A mere decade and a half ago, just 6 teams were contesting the Mageean Cup. When the Colleges’ senior hurling competitions get up and running today (FRIDAY) and over the weekend, there will almost 5 times as many teams taking to the pitches of the province.

St Mary’s Belfast retained the Danske Bank Mageean Cup last season – the Cup’s 50^th anniversary – and they are expected to make an impact this season once more, in a competition that is expected to be every bit as tight as last year’s when at least four schools were well in the running for the silverware.

St Killian’s College were the surprise winners of the Foresters’ Cup two seasons ago.  They were taken to extra time in the quarter-final by St Patrick’s Maghera, and then beat Cross & Passion in the semi-final and St Mary’s in the final, each with a goal at the death.

That makes four team that should be in contention this autumn – and the An Dún combination that reached last season’s final is also expected to feature in the final mix as well.

Divis Schools certainly seem to have drawn the short straw for the group stages.  The north Belfast amalgamation has to face St Mary’s, GarronTower and Maghera!

Their first outing is on Monday against Maghera, while the St Killian’s v St Mary’s game is on Wednesday afternoon in Ballymena.

Many of the Tower side featured with the Cushendall club that cruised to the Antrim minor title last weekend beating St John’s in the final.

However a number of the Cushendall side also play for Cross & Passion and the north coast outfit will be expected to see off Knock in their opener.  The other tie in Section B sees East Tyrone play An Dún.

The bottom team in each section will be eliminated prior to the knock-out stages, while the top side in each section will avoid each other and take up semi-final slots.  The remaining four teams will play two quarter-final games.

This year a record total of 13 teams have entered the Danske Bank Casement Cup – senior hurling’s second tier competition.

Title-holders St Patrick’s Downpatrick should make it through to the knock-out stages from a group that features St Malachy’s Belfast, St Colman’s Newry and St Patrick’s Keady.

Last season’s beaten finalists Rathmore are in a group of 5 (La Salle, Coláiste Feirste, St Patrick’s Armagh and the Academy), while St Louis Ballymena are tipped to top Section B with Loreto Coleraine, Buncrana and St Mary’s Magherafelt.

A third tier competition – the Casement Shield – is also up and running with another 7 teams involved.  Coleraine were the winners of this last season – so there will be a new name on the Shield come Halloween.

There are also 3 Junior hurling competitions hitting the start line today.

Only five teams will contest the Grade A Danske Bank MacNamee Cup, St Louis Ballymena’s success at B level last season taking them up to the top table.

They begin their campaign with a match against St Mary’s CBGS, while Maghera and St Killian’s face off at the start of next week with Cross & Passion joining the fray later in the week.

In the McGreevy Cup there are 10 teams, divided into two groups of 5 each.  The group positions will be determined by a blitz on October 2^nd with the top four in each group going through to quarter-finals the following week.

The third tier competition for the Rehill Cup will also be run off in a blitz format at the start of October with the knock-out stages taking place the following week.