The 2021 Nicky Rackard Cup was the 17th staging of the Nicky Rackard Cup since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2005. The cup began on 26 June 2021 and ended on 31 July 2021.
Longford and Monaghan did not participate in the competition after being relegated in 2020. Donegal were the defending champions, however, they were beaten by Tyrone in the semi-final. Leitrim were relegated after a defeat by Armagh.
The final was played on 31 July 2021 at Croke Park in Dublin, between Mayo and Tyrone, in what was their first ever meeting in a final. Mayo won the match by 2-27 to 1-14 to claim their second cup title overall and a first title since 2016.
Donegal's Declan Coulter was the Nicky Rackard Cup's top scorer with 1-34.
Team changes
To Championship Relegated from the Christy Ring Cup
None
Promoted from the Lory Meagher Cup
None
From Championship Promoted to the Christy Ring Cup
None
Relegated to the Lory Meagher Cup
Longford Monaghan
Competition format
Cup format
The format has been changed for 2021 with 5 teams playing across two groups, one with 3 teams and one with 2 teams based on an open draw.
Group A will feature 3 teams and be played in a single Round Robin format with each team having one home game and one away game.
Group B will feature 2 teams who will play a single fixture.
All teams will play a knockout format after this group stage, with the group winners and second-placed team in Group A being placed in the semi-finals. A tie between the third-placed team in Group A and second-placed team in Group B will determine the fourth semi-finalist.
Promotion The winner of the final will be promoted to the Christy Ring Cup.
Relegation The loser of the quarter-final will be relegated to the Lory Meagher Cup
Group stage
Group A
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" !width=20| !width=150 style="text-align:left;"|Team !width=20| !width=20| !width=20| !width=20| !width=50| !width=50| !width=20| !width=20| !Qualification |- style="background:#ccffcc" |1||align=left| Mayo||2||2||0||0||2-43||0-26||+23||4 | rowspan="2" |Advance to Semi-Finals |- style="background:#ccffcc" |2|| align="left" | Donegal||2||1||0||1||1-47||6-24||+5||2 |- style="background:#FFFFE0" |3|| align="left" | Leitrim||2||0||0||2||4-19||1-56||-28||0 |Advance to Quarter-Finals
Group A round 1
Group A round 2
Group A round 3
Group B
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" !width=20| !width=150 style="text-align:left;"|Team !width=20| !width=20| !width=20| !width=20| !width=50| !width=50| !width=20| !width=20| !Qualification |- style="background:#ccffcc" |1||align=left| Tyrone||1||1||0||0||1-18||1-16||+2||2 |Advance to Semi-Finals |- style="background:#FFFFE0" |2|| align="left" | Armagh||1||0||0||1||1-16||1-18||-2||0 |Advance to Quarter-Finals
Group B round 1
Knockout stage
Bracket
Quarter-final
Semi-finals
Final
Statistics
Top scorers
Top scorer overall
Rank Player Club Tally Total Matches Average1Declan CoulterDonegal1-3437312.332Keith HigginsMayo1-303348.333Damian CaseyTyrone0-3030310.004Danny MageeArmagh6-062438.005Gavin O'HaganLeitrim0-232337.666Shane BolandMayo0-181836.007Fionntán DonnellyArmagh1-172036.668Adrian PhillipsMayo2-091543.759Richie RyanDonegal0-121234.0010Cathal FreemanMayo2-051125.50
In a single game
Rank Player Club Tally Total Opposition1Danny MageeArmagh5-0217Leitrim2Declan CoulterDonegal0-1515Tyrone3Declan CoulterDonegal1-1013Leitrim4Gavin O'HaganLeitrim0-1111ArmaghKeith HigginsMayo0-1111ArmaghDamian CaseyTyrone0-1111Donegal7Damian CaseyTyrone0-1010Armagh8Declan CoulterDonegal0-099MayoShane BolandMayo0-099DonegalKeith HigginsMayo0-099LeitrimDamian CaseyTyrone0-099Mayo
References