2018 Dr McKenna Cup

The 2018 Dr McKenna Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup, was a Gaelic football competition in the province of Ulster for county and university teams. It is normally held at the beginning of the GAA season.

2018 Dr McKenna Cup

Tournament details
Province	Ulster
Year	2018
Sponsor	Bank of Ireland[1]
Dates	3 January — 17 February
Teams	12
Defending champions	Tyrone
Winners
Champions	Donegal (11th win)
Manager	Declan Bonner
Captain	Hugh McFadden
Runners-up
Runners-up	Tyrone
Manager	Mickey Harte
Captain	Mattie Donnelly
Other
Matches played	21
Website	Ulster GAA
← 2017 2019 →

Twelve teams take part – the nine Ulster county teams and three university teams, i.e. St Mary's University College, Belfast, Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University at Jordanstown (UUJ).

The draw took place on Thursday 30 November in the Balmoral Hotel, Belfast ^[2] with the fixtures confirmed following a meeting of Comhairle Uladh CCC on Tuesday 5 December 2017. ^[3]

After many postponements due to bad winter weather, the tournament ended on 17 February 2018 with Donegal the winners, ending a six-year Tyrone winning streak.

Format

Group Stage

The twelve teams are drawn into three sections of four teams, with each section containing three county teams and one university team. Each team plays the other teams in its section once, earning 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw. A "scoring-average/points-ratio" method is used to determine the ranking of teams who are level on section points (as opposed to "scoring differential").^[4]

Knock-out Stage

The winners of the three sections and the best runner-up compete in the semi-finals with the two winners meeting in the final.

Group stage

Section A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PR	Pts	Qualification
1	Tyrone	3	3	0	0	79	38	2.079	6	Advance to semi-final
2	St Mary's	3	1	0	2	46	49	0.939	2
3	Antrim	3	1	0	2	55	71	0.775	2
4	Cavan	3	1	0	2	41	63	0.651	2

Updated to match(es) played on 14 January 2018. Source: Ulster GAA

3 January 2018 (2018-01-03) Round 1	Tyrone	4-20 (32) – (17) 2-11	Antrim	Armagh
8:00pm		(HT: 1-10 – 0-04)		Venue: Athletic Grounds
				Referee: Enda McFeely (Donegal)

Tyrone v Antrim

3 January 2018 (2018-01-03) Round 1	Cavan	0-15 (15) – (12) 0-12	St. Mary's	Cavan
8:00pm		(HT: 0-05 – 0-08)		Venue: Breffni Park 3G
				Referee: Kevin Faloon (Down)

Cavan v St. Mary's

7 January 2018 (2018-01-07) Round 2	Antrim	4-11 (23) – (19) 2-13	Cavan	Belfast
2:00pm		(HT: 2-06 – 1-06)		Venue: Woodlands
				Referee: Joseph Corcoran (Fermanagh)

Antrim v Cavan

7 January 2018 (2018-01-07) Round 2	Tyrone	1-16 (19) – (14) 1-11	St. Mary's	Coalisland
2:15pm		(HT: 1-07 – 1-05)		Venue: Fr Peter Campbell Park
				Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)

Tyrone v St. Mary's

10 January 2018 (2018-01-10) Round 3	Cavan	0-07 (07) – (28) 2-22	Tyrone	Cavan
8:00pm		(HT: 0-01 – 0-11)		Venue: Breffni Park
				Referee: Niall Cullen (Fermanagh)

Cavan v Tyrone

10 January 2018 (2018-01-10) Round 3	Antrim	0-15 (15) – (20) 4-08	St. Mary's	Belfast
8:00pm		(HT: 0-04 – 1-04)		Venue: Woodlands
				Referee: Paul Faloon (Down)

Antrim v St. Mary's

Section B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PR	Pts	Qualification
1	Armagh	3	2	1	0	47	38	1.237	5	Advance to semi-final
2	Derry	3	2	0	1	50	52	0.962	4
3	Down	3	1	0	2	46	44	1.045	2
4	Ulster University	3	0	1	2	40	49	0.816	1

Updated to match(es) played on 14 January 2018. Source: Ulster GAA

3 January 2018 (2018-01-03) Round 1	Down	0-13 (13) – (18) 2-12	Armagh	Newry
8:00pm		(HT: 0-05 – 0-09)		Venue: Páirc Esler
				Referee: Sean Laverty (Antrim)

Down v Armagh

3 January 2018 (2018-01-03) Round 1	Derry	2-14 (20) – (19) 3-10	Ulster University	Derry
8:00pm		(HT: 1-06 – 0-08)		Venue: Celtic Park
				Referee: Kieran Mooney (Down)

Derry v Ulster University

14 January 2018 (2018-01-14) Round 2	Armagh	1-15 (18) – (13) 0-13	Derry	Armagh
2:00pm		(HT: 1-08 – 0-05)		Venue: Athletic Grounds
		Report		Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan)
Note: This game was originally scheduled to take place on 7 January, but was postponed due to a frozen pitch.

Armagh v Derry

14 January 2018 (2018-01-14) Round 2	Down	1-14 (17) – (09) 0-09	Ulster University	Burren
2:00pm				Venue: St. Mary's Park
				Referee: Karol Doherty (Antrim)
Note: This game was originally scheduled to take place on 7 January, but was postponed due to a frozen pitch.

Down v Ulster University

10 January 2018 (2018-01-10) Round 3	Derry	1-14 (17) – (16) 2-10	Down	Derry
8:00pm		(HT: 0-08 – 2-07)		Venue: Celtic Park
		Report		Referee: Anthony Marron (Monaghan)

Derry v Down

10 January 2018 (2018-01-10) Round 3	Armagh	0-12 (12) – (12) 1-09	Ulster University	Armagh
8:00pm		(HT: 0-04 – 1-06)		Venue: Athletic Grounds
				Referee: Conor Dourneen (Cavan)

Armagh v Ulster University

Section C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PR	Pts	Qualification
1	Fermanagh	3	3	0	0	46	37	1.243	6	Advance to semi-final
2	Donegal	3	2	0	1	63	41	1.537	4	Advance to semi-final (best runner-up)
3	Monaghan	3	1	0	2	50	53	0.943	2
4	Queen's University Belfast	3	0	0	3	25	53	0.472	0

Updated to match(es) played on 14 January 2018. Source: Ulster GAA

3 January 2018 (2018-01-03) Round 1	Donegal	2-15 (21) – (06) 0-06	Queen's University Belfast	Ballybofey
8:00pm		(HT: 2-05 – 0-02)		Venue: Páirc MacCumhaill
				Referee: James Lewis (Fermanagh)

Donegal v Queen's University Belfast

3 January 2018 (2018-01-03) Round 1	Fermanagh	2-11 (17) – (12) 0-12	Monaghan	Enniskillen
8:00pm		(HT: 0-05 – 0-06)		Venue: Brewster Park
				Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone)

Fermanagh v Monaghan

7 January 2018 (2018-01-07) Round 2	Fermanagh	1-10 (13) – (12) 1-09	Queen's University Belfast	Enniskillen
2:15pm		(HT: 0-06 – 1-04)		Venue: Brewster Park
				Referee: Stephen Campbell (Tyrone)

Fermanagh v Queen's University Belfast

14 January 2018 (2018-01-14) Round 2	Monaghan	0-19 (19) – (29) 4-17	Donegal	Clones
2:00pm		(HT: 0-10 – 2-09)		Venue: St Tiernach's Park
		Report		Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan)

Monaghan v Donegal

10 January 2018 (2018-01-10) Round 3	Monaghan	2-13 (19) – (07) 0-07	Queen's University Belfast	Castleblayney
8:00pm		(HT: 2-08 – 0-02)		Venue: St Mary's Park
				Referee: Pat Clarke (Cavan)

Monaghan v Queen's University Belfast

10 January 2018 (2018-01-10) Round 3	Donegal	1-10 (13) – (16) 1-13	Fermanagh	Ballybofey
8:00pm		(HT: 1-05 – 0-05)		Venue: Páirc MacCumhaill
				Referee: Dan Mullan (Derry)

Donegal v Fermanagh

Ranking of second-placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PR	Pts	Qualification
1	C	Donegal	3	2	0	1	63	41	1.537	4	Advance to semi-final
2	B	Derry	3	2	0	1	50	52	0.962	4
3	A	St. Mary's	3	1	0	2	46	49	0.939	2

Updated to match(es) played on 14 January 2018. Source: Ulster GAA

Knock-out Stage

Semi-finals

14 January 2018 (2018-01-14) Semi-Final	Fermanagh	0-04 (04) – (08) 0-08	Tyrone	Enniskillen
2:00pm		(HT: 0-03 – 0-06)		Venue: Brewster Park
	Pts: Ryan Jones, Barry Mulrone, Aidan Breen, Seamus Quigley (f)	Report	Pts: Darren McCurry (3, 3f), Conor McAliskey (2, 1f), Richard Donnelly, Declan McClure, Ronan O'Neill	Referee: Ciaran Branagan (Down)

Fermanagh v Tyrone

20 January 2018 (2018-01-20) Semi-Final	Donegal	0-20 (20) – (13) 1-10	Armagh	Derry
6:00pm		(HT: 0-09 – 1-06)		Venue: Celtic Park
	Pts: Patrick McBrearty (8, 3f), Darach O'Connor (3, 1f), Niall O’Donnell (3), Stephen McBrearty (3), Nathan Mullins (2), Ciarán Thompson	Report	Gls: Eamon McGeown Pts: Eamon McGeown (3), Michael Stevenson (3, 1 '45), Stephen Sheridan, Edward English, Conor White, Oisin Mac Íomhair	Referee: Niall McKenna (Monaghan)

Donegal v Armagh

Final

Donegal	1-16 (19) – (15) 1-12	Tyrone
(HT: 1-09 – 1-06)
Gls: M McElhinney Pts: N O'Donnell (3), M Murphy (3, 2f), M Reilly (2, 1f), D Ó Baoill (2), P Brennan (2), M McElhinney, F McGlynn, O MacNiallais, C Thompson		Gls: H Loughran Pts: R O'Neill (6, 5f), H Loughran, C McCarron, K McGeary, C McCann, D McClure, D McCurry

Donegal v Tyrone

17 February 2018 (2018-02-17) 6:00pm Final

Report

Athletic Grounds, Armagh Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry) Attendance: 4,287