Munster Senior Hurling League

The Munster Senior Hurling League (known in some years as the Munster Hurling Cup) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 2016 for the top inter-county teams in the province of Munster in Ireland.

Munster Senior Hurling League
Current season or competition:
2023 Munster Senior Hurling League
IrishSraith Shinsir Iomána na Mumhan
CodeHurling
Founded2016 (2016)
RegionMunster (GAA)
TrophyMunster Senior League Trophy
No. of teams6 (2023)
Title holders Cork (2nd title)
Most titles Limerick (3 titles)
SponsorsCo-Op Superstores
Official websiteOfficial website

The series of games are played during January. The Munster Senior Hurling League is effectively a pre-season tournament. It allows teams to blood new players and to experiment prior to the opening of the National Hurling League.

2019 was the first year that all six eligible teams participated in the Munster Senior Hurling League. Participation or non-participation can be decided on an annual basis.[1] Cork are the current champions.

Format

In the tournament's first three years, each team played all the others once in a single round-robin system (of 4 or 5 county teams), with the top two teams progressing to the final. In 2019 and 2020, all six counties competed, and they were drawn into two separate groups, with the two group winners meeting in the final.

In 2022 the competition was a straight knockout, with 5 teams, and was called the "Munster Hurling Cup". For 2023 the competition returned to the format of 2020, with two groups of three teams.

Stadia
Location Stadium Capacity
LimerickGaelic Grounds44,023
KillarneyFitzgerald Stadium38,000
EnnisCusack Park19,000
DungarvanFraher Field15,000
TraleeAustin Stack Park12,000
WaterfordWalsh Park11,046
MallowMallow GAA Complex8,000
SixmilebridgeO'Garney Park7,000
KilmallockFitzGerald Park4,000
NenaghMacDonagh Park

As of the 2022 season, Munster League hurling has been played in eleven stadiums since the formation of the league in 2016.

While the traditional county grounds are sometimes used for league matches, smaller club grounds have usually been used for games which may not have had such a high profile.

Munster League matches are usually played on a rolling home and away basis.

The stadiums for the 2017 league showed a large disparity in capacity: Gaelic Grounds, the home ground of Limerick has a capacity of 50,500 with O'Garney Park, one of the grounds used by Clare, having a capacity of 7,000. The combined total capacity of the Munster League in the 2017 season was 111,000.

Stadium attendances are a significant source of regular income for the Munster Council and the individual county boards.

Roll of honour

Wins by county
# Team Wins Runners-Up Years Won Years Runners-Up
1 Limerick 3 2 2018, 2020, 2022 2016, 2017
2 Clare 2 2 2016, 2019 2018, 2022
3 Cork 2 1 2017, 2023 2020
4 Tipperary 0 2 - 2019, 2023

List of finals
Year Winners Score Runners-up Score Venue Winning Captain(s) Winning Team Attendance
2016 Clare 0-18 Limerick 0-17 Gaelic Grounds Cian Dillon
Tony Kelly		 A Fahy; J Browne, P O’Connor, P Flanagan; C Dillon, D McInerney, C Cleary; G O’Connell, D Reidy; P Duggan, C Ryan, D Fitzgerald; J Conlon, D Honan, B Duggan.
Subs: T Kelly, B Bolger, S Golden, C O’Connell.		 4,583[2]
2017 Cork 1-21 Limerick 1-20 Gaelic Grounds Stephen McDonnell A Nash, S McDonnell, C Spillane, D Cahalane, M Ellis, C Joyce, M Coleman, L McLoughlin, D Kearney, C Lehane, L Meade, S Kingston, A Cadogan, P Horgan, D Fitzgibbon.
Subs: D Griffin, K Burke, D Brosnan, S Harnedy, C O’Sullivan.		 2,372[3]
2018 Limerick 0-16 Clare 0-10 Gaelic Grounds Paul Browne
Declan Hannon		 N Quaid; T Condon, S Hickey, R English; D Byrnes, D Morrissey, W O’Meara; P Browne, C Lynch; T Morrissey, D O’Donovan, B O’Connell; A Gillane, S Flanagan, G Hegarty.
Subs: B Murphy, D Reidy, A La Touche Cosgrave		 3,209[4]
2019 Clare 4-19 Tipperary 1-18 Gaelic Grounds Tony Kelly D Tuohy; J McCarthy, D McInerney, R Hayes; A McCarthy, C Cleary, C Malone; S Golden, R Taylor; D Ryan, T Kelly N Deasy; C Guilfoyle, C McInerney, M O’Neill.
Subs: P Collins, D Conroy, M O’Malley, G Cooney, J Browne.		 4,531[5][6]
2020 Limerick 1-32 Cork 0-20 Gaelic Grounds Cian Lynch Barry Hennessey; Tom Condon, Richie English, Aaron Costello; Diarmuid Byrnes, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash; Robbie Hanley, Cian Lynch (capt); Darragh O’Donovan, Tom Morrissey, David Dempsey; Graeme Mulcahy, David Reidy, Aaron Gillane
Subs: Sean Finn, Gearoid Hegarty, Mark Quinlan, Brian O’Grady, Jerome Boylan		 5,295[7]
2022 Limerick 0-27 Clare 0-18 Cusack Park, Ennis Barry Nash David McCarthy; Barry Nash, Dan Morrissey, Richie English; Colin Coughlan, Ronan Connolly, Paddy O’Loughlin; William O’Donoghue, Brian O’Grady; David Reidy, Cathal O’Neill, Gearoid Hegarty; Darren O’Connell, Pat Ryan, Oisin O’Reilly.
Subs: Adam English, Rory Duff, Conor Boylan		 7,992[8]
2023 Cork 3-14 Tipperary 1-19 Páirc Uí Rinn Seán O’Donoghue P Collins; S O’Donoghue, R Downey, S O’Leary Hayes; C Cormack, N O’Leary, D Cahalane; T O’Connell, B Roche; S Twomey, R O’Flynn, L Meade; C Walsh, D Dalton), P Horgan 4,727[9]

Top scorers

All time
As of the 2019 league
Pos. Name Team Goals Points Total
1Shane NolanKerry05555
2David ReidyLimerick42840
3Stephen BennettWaterford33039
4Patrick HorganCork22834
Aaron GillaneLimerick22834
5Declan DaltonCork03333
6Barry NashLimerick51530
7David ReidyClare22329
Niall DeasyClare12629
8Declan HannonLimerick12326
Pádraig BoyleKerry12326

Overall
year Name Team Goals Points Total
2016Declan HannonLimerick12124
2017Patrick HorganCork22733
2018Aaron GillaneLimerick12124
2019Stephen BennettWaterford22531

Single game
year Name Team Goals Points Total
2016Declan HannonLimerick1912
2017Pauric MahonyWaterford01414
2018Pádraig BoyleKerry11013
2019Stephen BennettWaterford21218

Finals
year Name Team Goals Points Total
2016Declan HannonLimerick077
2017Peter CaseyLimerick099
Patrick HorganCork099
2018Aaron GillaneLimerick088
2019Tony KellyClare239
Séamus CallananTipperary099

References
  1. "Colleges excluded from Munster pre-season competitions". Hogan Stand. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  2. "Clare take Munster SHL title after tight tussle with Limerick". Irish Times. 23 January 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  3. "First trophy of season goes to Cork". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  4. "Limerick lift Munster Hurling League with final win over Clare".
  5. "Tony Kelly in top form as Clare topple Tipp to claim title". Irish Times. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  6. Breheny, Martin (13 January 2019). "Tony Kelly notches 2-3 as Clare land the first silverware of the 2019 hurling season". Irish Independent. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  7. "Clinical Limerick thump Cork to claim Munster Hurling League title".
  8. "Limerick land more hurling silverware with Munster pre-season win over Clare". the42. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  9. "Late goals from Hayes and O'Connor fire Cork to Munster Hurling League title". the42. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
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