19th century Following the foundation of the
Gaelic Athletic Association in 1884, new rules for
Gaelic football and
hurling were drawn up and published in the
United Irishman newspaper. Throughout 1886, county committees were established, with the
Cork County Board affiliating on 19 December 1886. Plans to hold championships in both hurling and football were drawn up over the following weeks, with an advert inviting teams to enter appearing in the
Cork Examiner on 15 January 1887. The cost of entering a team was 2s 6d and the closing date for entries was 29 January 1887. The championship draw took place at 23 Maylor Street on the day after the closing date and "the utmost good feeling was displayed, and...the contesting parties were agreeably satisfied" as the draw took place. 22 teams from 20 clubs entered.
Agahda and
Cork National Hurling Club each entered two teams, while
Aghabullogue,
Ballinhassig,
Ballygarvan,
Blarney,
Carrignavar,
Charleville,
Douglas,
Evergreen Road,
Glasheen,
Inniscarra,
Little Island,
Mogeely,
Monkstown,
Passage,
Quarry Road,
St. Finbarr's,
St Mary's and
Tower Street each entered one team. at the turn of the 20th century. Their hurling dominance at county and national level led to the area being nicknamed the "home of hurling". All of the matches in the
inaugural championship took place at a special enclosure in Cork City Park, with the first match taking place "in the presence of several thousand persons" at 2;30 pm on 6 March 1887. Mr. J. E. Kennedy acted as referee and Messrs E. Cotter and W. Sheehan performed the duties of goal umpires. Glasheen beat Cork National Hurling Club's 2nd 21 by 1-02 to no score. The championship progressed as matches continued throughout the summer, however, the final stages ended in disarray. The
semi-final between Cork Nationals Hurling Club 1st 21 and St. Finbarr's ended after twenty minutes when both sides and the match officials disagreed over the awarding of a point. An emergency meeting of the
Cork County Committee was held with representatives from
Passage Hurling Club, St. Finbarr's and the Cork Nationals being brought before the meeting. After some discussion, the Passage Hurling Club agreed to withdraw from the championship. St. Finbarr's agreed to a proposal that lots be drawn between themselves and the Cork Nationals to decide who would represent Cork in the
1887 All-Ireland Championship. The Cork Nationals rejected the idea, however, they were later awarded the championship. The
1888 championship saw an increase in the number of participating teams to 35. In an effort to cut down on travel costs for clubs, the County Board adopted a divisional structure to the championship. The participating teams were divided into six divisions along geographic lines; Cork City, East Cork, Mid Cork, North Cork, North-East Cork and South Cork. There were no hurling clubs in West Cork. The six divisional champions qualified for the county-wide series of games. The first final to be played took place on 29 April 1888, with
Tower Street beating
Ballygarvan by 4-01 to 0-01. Tower Street later went on to win the very first
Munster Championship as the
Cork representatives. Towards the end of 1888, a serious split in the Association in Cork lead to the existence of three rival and distinct county boards. 40 clubs left the official board and affiliated to the Cork Board, under the presidency of Fr. O'Connor, and the O'Brien Board under the presidency of Fr. Carver. These three boards ran their own separate championships over the following two seasons, however, the Cork County Board remained as the official administrative branch of the GAA. In
1890,
Aghabullogue, as official county champions, became the first Cork representatives to win the
All-Ireland Championship. The three individual boards unified under the banner of the Cork County Board in 1891, with the championship continuing to be run on a divisional basis. There was such intense interest in the championship that year amongst the general public that it was reported in
The Nation newspaper that the attendance of 16,000 at the
Blackrock-
St. Finbarr's game set a new attendance record for a hurling game in the whole of
Ireland. The championship reverted to a straight knock-out format in
1892. 14 teams from 10 clubs entered, with the first and second teams being separated in the draw.
20th century A delay in the
1904 championship meant that the
1905 championship never took place. In spite of this, St. Finbarr's were subsequently awarded the title after beating
Ballymartle in the
1906 final. On 26 January 1908, the newly built
Cork Athletic Grounds hosted the
final for the very first time. It remained as the regular final venue for the following 67 years. The
War of Independence (1919-1921) saw Cork take a prominent role, something which had an adverse effect on the smooth running of the championships. Civil unrest following a series of events, including the murder of
Lord Mayor Tomás Mac Curtain, the death from
hunger strike of Lord Mayor
Terence MacSwiney and the
burning of Cork at the height of the war, resulted in the
1920 championship being delayed by two years and the entire cancellation of the 1921 championship. The first decades of the new century brought new teams but not in a traditional sense. Food production company
Crosse & Blackwell, third level educational institution
University College Cork (UCC) and
Collins Military Barracks all entered teams, however, UCC are the only team to continue fielding a team as of
2020. The creation of the divisional boards in the late 1920s added a new dimension to the championship. These divisional teams were composed of
junior and
intermediate players and afforded every player in the county the chance of winning a senior championship medal.
Avondhu,
Carbery and
Muskerry became the first divisions to enter teams when they did so in the
1933 championship. hosted the finals from 1976 to 2014. On 20 August 1976,
Glen Rovers defeated
Seandún by 4-10 to 1-06 in the first senior championship game to take place at the newly built
Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The
1976 final later became the first final to be played at the new stadium.
The Mardyke hosted the two previous finals due to the demolition of the old Athletic Grounds. After 90 years of using the single-elimination straight knock-out format, problems arose regarding the standard of the competing teams. A special committee was established to examine the possibility of restructuring the championship format. At the County Convention on 5 February 1978, delegates voted by 143 to 93 in favour of abandoning the knock-out format and adopting a group stage. This format was used for three successive season from 1978 until 1980, with
Blackrock and
St. Finbarr's becoming the first teams to win the championship after suffering a defeat. The County Board voted to revert to the single-elimination straight knock-out format in
1981. In
1995,
Cork Regional Technical College were permitted to field a team in the championship for the first time.
21st century became the regular final venue in 2017. The introduction of a "back door" system at inter-county level in the
All-Ireland Championship in
1997 led to the idea of introducing a second chance for defeated teams at county level. In
2000 a
double-elimination format was introduced which afforded all club teams a second chance by remaining in the championship after a first-round defeat. In the two decades that followed the championship format continued to evolve with a number of minor tweaks. The provision of a second chance for defeated teams was later expanded to allow teams the opportunity of being defeated twice and still remain in the championship. The splitting of the intermediate grade in two resulted in the introduction of relegation in
2006, with
Delanys becoming the first team to be relegated that year. Prior to this teams were allowed to decide for themselves if they wanted to regrade or retain their senior status. In
2015 the championship once again reverted to a double-elimination format. Redevelopment of
Páirc Uí Chaoimh saw the final played outside of its regular venue for the first time in nearly 40 years, with the
2015 and
2016 finals being played at
Páirc Uí Rinn. ==Domination, shock victories and rivalries==