The 2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 133rd staging of 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 ...

, the

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

's premier

inter-county Inter-county, or inter county is Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) terminology which refers to competitions or matches between counties, as used in Gaelic games (differently from legal counties). The term can also be used to describe the players o ...

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 pla ...

tournament, since its establishment in

1887 Events January–March * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Har ...

. The 2020 fixtures were announced in October 2019. Games were initially scheduled to begin on 9 May 2020. Due to the

impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games As with other sports, the COVID-19 pandemic caused disruption to Gaelic games, primarily in Ireland but also elsewhere in the world. Competitions were cancelled, postponed or restructured, while some teams were withdrawn or were unable to par ...

, the competition was delayed before beginning on 24 October 2020 and ending on 13 December 2020.

Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 ...

returned to the

Leinster Championship 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 I ...

for the first time since

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, replacing

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2016 census, it had a combined urban and rural population of 24,272. The River Barrow flows through the town and forms the historic bounda ...

who were relegated in 2019. Tipperary entered the championship as the defending champions and were attempting to retain the title for the first time since

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

. They were knocked out at the All-Ireland quarter final stage following a defeat by

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 13 December 2020,

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 ...

won the championship after a 0-30 to 0-19 win over

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 ...

in the All-Ireland final at

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 h ...

. It was their ninth championship title overall and their first title since

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. Waterford's Stephen Bennett was the championship's top scorer with 1-54.

Competition format

Initially, the 2020 All-Ireland hurling championship format was to feature five-team groups in both Leinster and Munster and the two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists in the format introduced in 2018 for an initial three-year period. At the GAA Congress on 29 February 2019 it was decided to expand the Leinster Hurling Championship from five to six teams, beginning in 2021. This meant there would be no relegation from the Leinster Hurling Championship in 2020 and that the winners of the Joe McDonagh Cup would be promoted. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland may refer to: * COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland, the sovereign state * COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland, a country of the United Kingdom {{Health in Ireland ...

, some changes were announced on 26 June 2020. The format reverted to knockout provincial championships, along with qualifiers, similar to the 2017 format. The two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists did not compete in the senior championship. The draws for the Munster and Leinster Senior Hurling Championships took place live on RTÉ's Six One news on Friday 26 June.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and general information

Summary

Championships

Provincial Championships

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 hu ...

Leinster Quarter-final

Leinster Semi-finals

Leinster final

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

Five of the six Munster counties participate. Kerry compete in the Joe McDonagh Cup. The competition is entirely knock-out.

Munster quarter-final

Munster semi-finals

Munster final

All-Ireland Qualifiers

Of the six teams who don’t reach their provincial final (three from the Leinster championship and three from the Munster championship) four are drawn, two from Leinster versus two from Munster, to play in round one of the qualifiers, subject to the requirement that the two beaten provincial quarter-finalists play in round one. The two teams given byes play the round one winners in round two. The winners of round two compete in the two All-Ireland quarter-finals against the beaten Leinster and Munster finalists.

Qualifiers Round 1

Qualifiers Round 2

All-Ireland

All-Ireland quarter-finals

All-Ireland semi-finals

The Leinster and Munster champions play the winners of the two quarter-finals.

All-Ireland final

Championship statistics

Top scorers

;Overall ;In a single game

Miscellaneous

* Clare and Limerick qualified for the 2020 National Hurling League Division 1 final. The single match between Clare and Limerick played on 25 October 2020 was both the National Hurling League Final and the Munster Hurling Championship Quarter-final. * Limerick retained the Munster Championship for the first time since

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major off ...

Live televised games

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

, the national broadcaster in

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 ...

provided the majority of the live television coverage of the hurling championship in the fourth year of a five-year deal running from 2017 until 2021.

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It h ...

also broadcast a number of matches and have exclusive rights to some games. Sky Sports televised all of its live Championship games as part of its basic package on Sky Sports Mix.

Awards

;Sunday Game Team of the Year ''

The Sunday Game ''The Sunday Game'' is RTÉ's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ2 every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ2's longest-running shows, having been on air since ...

'' team of the year was picked on 13 December the night of the final. The panel consisting of Donal Óg Cusack, Jackie Tyrell, Ursula Jacob, and Shane Dowling picked

Gearóid Hegarty Gearóid M. Hegarty (born 10 August 1994) is an Irish hurler and Gaelic footballer who plays as a right wing-forward for club side St Patrick's and at inter-county level with the Limerick senior hurling team. He is a former member of the Lime ...

as the Sunday game player of the year. * 1. Nickie Quaid (Limerick) * 2. Sean Finn (Limerick) * 3. Dan Morrissey (Limerick) * 4. Daithi Burke (Galway) * 5. Diarmuid Byrnes (Limerick) * 6. Tadhg de Búrca (Waterford) * 7. Kyle Hayes (Limerick) * 8. Cian Lynch (Limerick) * 9. Jamie Barron (Waterford) * 10. Tom Morrissey (Limerick) * 11. TJ Reid (Kilkenny) * 12. Gearóid Hegarty (Limerick) * 13. Stephen Bennett (Waterford) * 14. Aaron Gillane (Limerick) * 15. Tony Kelly (Clare) ;All Star Team of the Year In February 2021, the 2020 '' PwC All-Stars'' winners were presented at Dublin's Convention Centre.

was named as the All Stars Hurler of the Year with Eoin Cody named the All Stars Young Hurler of the Year.

References

{{All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2020 in hurling All-Ireland Championship