Fr. Manning Cup

The Fr. Manning Cup is the longest running inter-county Juvenile tournament in the country, organised for most of it’s history by the Longford County Board, and now managed centrally by the GAA. It was initiated on 8th April 1965 by Tommy O’Brien (Longford), Fr. Phil McGee (Longford), Dr. Donal Keenan (Roscommon, former GAA President) and George O’Toole (Leitrim). Five counties took part initially (Longford, Roscommon, Leitrim, Cavan and Westmeath), with Sligo joining later and Cavan replaced by Offaly in 2006. The competition also included Meath, Laois, Kildare, Louth, Wicklow, Wexford, Carlow and Clare at various points. Today it includes Longford, Leitrim, Sligo, Wicklow, Wexford and Clare.

The competition was named after Fr. Seán Manning who was born in Ranelagh in 1907 and raised in Drumshambo and in Glen (Edgeworthstown). He was ordained in 1931 and became a teacher in St. Mels College from 1933 to 1948. He served as Chairman of All-Ireland Colleges from 1943-1948, Chairman of Leinster Colleges from 1941 to 1948, Chairman of Longford County Board from 1945 to 1950, Chairman of Longford Minor Board from 1953 to 1954 and Chairman of the Leitrim County Board from 1955 to 1964. He coached St. Mels College from 1935 to 1948 winning 10 Leinster SFC, 2 Leinster JFC Colleges titles and 1 All-Ireland SFC Colleges title. Upon becoming curate in Drumlish in 1948, he was instrumental in the formation of the Young Irelands Minor Club (Drumlish-Ballinamuck) in 1949 as well as re-organising the Drumlish senior club into Young Irelands (later Éire Óg) in 1951 and training them to Longford SFC titles in 1951 & 1953. He was transferred to Annaduff in Leitrim in 1954 and the following year was elected Chairman of the Leitrim County Board, a position he held until his death in September 1964. The Under 16 inter-county tournament bearing his name began in 1965, while a cup was introduced for the winner in 1967 by Fr. Phil McGee. The Fr. Manning Gaels club in Drumlish is also named in his honour.

With Fr. Manning Cup at it’s height in the 2000’s, the competition fell foul of a new GAA rule 139 (b) which stated that inter-county competitions needed to be confined to four teams. Roscommon cleverly tabled a proposal in 2007 to split the tournament into two round-robin sections (one Leinster, one Connaught), thus ensuring the survival of the competition. The format was tweaked and expanded in the years that followed (was played as blitz in late 2000’s) and was finally restored to it’s original format in 2012 before evolving again in the years thereafter. When Longford won the Fr. Manning Cup in 2021, two stalwarts of the competition over the years – Tom Hayden and Seán McMullen – presented captain Matthew Carey with the cup.

Longford won the Fr. Manning Cup 11 times: 1965, 1967, 1968, 1976, 1986, 1989, 1995, 2001, 2012, 2021 and 2023.

– Title awarded to top team after all 4 games played from 1965 to 1972.
– Cannot find scoreline for the Fr. Manning Cup final of 1972.
– In 2008 & 2009 games prior to final played via same-day blitz.
– No competition played in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.