# 2021 Christy Ring Cup

The 2021 Christy Ring Cup was the 17th staging of the Christy Ring Cup since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2005. The cup began on 26 June 2021 and ended on 1 August 2021.
Covid-19 caused all London games to be postponed for an extra year.
The final was played on 1 August 2021 at Croke Park in Dublin, between Offaly and Derry, in what was their first ever meeting in a final. Offaly won the match by 0-41 to 2-14 to claim their first ever cup title.
Offaly's Eoghan Cahill was the Ring Cup's top scorer with 0-36.

## Team changes
### To Championship

Relegated from the Joe McDonagh Cup
* None
Promoted from the Nicky Rackard Cup
* None

### From Championship

Promoted to the Joe McDonagh Cup
* Down
* Kildare
Relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup
* None

## Teams
### General Information

| County | Last Cup title | Last provincial title | Last All-Ireland title | Position in 2020 Championship | Appearance |
| Derry | — | 2001 | — | Round 2 | 15th |
| Offaly | — | 1995 | 1998 | Semi-finals | 2nd |
| Roscommon | — | 1913 | — | Semi-finals | 13th |
| Sligo | — | — | — | Round 2 | 2nd |
| Wicklow | — | — | — | Round 2 | |

### Personnel and kits

* County
* Derry
* Offaly
* Roscommon
* Sligo
* Wicklow

## 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 Joe McDonagh Cup.

### Relegation

The loser of the quarter-final will be relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup

## Group stage
### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | SF | SA | Diff | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Derry | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2-42 | 1-33 | +12 | 4 | Advance to Semi-Finals |
| 2 | Wicklow | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2-36 | 3-34 | -1 | 2 | Advance to Semi-Finals |
| 3 | Roscommon | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2-26 | 2-37 | -11 | 0 | Advance to Quarter-Finals |

#### Group A round 3
### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | SF | SA | Diff | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Offaly | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2-39 | 2-17 | +22 | 2 | Advance to Semi-Finals |
| 2 | Sligo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2-17 | 2-39 | -22 | 0 | Advance to Quarter-Finals |

#### Group B round 1
## Knockout stage
### Bracket

| Quarter-Finals - 17 July | Quarter-Finals - 17 July | Quarter-Finals - 17 July | Semi-Finals - 24 July | Semi-Finals - 24 July | Semi-Finals - 24 July | Final - 1 August | Final - 1 August | Final - 1 August |
| | | | 1A | Derry | 0-28 | | | |
| | | | 2B | Sligo | 2-17 | | | |
| 2B | Sligo | 2-18 | 2B | Sligo | 2-17 | | | |
| 3A | Roscommon | 1-20 | | | | | | |
| 3A | Roscommon | 1-20 | | | | 1A | Derry | 2-14 |
| | | | | | | 1B | Offaly | 0-41 |
| | | | 1B | Offaly | 6-30 | | | |
| | | | 2A | Wicklow | 0-11 | | | |

### Quarter-final

Roscommon are relegated to the 2022 Nicky Rackard Cup.

### Final

Offaly are promoted to the 2022 Joe McDonagh Cup.

## Statistics
### Top scorers
#### Top Scorer Overall

| Rank | Player | County | Tally | Total | Matches | Average |
| 1 | Eoghan Cahill | Offaly | 0-36 | 36 | 3 | 12.00 |
| 2 | Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch | Sligo | 3-24 | 33 | 3 | 11.00 |
| 3 | Cormac O'Doherty | Derry | 0-32 | 32 | 4 | 8.00 |
| 4 | Andy O'Brien | Wicklow | 0-30 | 30 | 3 | 10.00 |
| 5 | Cathal Dolan | Roscommon | 0-19 | 19 | 3 | 6.33 |
| 6 | Oisín Kelly | Offaly | 2-10 | 16 | 3 | 5.33 |
| 7 | Odhran McKeever | Derry | 3-06 | 15 | 4 | 3.75 |
| 8 | Gerald Bradley | Derry | 1-11 | 14 | 4 | 3.50 |
| 9 | Brian Duignan | Offaly | 1-10 | 13 | 3 | 4.33 |
| 10 | John Murphy | Offaly | 0-12 | 12 | 3 | 4.00 |

#### In a single game

| Rank | Player | Club | Tally | Total | Opposition |
| 1 | Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch | Sligo | 2-12 | 18 | Offaly |
| 2 | Eoghan Cahill | Offaly | 0-15 | 15 | Sligo |
| 3 | Eoghan Cahill | Offaly | 0-13 | 13 | Derry |
| 4 | Andy O'Brien | Wicklow | 0-12 | 12 | Derry |
| 4 | Cormac O'Doherty | Derry | 0-12 | 12 | Offaly |
| 6 | Andy O'Brien | Wicklow | 0-10 | 10 | Roscommon |
| 7 | Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch | Sligo | 1-06 | 9 | Derry |
| 8 | Odhran McKeever | Derry | 2-02 | 8 | Wicklow |
| 8 | Cillian Egan | Roscommon | 1-05 | 8 | Wicklow |
| 8 | Andy O'Brien | Wicklow | 0-08 | 8 | Offaly |
| 8 | Cormac O'Doherty | Derry | 0-08 | 8 | Roscommon |
| 8 | Eoghan Cahill | Offaly | 0-08 | 8 | Wicklow |
| 8 | Cathal Dolan | Roscommon | 0-08 | 8 | Sligo |