The Armagh county hurling team represents

Armagh GAA The Armagh County Board ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae Ard Mhacha) or Armagh GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in Coun ...

, the county board of 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 the Gaelic sport of hurling. The team competes in the

Nicky Rackard Cup The Nicky Rackard Cup (; often referred to as the Rackard Cup) is the fourth tier of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Each year, the champion team in the Nicky Rackard Cup is promoted to the Christy Ring Cup, and the lowest finishing ...

and the National Hurling League. Armagh's home ground is Athletic Grounds, Armagh. The team's manager is Karl McKeegan. The team has never won the Ulster Senior Championship, the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League. The team is nicknamed the Orchard men.

History

Like most counties outside of the game's heartland of Munster and south

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 ...

, hurling has tended to live in the shadow cast by Gaelic football in Armagh, with the exception of border areas such as Keady, Middletown and Armagh City. In 2006, Armagh won the NHL Division 3 championship, winning all its games in the group stages before defeating

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

by a scoreline of 3–10 to 1–11 in the final at

Breffni Park Breffni Park, known for sponsorship reasons as Kingspan Breffni, is a GAA stadium in Cavan, Ireland. It is the home of Cavan GAA. The ground has an overall capacity of about 25,030 with a 5,030 seated capacity. Breffni is the historic name ...

in Cavan. The step up to Division 2 proved to be a difficult one for the men from the Orchard County. While the team failed to win any of its group games, it was unfortunate to lose to Meath and also managed to come within a point of

2006 Christy Ring Cup The 2006 Christy Ring Cup was the second staging of the Christy Ring Cup, the Gaelic Athletic Association's inter-county hurling tournament for second tier teams. The cup began on 3 June 2006 and ended on 6 August 2006. Westmeath were the de ...

finalists Carlow. Heavier defeats were suffered at the hands of more established counties such as Derry and

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 ...

. Armagh returned to the

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

in May 2007 for the first time in almost 60 years with a match against Derry. Despite a strong performance, the team lost out on a semi-final encounter with neighbouring team Down due to an injury-time score. The advances made in the county over the previous two years placed it as the favourite in the 2007 Nicky Rackard Cup Final against

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who buil ...

on 12 August; however, Armagh lost this game by two points. Armagh won the 2010 Nicky Rackard Cup, defeating

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

by a scoreline of 3–15 to 3–14 at Croke Park on 3 July. The county's minor team won the Ulster Minor Hurling League Division One title and reached the final of the

Ulster Minor Hurling Championship The Ulster Hurling Minor Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1930 for the youngest competitors (under-18) in the province of Ulster in Ireland. It is sponsored ...

. The county's under-21 team also reached the final of the

Ulster Under-21 Hurling Championship The Ulster U-21 Hurling Championship, or for sponsorship reasons the Erin Ulster Under-21 Hurling Championship, is an Under 21 hurling tournament between counties affiliated to Ulster. The winners of the Ulster championship go on to qualify for ...

. In 2011, Armagh reached the

final for the first time since 1946 and advanced to the Ulster Under-21 Hurling Championship final for a second consecutive year, the first time in team history. Armagh won the

2012 Nicky Rackard Cup The 2012 Nicky Rackard Cup is the eighth season of the Nicky Rackard Cup since its establishment in 2005. A total of six teams will contest the Nicky Rackard Cup, including four sides from the 2011 Nicky Rackard Cup and one promoted team from th ...

, its second time to lift the trophy, defeating Louth by a scoreline of 3–20 to 1–15 at Croke Park on 9 June. Armagh lost the

2015 Nicky Rackard Cup The 2015 Nicky Rackard Cup (tier 3) was the eleventh staging of the Nicky Rackard Cup hurling championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2005. The cup competition began on 2 May 2015 and culminated on 13 June 2015. ...

final to Roscommon by a scoreline of 2–12 to 1–14, even though Roscommon had one less player due to a straight red card and the team was behind for the entire second-half until scoring a goal from a 20-metre free at the end. Armagh won Division 2B in 2016, earning promotion to Division 2A. But it was then relegated. Armagh defeated Down in the

2016 Ulster Senior Hurling Championship The 2016 Ulster Senior Hurling Championship was the 68th staging of the Ulster hurling championship since its establishment by the Ulster Council in 1901. The final is traditionally played on the second Sunday in July. The winners receive the ...

semi-final, giving them a place in the final, where Antrim prevailed. Armagh also lost to Antrim in the

2017 Ulster Senior Hurling Championship The 2017 Ulster Senior Hurling Championship was the 69th staging of the Ulster hurling championship since its establishment by the Ulster Council in 1901. The tournament was moved to April, instead of the usual June/July dates, in order to acco ...

final. Armagh lost the 2016 Nicky Rackard Cup final to

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

by a scoreline of 2–16 to 1–15, giving Mayo a first Nicky Rackard trophy. Armagh lost the 2017 Nicky Rackard Cup final to Derry by a scoreline of 3–23 to 2–15. Armagh lost the 2019 Nicky Rackard Cup final to Sligo by a scoreline of 2–14 to 2–13; though the team was four points ahead of Sligo as the game reached its conclusion, Sligo scored two late points and a goal to secure a one-point victory.

Managerial history

Sylvester McConnell? P. Kelly, the former Meath hurler, 2017– Kelly took charge of Armagh for the

2018 National Hurling League The 2018 National Hurling League was the 87th season of the National Hurling League for county teams. Wexford finished top of Division 1B in 2017 and were promoted to Division 1A for 2018. Galway finished second in Division 1B in 2017 and so mis ...

. Kelly stood aside upon Armagh's

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

to Division 3A of the National Hurling League, replaced by interim manager Padraig O'Connor, O'Connor then being reappointed in 2019 Terence "Sambo" McNaughton was appointed manager in March 2022. Karl McKeegan was appointed manager in October 2022.

Honours

:''Official honours, with additions noted.''

National

* National Hurling League Division 2B ** Winners (1):

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* National Hurling League Division 3 ** Winners (2):

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, 2006 *

All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship The All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship was a hurling competition organized by the Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland. The competition was originally contested by the second teams of the strong counties, and the first teams of the weaker ...

** Winners (5): 1978, 1979, 2000, 2010,

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** Runners-up (5): 2007, 2015,

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2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Provincial

** Runners-up (3): 1946,

** Runners-up (4): 1968, 1979, 2010, 2011 *

** Winners (1): 1975 *

Ulster Junior Hurling Championship The Ulster Junior Hurling Championship is a junior "knockout" competition in the game of Hurling played in the province of Ulster in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Ulster Council. The winners of the Ulster Junior Hurling Champ ...

** Winners (6): 1949, 1965, 1973, 1990, 1991, 2000 *Ulster Minor Hurling League Division 1 ** Winners (1): 2010

References

{{GAA National Leagues County hurling teams