Through the looking glass as Collingwood Cup returns to Cork

Ahead of the 2016 Collingwood Cup, which will be hosted in Cork this week, the rich history of this celebrated Irish universities football competition once again comes into sharp relief.

And there is no shortage of quirky and entertaining facts - and legends - to digest from its long and storied 102-year history.

#The Collingwood Cup is the oldest surviving all-Ireland soccer competition.

# It is named after Bertram Collingwood (1871-1936), UCD professor, keen amateur footballer – and nephew of Lewis Carroll.

#The competition has been played annually since 1914 apart from 1915-1919, when it was stopped almost as soon as it had begun by the First World War, and again on one occasion in 1933/34 when a dispute between the FAI and IFA halted the tournament.

#UCD were the inaugural winners in 1914, beating Queens in Dublin, and still head the all-time roll of honour.

#The original trophy disappeared in the late 1920s, with legend having it that holders Queens, believing they had no chance of retaining the cup, threw it into the Boyne on their way down from Belfast so that it “would never return south”

#However, an alternative version has it that an impoverished student (said to be the captain of UCD) presented it to his landlady in lieu of rent due.

#A new cup, donated in 1940, is still in use today.

#The new trophy briefly vanished in 1972 - but turned up after three months in a Dublin Hotel.

# In 1990, during celebrations in Cork following UCC's win, the cup ended up in the Lee and had to be fished out by sub-aqua divers.

This year, holders UCC will begin their defence of the trophy at the quarter-final stage when they face the winners of the Round One game between Ulster University and Maynooth University, while last year's beaten finalists, Trinity College, have a derby to contend with in their quarter-final clash against DCU.

The four days of action begin tomorow Tuesday, February 23, with the first round of games, and are set to conclude with the final at the Mardyke on Friday, Feberuary 26.

Fixtures Tuesday Feb 23

UCD v. RCSI 14:30pm Mayfield astroturf

NUIG v. Queens 14:30pm Douglas Hall astroturf

UU v. Maynooth 14:30pm Blarney astroturf