All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship

Infobox GAA championship main


name=All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship
first=1971
firstwin=Roscrea
sponsors=Allied Irish Bank
irish=
current=Portumna
currentordinal=2
super=nd
most=Ballyhale Shamrocks, Birr
mostordinal=4

The All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship is an annual hurling tournament played between hundreds of senior hurling clubs in Ireland. The Tommy Moore Cup is awarded to the winners. Birr (Offaly) and Ballyhale Shamrocks (Co Kilkenny) are the most successful teams, each having won the All-Ireland Club Championship on 4 occasions.

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Each of Ireland's 32 counties play their own championship between all the hurling clubs in the county - depending on the county, it can be league, knockout, or a mixture of both. The 32 county champions play in the 4 provincial championships, with the four winners of these advancing to the All-Ireland Semi-Finals. Until the introduction of the Intermediate and Junior Championships one team usually played the London champions in a quarter-final. The London champions now play in the Intermediate Championship. The All-Ireland Final is played in Croke Park on St. Patrick's Day.

Schedule:
*County championships: June-September
*Provincial championships: September-December
*All-Ireland Semi-Finals: February
*All-Ireland Final: March 17

History

The club championship was first held in 1971, with Roscrea the first champions. Ironically, given the county's initial opposition to the tournament, Cork clubs won seven All-Irelands in this decade. James Stephens were the first Leinster team to win.

Castlegar won Connacht's first title in 1980, and in '83 Loughgiel Shamrocks caused a major upset by becoming Ulster's first and only All-Ireland champions. Teams from the traditional hurling counties dominated for the rest of the 80's.

Galway clubs then came to dominate the tournament: both Sarsfields and Athenry managed to retain the title. Clare clubs matched the county team's success by winning six Munster titles in a row.

The 2007 provincial championships were completed and in 2008 Birr, Loughmore-Castleiney, Portumna and Dunloy vied for the All-Ireland, with Galway's Portumna the eventual winners.

Roll of honour

All-Ireland winners shown in bold type. County in (brackets).

No club from Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh, Kerry, Kildare, Leitrim, London, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Sligo, Tyrone, Westmeath or Wicklow has ever won a national or provincial title.

By province

External links

* [http://www.clubgaa.ie List of GAA Clubs Online]