All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship records and statistics

This page details statistics of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.

General performances

By county

By province

Counties

By semi-final appearances

Other records

Beaten sides

Between 1887 and 1996 the championship was played on a straight knock out format whereby the All-Ireland champions were the only undefeated team of the competition. The introduction of the qualifier system in 1997 has resulted in three 'back-door' All-Ireland champions:

• Offaly (1998) were beaten by Kilkenny in the Leinster final.
• Cork (2004) were beaten by Waterford in the Munster final.
• Tipperary (2010) were beaten by Cork in the first round of the Munster championship.

On a number of occasions teams have been defeated twice but have remained in the championship:

• Limerick (2005) were beaten by Tipperary and Galway but still qualified for the All-Ireland quarter-final.
• Waterford (2005) were beaten by Cork and Clare but still qualified for the All-Ireland quarter-final.
• Limerick (2006) were beaten by Tipperary and Clare but still qualified for the All-Ireland quarter-final.
• Cork (2007) were beaten by Waterford and Tipperary but still qualified for the All-Ireland quarter-final.

Final success rate

Only one county has appeared in the final once, being victorious on that occasion:

• Kerry (1891)

On the opposite end of the scale, only one county has appeared in the final more than once, losing on each occasion:

• Antrim (1943, 1989)

Winning other trophies

Although not an officially recognised achievement, a number of teams have achieved the distinction of winning the All-Ireland championship, their provincial championship and the National Hurling League:

• Kilkenny in 1933, 1982, 1983, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2009.
• Tipperary in 1949, 1950, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1988 and 2001.
• Cork in 1926, 1941 and 1953.
• Limerick in 1934 and 1936
• Galway in 1987.
• Wexford in 1956.

Biggest wins

• The most one sided All-Ireland finals:
  • 34 points – 1896: Tipperary 8-14 – 0-4 Dublin
  • 29 points – 1896: Cork 5-20 – 2-0 Dublin
  • 27 points – 1943: Cork 5-16 – 0-4 Antrim
  • 27 points – 1921: Cork 6-12 – 1-0 Galway
  • 26 points – 1918: Limerick 9-5 – 1-3 Wexford
  • 23 points – 2008: Kilkenny 3-30 – 1-13 Waterford

• The most one sided All-Ireland semi-finals:
  • 52 points – 1900: Galway 10-23 – 0-1 Antrim
  • 44 points – 1954: Wexford 12-17 – 2-3 Antrim
  • 36 points – 1925: Tipperary 12-9 – 2-3 Antrim
  • 35 points – 1912: Limerick 11-4 – 0-2 Antrim
  • 35 points – 1904: Cork 8-18 – 2-3 Antrim

Successful defending

Only 5 teams of the 13 who have won the All-Ireland championship have ever successfully defended the title. These are:

• Cork on 12 attempts out of 30 (1893, 1894, 1903, 1929, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1953, 1954, 1977, 1978, 2005)
• Kilkenny on 11 attempts out of 32 (1905, 1912, 1913, 1933, 1975, 1983, 1993, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009)
• Tipperary on 7 attempts out of 26 (1896, 1899, 1900, 1950, 1951, 1962, 1965)
• Wexford on 1 attempt out of 6 (1956)
• Galway on 1 attempt out of 4 (1988)

Provinces

• Only on three occasions has the All-Ireland final involved two teams from the same province:
  • Tipperary vs Clare (1997)
  • Kilkenny vs Offaly (1998)
  • Kilkenny vs Offaly (2000)
• The province providing the highest number of different winning teams is Munster, with six: Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford.

Longest undefeated run

The record for the longest unbeaten run stands at 21 games held by Kilkenny. It began with a 1-23 to 1-9 win against Westmeath in their opening game of the 2006 championship and finished with a 3-22 to 0-19 win against Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final of the 2010 championship. The 21 game unbeaten streak, which included no drawn game, ended with a 4-17 to 1-18 loss to Tipperary in the 2010 All-Ireland final.

This broke the previous record of 16 consecutive games unbeaten by Tipperary, which began in May 1949 with a victory in the opening round of the championship, and ended with a seventeen point defeat of Waterford in the Munster semi-final of the 1952 championship. The 16 game unbeaten streak, which included 15 wins and one draw, ended with a 1-11 to 2-6 loss to Cork in the subsequent Munster final.

Players

Top ten all-time top scorers

Other high scorers

All-time appearances

Other records

Most wins

• Noel Skehan is the only player to be involved in nine All-Ireland-winning sides, all won during his career with Kilkenny (1963 (sub), 1967 (sub), 1969 (sub), 1972, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1982, 1983).
• Henry Shefflin (2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011), Christy Ring (1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1952, 1953, 1954) and John Doyle (1949, 1950, 1951, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965) are the only players to have won eight All-Ireland medals on the field of play.

• Winners of All-Ireland medals on the field of play in three decades::
  • Paddy 'Balty' Ahern (Cork) (1919, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1931)
  • Frank Cummins (Kilkenny) (1969, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1982, 1983)
  • Jimmy Doyle (Tipperary) (1958, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1971)
  • John Doyle (Tipperary) (1949, 1950, 1951, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965)
  • Tommy Doyle (Tipperary) (1937, 1945, 1949, 1950, 1951)
  • Declan Ryan (Tipperary) (1989, 1991, 2001)

All-Ireland final appearances

All-Ireland final scorers

Disciplinary

Only two players have ever been sent off in an All-Ireland final: Éamonn Scallan (Wexford) in the 1996 final against Limerick (sent off in the 34th minute); and Benny Dunne (Tipperary) in the 2009 final (sent off in the 53rd minute for striking Kilkenny player Tommy Walsh).

See also