All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 1988

Infobox Hurling All-Ireland
year=1988


team=Galway
titles=4th
captain=Conor Hayes
manager=Cyril Farrell
munster=Tipperary
leinster=Kilkenny
ulster=Antrim
connacht=
poty=
matches=
The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship of 1988 was the 102nd edition of Ireland’s premier hurling knockout competition. The championship ran from May to September of that year, culminating with the All-Ireland final, held at Croke Park, Dublin on 4 September. The match was contested by Galway and Tipperary, with Galway taking the title by 1-15 to 0-14. It was Galway’s second All-Ireland title in-a-row.

Format

The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was run on a provincial basis as usual. All games were played on a knockout basis whereby once a team lost they were eliminated from the championship. The format for the All-Ireland series of games ran as follows:
* The winners of the Munster Championship advanced directly to the first All-Ireland semi-final.
* The winners of the Leinster Championship advanced directly to the second All-Ireland semi-final.
* The winners of the Ulster Championship advanced directly to the first All-Ireland semi-final where they played the Munster champions.
* Galway, a team who faced no competition in the Connacht Championship, automatically advanced to a lone All-Ireland quarter-final where they were drawn to play the winners of the All-Ireland ‘B’ championship.

All-Ireland final

Overview

Sunday 4 September was the date of the 1988 All-Ireland senior hurling final between Galway and Tipperary. It was their second meeting in as many years with Galway emerging as the winners in the All-Ireland semi-final of 1987. Galway went on to win the championship that year and, as such, were looking for an unprecedented two-in-a-row. Tipperary last won the All-Ireland title in 1971 when they defeated Kilkenny.

Match report

At 3:30 pm the sliothar was thrown in and the 101st All-Ireland hurling final began in earnest. Both sides had considered themselves to be the favourites coming into the game. Tipp had been beaten in the All-Ireland semi-final the previous year and believed that with an extra years experience they could take the title. Galway, however, had a powerful motivating factor in that no team from the county had ever won back-to-back All-Ireland titles. Here was a chance to dispel that notion. Galway played with the benefit of a strong wind for the opening thirty-five minutes and took a 0-10 to 0-6 lead at the interval. In spite of this Tipp were well in the game with young Declan Ryan excelling in the forwards and the defenders doing an adequate job in neutralizing the Galway attack. Midway through the second half Tipperary had drawn level and looked likely to take the lead but for a great save by John Commins from a great Pat Fox shot on goal. The match turned on two incidents late in the second-half. Firstly, a Nicky English flick-on put Cormac Bonnar through for a goal. The big full-forward, however, failed to make a proper connection with the sliothar and goalkeeper Commins was able to scramble in wide. Not long after the sliothar found its way up to the other end of the field where substitute Noel Lane was waiting. Lane got the better of Conor O'Donovan and sent a blistering shot past Ken Hogan to score the deciding goal. Shortly afterwards Galway were the champions on a score line of 1-15 to 0-14.

tatistics

footballbox
date=1988-09-04
15:30 BST
team1=Galway
score=1-15 – 0-14
team2=Tipperary
report=
goals1=
goals2=
stadium=Croke Park, Dublin
attendance=63,545
referee= G. Kirwan (Offaly)

{| width=100% style="font-size: 90%"MATCH RULES
*70 minutes.
*Replay if scores level.
*Three named substitutes

References

* Corry, Eoghan, "The GAA Book of Lists" (Hodder Headline Ireland, 2005).
* Donegan, Des, "The Complete Handbook of Gaelic Games" (DBA Publications Limited, 2005).

ee also