castleblayney
2014 St Eunan’s Letterkenny
2013 St Michael’s, Lurgan
2012 St Paul’s High School Bessbrook
2011 St Mary’s CBGS Belfast
2010 St Michael’s, Lurgan
2009 St Pius X Magherafelt
2008 St Mary’s C.B.S. Belfast
2007 St Eunan’s Letterkenny
2006 La Salle Belfast
2005 Our Lady’s Castleblaney
2004 St Louis Kilkeel
2003 St Michael’s Lurgan
2002 St Columb’s Derry
2001 St Patrick’s Downpatrick
2000 St Eunan’s Letterkenny
1999 De La Salle Ballyshannon
1998 Patrician High Carrickmacross
1997 Patrician High Carrickmacross
1996 De La Salle Ballyshannon
1995 St Michael’s Lurgan
1994 St Mary’s Magherafelt
1993 St Mary’s Magherafelt
1992 St Mary’s Magherafelt
1991 St Michael’s Lurgan
1990 St Patrick’s Downpatrick
1979 St Eunan’s Letterkenny
1978 Armagh C.B.S.
1977 St Patrick’s Downpatrick
1976 Armagh C.B.S.
1975 Armagh C.B.S.
1974 Armagh C.B.S.
1973 St Tiernach’s Clones
1972 St Patrick’s Dungannon
1971 Omagh C.B.S.
1970 St Patrick’s Maghera
1969 St Patrick’s Downpatrick
1968 St Eunan’s Letterkenny
1967 St Michael’s Omeath
1966 St Patrick’s Armagh
1965 St Patrick’s Cavan
1964 St Michael’s Enniskillen
1963 St Columb’s Derry
1962 St Malachy’s Belfast
1961 St Michael’s Omeath
1960 St Patrick’s Dungannon