THE GAA is undertaking a secret project to create exact replicas of the iconic All-Ireland hurling and football trophies to satisfy unprecedented demand for “appearances” of the silverware at social, sporting and marketing events.
The plan to create “twins” of the trophies began last year and is nearing completion.
Some of the country’s leading gold and silversmiths have been confidentially engaged to create copies of hurling’s Liam MacCarthy Cup and football’s Sam Maguire Cup. The cost, which has not been disclosed, is likely to be significant as both trophies are made from solid silver and require painstaking and intricate metalwork.
It is understood that the duplicates are being made to satisfy the growing and often conflicting demands for the trophies to appear at a range of sporting, social and promotional occasions. The winning All-Ireland team in each code (currently Kerry for football and Kilkenny for hurling) is entitled to retain the trophy for 12 months. Both cups are frequently borrowed for social occasions ranging from christenings to funerals as well as regular visits to schools and GAA clubs. But the trophies are also increasingly used for commercial promotions by the sponsors of both championships.
GAA headquarters yesterday declined to comment on the project.
The original Liam MacCarthy Cup, based on the design of an old Irish drinking vessel, cost £500 and was made in 1922 by Edmund Johnson, a Grafton Street jeweller. It commemorates the memory of Liam MacCarthy, born in London to Irish parents in 1851, who was prominently involved in the establishment of a GAA county board in London in the 1890s.
Gaelic football’s Sam Maguire Cup is named after a native of Dunmanway, Co Cork, born in 1879, who emigrated to London, worked with the post office, was prominent in GAA circles and reputedly initiated Michael Collins into the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Often simply referred to as “Sam”, the original cup was modelled on the Ardagh chalice, cost £300 and was made in 1928 by Hopkins and Hopkins of O’Connell Bridge, Dublin.
Over the ensuing decades, both trophies endured considerable wear-and-tear. Following one Kerry All-Ireland victory, the base of the Sam Maguire was reputedly “cracked” during its tour of the county as a result of babies being placed in the cup for “photo opportunities”.
Eventually, the GAA authorities deemed that both trophies had been “worn out” and they were retired, put on permanent display in the museum at Croke Park, and replaced by identical new copies of the Sam Maguire Cup, in 1987, and the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 1992.
