The All-Ireland Poc Fada Championship is held annually testing the skills of many of the top Hurling and Camogie players. The modern Poc Fada recreates the legendary journey of Cú Chulainn who as the 7-year-old boy Setanta decided he had waited long enough to become a member of the famous Red Branch Knights of Ulster. So he set off from his home in Dundalk for the Macra, the Red Branch Knights school in Ard Mhacha (Armagh), some 60km away. While crossing The Cooley Mountains Setanta hit his sliotar far ahead and ran forward to catch it on his hurley stick before it hit the ground.

Who will follow in the footsteps of Cú Chulainn and poc all before them?

While today's competitors cannot fully recreate Setanta's mythical feats, they do compete over the same Cooley mountains as Setanta once passed.

This year’s event will once again be hosted in County Louth, with Annaverna Mountain on the Cooley Peninsula providing 27 competitors with the sternest of tests over a five-kilometre course across the mountain. The competitors qualified for the All-Ireland finals after coming through their own respective county and provincial competitions.

Defending senior champions Colin Ryan of Limerick and Molly Lynch from Cork are both set to return to defend the titles they won in 2025, with specialist Lynch going for a remarkable sixth title in a row. Ryan will be aiming to win his third title, having tasted success in 2021 as well as last year.

Poc Fada is Irish for "long puck", and competitors must puck a sliotar with a hurley over a 5km course broken into 4 stages across the Cooley Mountains playing to the top of Carn an Mhadaidh, and after a short break continue back down to the finish line. The senior men complete the full circuit (4 stages) while the senior Camogie contestants and the U16’s poc to An Gabhlan and back again (2 stages) 2.5 km.

Who will bring home the 2026 titles?

Visit Website for more information.