The All Ireland Schoolboys Hockey Championship is an annual competition involving the strongest schools affiliated to
Hockey Ireland
Hockey Ireland, previously known as the Irish Hockey Association, is the governing body for field hockey in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is responsible for organising both the Ireland men's national field hockey team and t ...
. The competition is held in the Autumn term of each school year.
Banbridge Academy, Down, are the current champions, having defeated The High School, Dublin in the 2022 final in The Maradyke, Cork
Venues
The venue of the competition is on a three-year rota between
Munster
Leinster
and
Ulster
History
The competition began in the 1982 school year. It was initially dominated by schools from
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 Kin ...
, with the first fourteen winners coming from that province. The monopoly was finally broken in 1996-97 15th tournament, when Newpark School from
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 ...
became the first winners from
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 ...
.
Ashton were the first school from
Munster to win the All Ireland tournament.
In 2019 all four semifinalists hailed from Leinster, with eventual winners, The High School, defeating King’s Hospital 1-0 to reach their first ever final. The same scoreline stood in the other semi, where Wesley College were beaten by tournament runners-up St. Andrew’s College.
Format
Sixteen teams compete in the finals. The teams are drawn into four pools with four teams each. Each team plays the other three teams in their group once. Each group winner then play one of the other group winners in a semi-final match. The two semi-final winners then play each other in the final. The winner of the final is presented with the ''Tasmanian Shield''.
Performance table
Finals
1982-1988
1989-1998
1999-2008
2009-
2020-
Sources
External links
Irish Hockey Association website
{{Ireland field hockey links
Field hockey competitions in Ireland
1982 establishments in Ireland