Trophies
At the end of the Leinster final, the winning team is presented with a trophy. The Bob O'Keeffe Cup is held by the winning team until the following year's final. Traditionally, the presentation is made at a special rostrum in the stand where GAA and political dignitaries and special guests view the match.
The cup is decorated with ribbons in the colours of the winning team. During the game the cup actually has both teams' sets of ribbons attached and the runners-up ribbons are removed before the presentation. The winning captain accepts the cup on behalf of his team before giving a short speech. Individual members of the winning team then have an opportunity to come to the rostrum to lift the cup.
The cup is named after Bob O'Keeffe, a native of Kilkenny who later won an All-Ireland medal with Laois and served as President of the GAA in the 1930s. The cup was donated by the Leinster Council in 1950 to commemorate O'Keeffe. The cup is the biggest to be presented in Gaelic Games, standing 3 feet 8 inches, weighing 564 ounces and with a capacity of 6 gallons. The Celtic chase work has been taken from the Book of Kells. The hurler depicted on the top of the cup is barefooted, which is significant in view of the fact that O'Keeffe originally played in that manner. The original Bob O'Keeffe Cup was donated to the GAA museum at Croke Park in 2005. It was replaced by a replica also named the Bob O'Keeffe Cup.
Read more about this topic: Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
Famous quotes containing the word trophies:
“Scatter these well-meant idioms
Into the smoky spring that fills
The suburbs, where they will be lost.
They are no trophies of the sun.”
—Hart Crane (1899–1932)
“I have made my bed
In charnels and on coffins, where black death
Keeps record of the trophies won”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
“The notion that the public accepts or rejects anything in modern art ... is merely romantic fiction.... The game is completed and the trophies distributed long before the public knows what has happened.”
—Tom Wolfe (b. 1931)