Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship

Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship

Founded	1964
Region	Munster (GAA)
Number of teams	5
Current champions	Limerick
Website	Official website

The Munster GAA Hurling Under-21 Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1964 for players aged between 18 and 21 in the province of Munster in Ireland. It is sponsored by Bord Gáis and therefore officially known as the Bord Gáis Energy Munster GAA Hurling Under-21 Championship.

The series of games are played during the summer months with the Munster final currently being played in July. The prize for the winning team is the Corn na Cásca, a cup that was first presented in 1966 by the Munster Council in honour of the golden jubilee of the Easter Rising. The championship had always been played on a straight knockout basis whereby once a team lost they are eliminated from the series.

The Munster Championship is an integral part of the wider GAA Hurling All-Ireland Under-21 Championship. The winners of the Munster final join Galway, the Leinster champions and the Ulster champions in the semi-final stages of the All-Ireland series of games.

Five teams currently participate in the Munster Championship. Cork, the joint record-holders in the All-Ireland series, play their provincial hurling in the Munster Championship. They have converted 18 Munster titles into 11 All-Ireland titles.

The title has been won by five of the six Munster counties. Kerry hold the unwanted distinction of never having won the provincial title. The all-time record-holders are Tipperary, who have won the competition 19 times.

In 2009, Clare picked up their first ever Munster Under 21 title after a 2–17 to 2–12 win against Waterford in the final in Dungarvan.^[1]

Format

The Munster Championship is a knockout tournament with pairings drawn at random – there are no seeds.

Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is extra time and, if the sides still remain level, a second period of extra time is played.

The format has remained the same since the very first Munster Championship in 1964. An open draw is made in which three of the five teams automatically qualify for the semi-final stage of the competition. Two other teams play in a lone quarter-final with the winner joining the other three teams at the semi-final stage. Once a team is defeated they are eliminated from the championship.

The Munster Championship has wider implications for the GAA All-Ireland Hurling Under-21 Championship. The winners of the Munster final automatically qualify for the semi-final stages of the All-Ireland series of games. Unlike the final runners-up in the minor and senior championships, there is no 'back-door system' at under-21 level.

Five of the six counties of Munster – Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford – participate in the championship. Kerry, the sixth county in the province, contested the Munster Championship until recently.

Trophies

At the end of the Munster final, the winning team is presented with a trophy. The cup, named Corn na Cásca, is held by the winning team until the following year's final. Traditionally, the presentation is made at a special rostrum in the stand where GAA and political dignitaries and special guests view the match.

The cup is decorated with ribbons in the colours of the winning team. During the game the cup actually has both teams' sets of ribbons attached and the runners-up ribbons are removed before the presentation. The winning captain accepts the cup on behalf of his team before giving a short speech. Individual members of the winning team then have an opportunity to come to the rostrum to lift the cup.

The present trophy was presented by the Munster Council in 1966 to commemorate the golden jubilee of the Easter Rising.

Sponsorship

Since 2003 the Munster Championship has been sponsored. The sponsor has usually been able to determine the championship's sponsorship name. The list below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition:

• 2003–2007: Erin Foods (Erin Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship)
• 2008–present: Bord Gáis Energy (Bord Gáis Energy Munster GAA Hurling Under-21 Championship)

Munster Championship moments

• Tipperary 1–16 : 2–12 Clare (July 30, 2008 at Cusack Park) – A controversial end to a close game of hurling. The provincial final looked to be heading to extra time, however, as the game entered the dying seconds Clare were awarded a free in front of the Tipperary posts. The referee’s attention, however, was then drawn by one of his umpires at the other end of the field who pointed out that Clare goalkeeper Donal Tuohy had, for the second time, stepped outside the small square with his last puckout. The referee then cancelled the Clare free, gave Tipperary a 65-metre free which was pointed by Pa Bourke to hand Tipp the title. Upon the final whistle Clare and Tipperary fans invaded the pitch. In the ensuing situation some Clare fans staged a seated protest and booed the presentation of the trophy to Tipperary. The referee and the umpire were both escorted from the pitch by Gardaí while being jostled and challenged by some of the Clare supporters^[2].

General statistics

Performance by county

	County	Won	Runner-up	Years won	Years runner-up
1	Tipperary	20	8	1964, 1965, 1967, 1972, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010	1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2005
2	Cork	18	10	1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1982, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2007	1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1987, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2011
3	Limerick	6	11	1986, 1987, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2011	1966, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993
4	Waterford	3	3	1974, 1992, 1994	1964, 2007, 2009
5	Clare	1	12	2009	1972, 1974, 1976, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2008, 2010
6	Galway	0	2		1965, 1967

Biggest Munster final wins

• The most one sided Munster finals:
  • 23 points – 1964: Tipperary 8–9 (33) – (10) 3–1 Waterford
  • 22 points – 1989: Tipperary 5–16 (31) – (9) 1–6 Limerick
  • 21 points – 2000: Limerick 4–18 (30) – (9) 1–6 Cork
  • 15 points – 1966: Cork 5–12 (27) – (12) 2–6 Limerick
  • 14 points – 1988: Cork 4–12 (24) – (10) 1–7 Limerick

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Miscellaneous

• Mick Malone of Cork holds the record of being the only player to win four consecutive Munster under-21 winners’ medals on the field of play. This victories came in 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1971.

• Cork and Tipperary jointly hold the record for the longest streak of success. Both counties have won four-in-a-row with Cork's coming between 1968 and 1971 and Tipperary's coming a decade later between 1978 and 1981.

• Cork hold the record for the most consecutive appearances in Munster finals. They played in eight-in-a-row between 1975 and 1982, not including a replay in 1978, with success coming on four of those occasions.

• Clare lost twelve Munster finals, not including a replay in 1986, before winning their first in 2009.

• Two counties have completed the Munster under-21 and senior double in the same year:
  • Cork in 1966, 1969, 1970, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1982, 2005
  • Tipperary in 1964, 1965, 1967, 1989, 2008

• Cork is the only county to have completed the Munster minor, under-21 and senior treble in the same year. These feats were achieved in 1966, 1969, 1970, 1975, 1977 and 2005.

• Cork is the only county to have completed the Munster minor, under-21, intermdiate and senior 'grand slam' in the same year. This was achieved in 2005.

• Five players have captained their counties to Munster titles in both the under-21 and senior grades:
  • Gerald McCarthy captained Cork to the under-21 title in 1966 and the senior titles in 1966 and 1975.
  • Eoin Kelly captained Tipperary to the under-21 title in 2003 and the senior title in 2008.

• Three players have captained their counties to Munster titles in both the minor and under-21 grades:
  • Anthony O'Riordan captained Limerick to the minor title in 1984 and the under-21 title in 1986.
  • Diarmaid FitzGerald captained Tipperary to the minor title in 2001 and the under-21 title in 2004.
  • Shane O'Neill captained Cork to the minor title in 2004 and the under-21 title in 2007.

List of Munster Finals

	All-Ireland champions
	All-Ireland runners-up

Year	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Score	Venue	Winning Captain
1964	Tipperary	8–09 (33)	Waterford	3–01 (10)		Francis Loughnane
1965	Tipperary	4–09 (21)	Galway	3–03 (12)		Owen Killoran
1966	Cork	5–12 (27)	Limerick	2–06 (12)		Gerald McCarthy
1967	Tipperary	3–09 (18)	Galway	3–05 (14)		P.J. Ryan
1968	Cork	4–10 (22)	Tipperary	1–13 (16)		Pat Hegarty
1969	Cork	3–11 (20)	Tipperary	1–05 (8)		Donal Clifford
1970	Cork	3–11 (20)	Tipperary	2–07 (13)		Teddy O'Brien
1971	Cork	5–11 (26)	Tipperary	4–09 (21)		Pat McDonnell
1972	Tipperary	4–10 (22)	Clare	3–10 (19)		Willie Ryan
1973	Cork	4–11 (23)	Limerick	2–07 (13)		Martin O'Doherty
1974	Waterford	2–05 (11)	Clare	1–03 (6)		Pat McGrath
1975	Cork	3–12 (21)	Limerick	2–06 (12)		Frank O'Sullivan
1976	Cork	2–11 (17)	Clare	3–06 (15)		Tadhg Murphy
1977	Cork	5–09 (24)	Limerick	1–08 (11)		Tom Lyons
1978 (R)	Tipperary	3–13 (22) 3–8 (17)	Cork	4–10 (22) 2–9 (15)		Pat Fitzelle
1979	Tipperary	1–13 (16)	Cork	2–07 (13)		Michael Doyle
1980	Tipperary	4–11 (23)	Cork	2–09 (15)		P.J. Maxwell
1981	Tipperary	1–15 (18)	Cork	0–10 (10)		Philip Kennedy
1982	Cork	1–14 (17)	Limerick	1–04 (7)		Martin McCarthy
1983	Tipperary	2–17 (23)	Clare	3–08 (17)		Denis Finnerty
1984	Tipperary	0–12 (12)	Limerick	1–08 (11)		Donal Kealy
1985]	Tipperary	1–16 (19)	Clare	4–05 (17)		Michael Scully
1986 (R)	Limerick	3–09 (18) 2–10 (16)	Clare	3–09 (18) 0–03 (3)		Anthony O'Riordan
1987	Limerick	3–14 (23)	Cork	2–09 (15)		Gussie Ryan
1988	Cork	4–12 (24)	Limerick	1–07 (10)		Christy Connery
1989	Tipperary	5–16 (31)	Limerick	1–06 (9)		Declan Ryan
1990	Tipperary	2–21 (27)	Limerick	1–11 (14)		John Leahy
1991	Cork	0–17 (17)	Limerick	1–07 (10)		Brian Cunningham
1992	Waterford	0–17 (17)	Clare	1–12 (15)		Tony Browne
1993	Cork	1–18 (21)	Limerick	3–09 (18)		Fergal O'Mahony
1994	Waterford	1–12 (15)	Clare	0–12 (12)		James O'Connor
1995	Tipperary	1–17 (20)	Clare	0–14 (14)		Dan Murphy
1996	Cork	3–16 (25)	Clare	2–07 (13)		Seánie McGrath
1997	Cork	1–11 (14)	Tipperary	0–13 (13)		Dan Murphy
1998	Cork	3–18 (27)	Tipperary	1–10 (13)		Dan Murphy
1999	Tipperary	1–18 (21)	Clare	1–15 (18)		William Hickey
2000	Limerick	1–13 (16) 4–18 (20)	Cork	1–13 (16) 1–06 (9)	Páirc Uí Chaoimh Gaelic Grounds	Donnacha Sheehan
2001	Limerick	3–14 (23)	Tipperary	2–16 (22)	Gaelic Grounds	Timmy Houlihan
2002	Limerick	1–20 (23)	Tipperary	2–14 (20)	Semple Stadium	Peter Lawlor
2003	Tipperary	2–14 (20)	Cork	0–17 (17)	Páirc Uí Chaoimh	Eoin Kelly
2004	Tipperary	1–16 (19)	Cork	1–13 (16)	Semple Stadium	Diarmaid FitzGerald
2005	Cork	4–08 (20)	Tipperary	0–13 (13)	Páirc Uí Chaoimh	Pat FitzGerald
2006	Tipperary	3–11 (20)	Cork	0–13 (13)	Semple Stadium	David Young
2007	Cork	1–20 (23)	Waterford	0–10 (10)	Walsh Park	Shane O'Neill
2008	Tipperary	1–16 (19)	Clare	2–12 (18)	Cusack Park	Séamus Hennessy
2009	Clare	2–17 (23)	Waterford	2–12 (18)	Fraher Field	Ciarán O'Doherty
2010	Tipperary	1–22 (25)	Clare	1–17 (20)	Semple Stadium	Pádraic Maher[3]
2011	Limerick	4-20 (32)	Cork	1-27 (30)	Gaelic Grounds	Kevin Downes[4]

References

1. ^ "Clare win first ever Bord Gais Energy Munster U21 title". Hurlingworld.com. 2009-07-29. http://www.hurlingworld.com/pages/news/Details.aspx?id=78. Retrieved 2009-09-21. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ Irish Independent: U21 final marred by violent scenes Report from Irish Times
3. ^ Cahill, Jackie (2010-07-29). "Murphy's late flurry guides Tipp over the line". Irish Independent (Independent News & Media). http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/murphys-late-flurry-guides-tipp-over-the-line-2275658.html. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
4. ^ "Extra special win for Limerick". Irish Examiner. 4 August 2011. http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/extra-special-win-for-limerick-163182.html. Retrieved 4 August 2011.