Fears ‘fake MacCarthy Cup’ doing rounds
‘We’ve heard reports of replicas’
YOU wait 29 years for the Liam MacCarthy Cup to return to your county – and then you get more than one at the same time!
The chalice has been winding its way around Galway, featuring at functions and social events, since the county’s senior hurlers defeated Waterford in September’s All-Ireland final – the first time they’d won the trophy since 1988.
However, there have been rumblings of a possible replica trophy being used at some events. This first emerged in October when a supposed Liam MacCarthy trophy appeared at an event – at the same time as another function where the real cup was brought along by members of the Galway team.
Galway County Committee chairman Pat Kearney yesterday said he had heard suggestions that one or two replica cups were in circulation, through unofficial channels. However, he stressed that the only trophy the county board was circulating was the one handed to captain David Burke at Croke Park in September.
He urged anyone looking to have the trophy at an event to go through official channels to get it, saying: ‘They have to come to county board.’ He added: ‘As far as I am concerned, we have one cup. We have heard reports of replica cups. We have one cup and Croke Park will probably be making some policy on that.
‘The MacCarthy is prized and we fought hard for 29 years for that. We won’t be going around with any replica cup.’
A spokesperson for Croke Park said it would be very concerned if replicas of the Liam MacCarthy, Sam Maguire or other cups were being used and masqueraded as the real trophy. He said the Liam MacCarthy and Sam Maguire cups were governed by copyright since new versions of the trophies were made almost three decades ago.
‘It is unacceptable that replicas of any of our trophies be made and circulated and we would welcome any information on this,’ he said.
The spokesperson confirmed an official replica of the Liam MacCarthy Cup had been made and was used occasionally for promotional purposes by Croke Park – but added that use of this was under strict governance, and that it was never used in public.
He also confirmed the trophy presented to David Burke after Galway’s win on September 3 was the real Liam MacCarthy Cup.