The 2010 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 114th staging of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

's premier hurling competition since its establishment by the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include t ...

in 1887. A total of thirteen teams competed in the championship, with

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

unseating the four-time defending champions Kilkenny by 4-17 to 1-18 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

at Croke Park,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. The championship began on 22 May 2010 and concluded on 5 September 2010.

Pre-championship

The build-up to the opening of the championship was dominated by Kilkenny and the 'drive for five'. 'The Cats' were installed as the bookies' favourites to retain the All-Ireland title for an unprecedented fifth successive occasion. Since 2006 the Kilkenny team had come to be regarded as arguably the greatest hurling team of all-time. In 2007, they surpassed their greatest rivals

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

at the top of the all-time roll of honour, while in 2009 the team equalled the seemingly unbeatable record of four All-Ireland titles in-a-row. Winning an elusive five-in-a-row would close the argument on hurling's greatest team.

were regarded as the primary challengers to Kilkenny's dominance. Many believed that they had the beating of Kilkenny in the previous year's All-Ireland final, however, 'the Cats' pulled away in the last ten minutes to seal the victory. With an extra year of experience many felt that Tipp may finally triumph for the first time in nine years. A second tier of teams waited just behind the two clear front-runners. Perennial hopefuls

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

entered the championship as the newly crowned National Hurling League champions and were also seen as a stumbling block on Kilkenny's march to immortality. The westerners were regarded as potential Leinster and maybe even All-Ireland finalists.

were buoyed by some impressive displays in the National League. 'The Rebels' defeated both Kilkenny and Tipperary in the group stages and finished the campaign as runners-up. Similarly, Cork enjoyed a trouble-free winter and would enter the championship without any off-field controversy.

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

were also viewed as a team that had the potential to make life difficult for any of the other top-tier teams.

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

entered the championship in the midst of a crisis. After team manager Justin McCarthy dropped twelve players from the panel in October 2009, many of the remaining players decided to withdraw their services over the course of the next few months. The crisis developed into something of a 'civil war' with the vast majority of the 2009 panel remaining 'on strike', while McCarthy was retained as manager and developed a new panel of players for 2010. The result was Limerick losing all of their National League matches and being relegated to Division 2.

The championship

Participating counties

Format

The 2010 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was run on a provincial basis as usual. It was a

knockout tournament A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

with pairings drawn at random in the respective provinces - there were no seeds. Each match was played as a single leg. If a match was drawn there was a replay. If that match ended in a draw a period of extra time was played, however, if both sides were still level at the end of extra time another replay would take place. Munster Championship ''Quarter-final:'' (1 match) This is a single match between the first two teams drawn from the province of Munster. ''Semi-finals:'' (2 matches) The winner of the lone quarter-final joins the other three Munster teams to make up the semi-final pairings. ''Final:'' (1 match) The winners of the two semi-finals contest this game. Leinster Championship ''First Round:'' (1 match) This was a single match between the first two teams drawn from the province of Leinster. ''Quarter-finals:'' (3 matches) The winner of the first-round game joins five other Leinster teams to make up the three quarter-final pairings. ''Semi-finals:'' (2 matches) The winners of the three quarter-finals join Kilkenny, who received a bye to this stage, to make up the semi-final pairings. ''Final:'' (1 match) The winner of the two semi-finals contest this game. Qualifiers The qualifiers gave teams defeated in the provincial championships another chance at winning the All-Ireland. ''Preliminary Round'' (1 match): the five teams who fail to reach a provincial semi-final will enter the qualifiers at this stage. The first two teams drawn will play each other in the preliminary round with the winner of that match joining the other three teams in Phase 1. ''Phase 1'': (2 matches) The winner of the preliminary round and the other three remaining teams will play off. The two winners enter Phase 3. ''Phase 2'': (2 matches) The two beaten Leinster semi-finalists will play the two beaten Munster semi-finalists. The two winners enter Phase 3. ''Phase 3'': (2 matches) The four winners of Phase 1 and Phase 2 games meet in Phase 3. The two winners advance to the All-Ireland quarter-finals. All-Ireland Series ''Quarter-finals'': (2 matches) The beaten Munster and Leinster finalists will play the winners of the Phase 3 qualifiers. ''Semi-finals'': (2 matches) The Munster and Leinster champions will play the winners of the quarter-finals. ''Final'': (1 match) The two semi-final winners will contest the final.

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship The Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurl ...

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Munster Senior Hurling Championship

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All-Ireland Qualifiers

Preliminary round

Phase 1

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Phase 2

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Phase 3

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All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Final

Statistics

Player facts

;Debutants ''The following players made their début in the 2010 senior championship:'' ;Retirees ''The following players played their last game in the 2010 championship:''

Scoring

*First goal of the championship: Joe Fitzpatrick for

Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medi ...

against Carlow (Leinster First Round) *Last goal of the championship: Lar Corbett for

against Kilkenny (All-Ireland Final) *Widest winning margin: 19 points ** Kilkenny 4-19 - 0-12

(Leinster Semi Final) *Most goals in a match: 6 **

3-16 - 3-17

(All-Ireland Quarter Final) *Most points in a match: 44 **

1-25 - 0-19 Antrim (All-Ireland Quarter Final) *Most goals by one team in a match: 4 ** Kilkenny 4-19 - 0-12

(Leinster Semi Final) **

4-17 - 1-18 Kilkenny (All-Ireland Final) *Most goals scored by a losing team: 3 ** Antrim 3-16 - 2-26

Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in h ...

(Leinster Quarter Final) **

3-12 - 1-19 Carlow (Qualifiers Preliminary Round) ** Antrim 2-18 - 3-12 Carlow (Qualifiers Phase 1) **

3-16 - 3-17

(All-Ireland Quarter Final) *Most points scored by a losing team: 19 **

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 ...

0-19 - 3-24

(Qualifiers Phase 1) ** Antrim 1-17 - 0-19

(Qualifiers Phase 3) **

1-25 - 0-19 Antrim (All-Ireland Quarter Final) ** Kilkenny 3-22 - 0-19

(All-Ireland Semi Final)

Miscellaneous

* In the Leinster quarter-final Galway defeat Wexford for the first time in the history of the championship. * Kilkenny's

Henry Shefflin Henry Shefflin (born 11 January 1979) is an Irish hurling manager and former player who is the current manager of the Galway senior hurling team. In his playing career he was nicknamed "King Henry" because of his directive style, dominance, c ...

scores twelve points against Dublin in the Leinster semi-final to become the highest-scoring player in the history of the championship. The record was previously held by Shefflin's fellow county man

Eddie Keher Edward Peter Keher (; born 14 October 1941) is an Irish former hurler who played as a centre-forward at senior level for the Kilkenny county team. Born in Inistioge, County Kilkenny, Keher first played competitive hurling whilst at school in ...

and had stood since 1973. * In the All-Ireland qualifiers Antrim defeat Dublin for the first time in the history of the championship. *

Lar Corbett Laurence Corbett (born 16 March 1981) is an Irish former hurler who played for Tipperary Championship club Thurles Sarsfields. He played for the Tipperary senior hurling team for 15 years, during which time he usually lined out as a left corn ...

becomes the first player since Eddie O'Brien in 1970 to score a hat-trick of goals in an All-Ireland final.

Discipline

* First yellow card of the season: Richard Coady for Carlow against

(22 May 2010) * First red card of the season: Eoin Costelloe for

against Carlow (22 May 2010)

Top scorers

;Overall ;Single game

Awards

;Monthly

Managerial changes

The following managerial changes took place during the championship.

References

External links

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2010 Results
{{All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2010 in hurling