The 2014 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 127th staging of the All-Ireland championship since its establishment by 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 ...

in 1887. The draw for the 2014 fixtures took place on 3 October 2013. The championship began on 27 April 2014 and ended on 7 September 2014. On 7 June 2014

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 ...

versus

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 ...

was broadcast on

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 ...

, the first time a Championship fixture was broadcast live to a UK-wide audience. British viewers were reported to have been "amazed and confused", "bemused but impressed" and "amused and confounded" after seeing

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 ...

for the first time. Clare entered the championship as defending champions, however, they were defeated by

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 ...

won the All-Ireland title following a 2–17 to 2–14 defeat of

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 ...

after a replay.

Overview

All teams from the 2013 championship continued to line out in hurling's top tier in 2014. On 23 March 2013, the GAA's annual Congress adopted a proposal from the Central Competition Controls Committee (CCCC) which sought to introduce a round-robin qualifying group in Leinster for five designated counties. Ten counties competed in the 2013 Leinster championship; however, the CCCC proposal decreased the Leinster competition to a field of five regulars, namely

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 ...

and

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 ...

, alongside two more from a round-robin qualifying group featuring

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 medie ...

Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

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 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and Antrim. These five teams each played four games, with the top two qualifying for the Leinster Championship quarter-finals. The fourth-placed team met the winner of the

Christy Ring Cup The Christy Ring Cup () is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. Originally introduced as a second-tier competition, it is currently the third tier overall in the inter-county hurling championship system. Eac ...

in a promotion/relegation play-off. The bottom county faced automatic relegation to the Christy Ring Cup.

Personnel and kits

Summary

Championships

Broadcasting

In the first year of a deal running from 2014 until 2016, a total of 45 provincial and All-Ireland championship matches in hurling and football were broadcast live on television in Ireland. A total of 31 games will be shown by

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

and 14 by

for the first time. TV3's six year-involvement with broadcasting games came to an end in 2013. Sky Sports will also broadcast live the All-Ireland Hurling and Football semi-finals and finals along with RTÉ. The first game to be broadcast by Sky Sports was the Leinster quarter-final between Kilkenny and Offaly in Nowlan Park on Saturday 7 June.

Rachel Wyse Rachel Wyse (born 22 January 1985 in Dublin) is an Irish journalist, presenter, former Sky Sports News anchor and equestrian show jumper. Early life Rachel attended St Andrew's College, Dublin. Wyse graduated from the Institute of Art, Desi ...

and Brian Carney were announced as presenters of Sky's coverage, with Dave McIntyre and Mike Finnerty as commentators. Analysts for the hurling championship were

Jamesie O'Connor Jamesie O'Connor (born 28 July 1972) is an Irish former hurler who played as a midfielder for the Clare senior hurling team. O'Connor made his first appearance for the team during the 1992–93 National League and became a regular member o ...

and

Nicky English Nicholas J. "Nicky" English (born 20 October 1962) is an Irish former hurler who played as a full-forward at senior level for the Tipperary county team. Born in Cullen, County Tipperary, English first played competitive Gaelic games during h ...

. In May, the GAA and RTÉ launched a new streaming service called '' GAAGO'' intended to stream championship games worldwide. The subscription-based service will be available to fans everywhere in the world outside of the island of Ireland, including all the games broadcast in Ireland exclusively by Sky Sports. All 45 televised games from the football and hurling championships, as broadcast by both RTÉ and Sky will be available to watch on GAAGO. For Great Britain, the games broadcast by Sky will only be available through Sky. The price for a worldwide GAAGO 'Season Pass' is €110 while in Britain, the GB Pass will be €60. A pay-per-game option is available for €10, and this will rise to €14 for the quarter-final, semi-final and final stages of the championship. Despite massive interest in the Leinster hurling semi-final replay between Kilkenny and Galway on 28 June, the game will not be shown live on television. The throw in time is fixed for 7.00pm and Sky Sports are already covering the Ulster football semi-final between Monaghan and Armagh with the GAA's television contracts preventing live television coverage of two championship games at the same time. These matches were broadcast live on television in Ireland

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 ...

Qualifying group

Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5

Promotion play-off

Knock-out

----

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

All-Ireland qualifiers

Round 1

Round 2

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 ...

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Statistics

Scoring

*First goal of the championship: **

Marty Kavanagh Martin Joseph Kavanagh (June 13, 1891 – July 28, 1960) was an American baseball player. He played professional baseball for six years from 1913 to 1918, including five seasons in Major League Baseball with the Detroit Tigers (1914–1916, 1918) ...

for Carlow against London (''27 April 2014'') *Widest winning margin: 26 points **

5-32 - 1-18

(Leinster quarter-final) *Most goals in a match: 8 **

3-22 - 5-16

(Leinster semi-final, drawn match) *Most points in a match: 50 **

5-32 - 1-18

(Leinster quarter-final) ** Clare 2-25 - 2-25

(All-Ireland qualifier) *Most goals by one team in a match: 5 **

5-19 - 0-21 Antrim (Leinster quarter-final) **

5-32 - 1-18

(Leinster quarter-final) **

3-22 - 5-16

(Leinster semi-final, drawn match) **

5-25 - 1-20

(All-Ireland qualifier) * Highest aggregate score: 68 **

5-32 - 1-18

(Leinster quarter-final) *Lowest aggregate score: 26 **

0-14 - 1-9

(Leinster qualifying group) *Most goals scored by a losing team: 4 **

4-13 - 3-25

(All-Ireland qualifier)

Top scorers

;Overall ;Single game

Clean sheets

Discipline

* First red card of the championship: Aaron Craig for Westmeath against Antrim (''27 April 2014'')

Miscellaneous

* Limerick's 2–18 to 2-16 Munster semi-final defeat of Tipperary was their first victory over their near neighbours 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. ...

since

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

. * Kilkenny's tally of 5-32, or 47 points, was the biggest score the Cats have posted in a championship match during

Brian Cody Brian Cody (born 12 July 1954) is an Irish former hurling manager and player and retired schoolmaster. He managed the senior Kilkenny county team between 1998 and 2022, becoming the county's longest-serving manager and most successful in term ...

's tenure as manager. *For the fourth time in five years the Munster champions were defeated in their All-Ireland semi-final. *The aggregate score of 4-50 (62) in the drawn All-Ireland final is the largest combined tally in a championship decider since

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

. *For the third year in-a-row the All-Ireland final ends in a draw. *

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 ...

of Kilkenny becomes the first player to win ten All-Ireland medals on the field of play.

Controversies

Involvement of the British Sky Broadcasting Group

The decision by the GAA to grant access to satellite broadcasting company

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

of Championship hurling was criticised in some quarters. The first attempt by

to cover live televised hurling - a Leinster Championship encounter between

and

- drew an audience share of less than 10 per cent of that which tuned into the free-to-air

encounter at Croke Park the following day. In addition, the match was erroneously billed in advance by Sky as a "Connacht GAA football" game.

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 197 ...

'' team of the year was picked on 28 September, which was the night after the final replay.

Richie Hogan Richard Hogan (born 8 August 1988) is an Irish hurler who plays as a midfielder at senior level for the Kilkenny county team. Born in Waterford in 1988, Hogan is a native of Danesfort, County Kilkenny. Hogan first played competitive hurlin ...

was named the Sunday game player of the year. *Darren Gleeson (Tipperary) *Paul Murphy (Kilkenny) *JJ Delaney (Kilkenny) *Seamus Hickey (Limerick) *Brendan Maher (Tipperary) *Padraic Maher (Tipperary) *Cillian Buckley (Kilkenny) *Richie Hogan (Kilkenny) *Conor Fogarty (Kilkenny) *TJ Reid (Kilkenny), *Patrick Maher (Tipperary) *John O'Dwyer (Tipperary) *Colin Fennelly (Kilkenny) *Seamus Callinan (Tipperary) *Shane Dowling (Limerick) ;All Star Team of the Year

was named the All Stars player of the year with

Cathal Barrett Cathal Barrett (born 21 July 1993) is an Irish hurler who plays for Tipperary Championship club Holycross–Ballycahill and at inter-county level with the Tipperary senior hurling team. He usually lines out as a right corner-back. Playing car ...

named as the young player of the year at the awards ceremony on 24 October.

References

External links

Hurling Championships Proposals: 2014–2016 and beyond
{{2014 All-Ireland Hurling Championships 2014 in hurling