The 2004 Interprovincial Hurling Championship was the 77th series of the inter-provincial

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

championship, also known as the

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...

. Three matches were played between 23 October 2004 and 5 December 2004 to decide the title. It was contested by

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

. Leinster entered the championship as the defending champions, however, they were defeated by Munster at the semi-final stage. On 5 December 2004, Connacht won the Railway Cup after a 1-15 to 0-09 defeat of Munster in the final at

Pearse Stadium Pearse Stadium ( ga, Páirc an Phiarsaigh) is the principal GAA stadium in Galway, Ireland. The Galway GAA Gaelic football and hurling teams use the stadium for their home games. The stadium, amongst others in the province of Connacht, is also ...

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

. It was their 11th Railway Cup title overall and their first title since

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. Connacht's

Niall Healy Niall Healy (born 14 April 1985) is an Irish sportsperson. He plays hurling with his local club Craughwell and was a member of the Galway senior inter-county team from 2005. Healy was top scorer in the 2015 galway senior hurling championship, ...

and Munster's Eoin Kelly were the Interprovincial Championship joint top scorers with 0-12 each.

Results

Semi-finals Final

Top scorers

;Overall ;Single game

Sources

* Donegan, Des, ''The Complete Handbook of Gaelic Games'' (DBA Publications Limited, 2005).

References

{{Railway Cup Hurling Championships Railway Cup Hurling Championship

Railway Cup Hurling Championship Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...