The Dr McKenna Cup is an annual Gaelic football competition played between counties and universities in the province of Ulster.

JF O Hanlon, owner of The Anglo-Celt newspaper presented a trophy to BC Fay, secretary of the Council.

Treasurer O'Duffy was successful in securing a trophy from the bishop of Clogher and the new cup was presented to Council in 1925 although it was not until 1927 that the competition got underway.

Tyrone manager, Mickey Harte, claimed it was the players' own decision to choose to play for the county team over their University.

[9] Ahead of the 2013 competition, Queen's University Belfast withdrew in a controversy over their players being poached by other teams,[10][11][12] though Ulster Council President Aogan Farrell had appealed for this practice to stop.

[19] The 2015 final between Tyrone and Cavan was shown live on BBC Sport NI's red button service and on its website.

This, along with the fact that attendances are in the region of 20,000 for the later matches,[20] suggests that the tournament is held in higher esteem than its counterparts in other provinces, such as the O'Byrne Cup.