The 2008 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final was a

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 ...

match played on 7 September 2008 in

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...

, Dublin, between

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

and

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 ...

. The match was the 121st All-Ireland Hurling Final and the culmination of the

2008 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2008 was the 122nd since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1887. The first matches of the season were played on 25 May 2008, and the championship ended on 7 September 2008. Kilkenn ...

. It was the fourth time the teams played each other in the final, having played each other previously in 1957, 1959 and 1963. Kilkenny won their 31st All-Ireland Championship and in doing so overtook Cork on the roll of honour. The Kilkenny win witnessed the county doing three in a row for the first time since 1913. The match represented Waterford's sixth appearance in the All-Ireland Final and their first for 45 years since 1963. Waterford has not won the All-Ireland Championship since 1959.

Previous championship encounters

This particular fixture has been infrequent in the history of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship due to the provincial structure of the championship from 1888 to 1996. Kilkenny has played Waterford a total of six times in the

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

. Kilkenny has four victories, Waterford has one and the remaining fixture ended as a draw. The last encounter between the two teams occurred in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

where a

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, com ...

-inspired Kilkenny side ran out semi-final winners on a scoreline of Kilkenny 3–12, Waterford 0–18.

Paths to final

Kilkenny

Kilkenny's path to the All-Ireland Hurling Final turned out to be a more straight forward affair in comparison to Waterford. Kilkenny's Leinster Championship campaign started off in

O'Moore Park , image = , location = Portlaoise, County Laois, R32 CRF3, Ireland , coordinates = , opened = , renovated = 2002 , owner = Laois GAA , cost = , capaci ...

Portlaoise Portlaoise ( ), or Port Laoise (), is the county town of County Laois, Ireland. It is located in the Midland Region, Ireland, South Midlands in the province of Leinster. The 2016 census shows that the town's population increased by 9.5% to 22,050 ...

on 15 June 2008 against

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 hono ...

. The match turned out to be a very one-sided affair with

scoring 11 points on his return from a long-term injury. Kilkenny eventually ran out easy winners on a scoreline of Kilkenny 2–24 Offaly 0–12. Kilkenny moved onto the Leinster Hurling Final where they would face a

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 N ...

side who took a replay to defeat

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

in the other semi-final. As in previous year, the Leinster Final also turned out to be a one sided affair. Wexford stuck with Kilkenny for the first half but the cats pulled away in the second half, essentially killing off Wexford's challenge with 4 goals in the second half. Kilkenny became Leinster Champions for the ninth time in ten years on a scoreline of Kilkenny 5–21 Wexford 0–17. After the completion of the All-Ireland Qualifier Series,

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 ...

revealed themselves to be Kilkenny's All-Ireland Semi-final opponents. The fixture was much hyped by the Irish media, in light of both teams' respective records over the past 5 years. A large crowd at

viewed an entertaining match which pitted the 2006 finalists against each other. The sides stuck with each other, point for point at the start, resulting in a score of 6 points each after 20 minutes. However, Cork went without a score for a long period of the first half resulting in Kilkenny leading by 8 points at half time. Cork opened the second half with a barrage of points, but Kilkenny held strong and ran out 9-point winners – Kilkenny 1–23 Cork 0–17. Kilkenny qualified for their eighth final in ten years. ---- ---- ----

Waterford

Waterford started off the year with a Munster Championship first round clash with

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

at the

Gaelic Grounds The Gaelic Grounds, know for sponsorshop reasons as the TUS Gaelic Grounds, is the principal GAA stadium in the Irish city of Limerick, home to the Limerick hurling and football teams. It has a capacity of 44,023. History 9 October 1926 saw f ...

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 ...

on 1 June 2008. Waterford, missing a number of first team regulars such as

Ken McGrath Ken McGrath (born 20 February 1978) is an Irish hurler and hurling selector who played as a centre-back for the Waterford senior team. He joined the team in 1996 and was a regular member of the starting fifteen until his retirement in 2011. ...

, Eoin Kelly and Eoin Murphy succumbed to a youthful Clare team on a scoreline of Waterford 0–23 Clare 2–26. Soon after the game, manager, Justin McCarthy was fired from his position by the Waterford County Board. It has been rumoured at the time that player unrest had a lot to do with the decision. The Waterford County Board acted quickly and appointed former

goalkeeper

Davy Fitzgerald David Dermot Fitzgerald (born 2 August 1971) is an Irish hurling manager and former player. He has been manager of the Waterford county team since 2022, having previously managed the team between 2008 and 2011. As a player, he is widely consid ...

as new Waterford manager on 10 June 2008. The loss to Clare sent Waterford into the All-Ireland Qualifier Series. The first round match against Antrim saw the return of both Ken McGrath and Eoin Kelly.

started his Waterford managerial career with the unusual decision of placing Ken McGrath at full back in order to strengthen the full back line. The decision paid off and the match turned out to be a complete mismatch, with Waterford running out winners on a scoreline of Waterford 6–18 Antrim 0–15. Waterford were then pitted against

in their Phase 4 Qualifier on 19 July 2008 at

Semple Stadium The Semple Stadium is the home of hurling and Gaelic football for Tipperary GAA and for the province of Munster. Located in Thurles, County Tipperary, it is the second largest GAA stadium in Ireland (after Croke Park), with a capacity of 45,690. ...

Thurles Thurles (; ''Durlas Éile'') is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of the same name in the barony of Eliogarty and in the ecclesiastical parish of Thurles (Roman Catholic parish), Thurles. The cathedral ch ...

. After a stern test in the first 60 minutes, Waterford eventually pulled away towards the end winning on a scoreline of Waterford 2–18 Offaly 0–18. This resulted in Waterford reaching the All-Ireland Quarter Finals and a match-up against Leinster runners-up

. This was a competitive match which toed and froed from one side to the other. However, a late barrage of points saw Waterford over the endline on a scoreline of Waterford 2–19 Wexford 3–15. The win against Wexford lead Waterford to their sixth All-Ireland Semi-Final since 1998. The opponents would be a highly fancied

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 ...

, who were reigning

National Hurling League The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...

and

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 ...

champions. Waterford started a blistering page, going 0–6 to 0–0 up after 8 minutes. However Tipperary were level going in at half time. Both teams scored goals in rapid succession in the 2nd half. Waterford's nerve held, and they won by two points on a scoreline of Waterford 1–20 Tipperary 1–18. It was Waterford's first semi-final win since 1963 and brought to an end a run of 5 consecutive semi-final defeats. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Television and Radio Coverage

As with previous years, the Irish state broadcaster, Radio Telefís Éireann will provide both television and radio coverage for the event. As well as showing the senior game, RTÉ will also provide coverage of the All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship Final on the day along with a suitable build up to the game in the preceding days. Irish satellite sports channel,

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

will provide coverage on the day for Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States of America. The

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

provides coverage in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, although viewers may also be able to watch the RTÉ coverage through different mediums.

Ger Canning Ger Canning is an Irish sports commentator with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). Career Ger Canning was born in Cork on 10 May 1951. He was a secondary school teacher at South Presentation school in Cork City when he began his broadcasting ca ...

will commentate on RTÉ's television coverage. It was Canning's twenty third time doing the live match commentary for RTÉ.

Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh (; born 20 August 1930) is an Irish Gaelic games commentator for the Irish national radio and television, RTÉ. In a career that has spanned six decades he has come to be regarded as the "voice of Gaelic games." He ...

provide commentary for RTÉ radio with the match being broadcast on both FM and LW. Radio coverage was also provided by numerous Irish local radio stations, most notably,

WLR FM WLR FM, or more commonly WLR (Waterford Local Radio) is the local radio station covering Waterford City and County, Ireland. It is Ireland's Local Station of the Year 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2022. In addition to the official franchise area, the stat ...

and

KCLR 96FM KCLR 96FM is an Irish radio station which broadcasts to Carlow and Kilkenny in Ireland. It began broadcasting in May 2004. Schedule KCLR breakfast with John Walsh is a three-hour show from 7am to 10am and continues to be the most popular br ...

Match details

References

{{All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final, 2008 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Finals Kilkenny GAA matches Waterford GAA matches