The Galway Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Brooks Galway Senior Hurling Championship) is an annual

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 ...

competition organised by the Galway County Board of 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 ...

since 1887 for the top hurling teams in the county of Galway 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 ...

. The series of games are played during the summer and autumn months with the county final currently being played at

Pearse Stadium Pearse Stadium ( ga, Páirc an Phiarsaigh) is the principal GAA stadium in Galway, Ireland. The Galway GAA Gaelic football and hurling teams use the stadium for their home games. The stadium, amongst others in the province of Connacht, is also ...

in November. Initially played as a knock-out competition, the championship currently consists of a group stage followed by a knock-out series of games. The Galway County Championship is an integral part of the wider

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

. The winners of the Galway county final automatically represent

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

and join the champions of the other three provinces to contest the All-Ireland Championship. Twenty-four teams currently participate in the Galway County Championship. The title has been won at least once by 29 different teams. The all-time record-holders are Castlegar, who have won a total of 17 titles. St. Thomas's are the title-holders, having defeated

Loughrea Loughrea ( ; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The town lies to the north of a range of wooded hills, the Slieve Aughty Mountains, and the lake from which it takes its name. The town's cathedral, St Brendan's, dominates the town's skyline ...

by 1-15 to 0-17 in the 2022 decider.

History

Beginnings

Following the foundation of the

in 1884, new rules for

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

and

were drawn up and published in the ''

United Irishman ''The United Irishman'' was an Irish nationalist newspaper co-founded by Arthur Griffith and William Rooney.Arthur Griffith ...

'' newspaper. In 1886, county committees were established, with the Galway County Board affiliating on 26 October 1886. The inaugural championship was played during the summer of 1887. Delays and objections were commonplace in the early years, with a number of championships remaining unfinished.

Format

Group stage

;Senior A For the group stage there are three groups of four teams. Teams play the other three teams in the group once and match points are awarded depending on the result of each game, with teams receiving two points for a win, and one for a draw. Following the completion of the group stage, the top team from each group plus one drawn 2nd place team automatically qualify for the quarter finals. The remaining two 2nd placed teams go to the Preliminary Quarter finals. The bottom team in each group is relegated to Senior B for 2022 ;Senior B For the group stage there are three groups of four teams. Teams play the other three teams in the group once and match points are awarded depending on the result of each game, with teams receiving two points for a win, and one for a draw. Following the completion of the group stage, the top two teams of each group qualify for the preliminary quarter-finals. The winners of each group play in Senior A in 2022. The last placed team in each group enter into a relegation playoff to play Intermediate in 2022.

Relegation

;Senior A The bottom-placed teams from each group are relegated to the Senior B section for the following year. ;Senior B The bottom-placed teams from each group play-off with the losing team relegated to the Galway Intermediate Hurling Championship for the following year.

Knock-out stage

Preliminary quarter-finals: 8 teams contest this round. The 4 winning teams advance to the quarter-final. The 4 losing teams are eliminated from the championship. Quarter-finals: 8 teams contest this round. The 4 winning teams advance to the semi-finals. The 4 losing teams are eliminated from the championship. Semi-finals: 4 teams contest this round. The 2 winning teams advance to the final. The 2 losing teams are eliminated from the championship. Final: The final is contested by the two semi-final winners.

Venues

Early rounds

Fixtures in the opening rounds of the championship are usually played at a neutral venue that is deemed halfway between the participating teams. Some of the more common venues include Kenny Park,

Duggan Park Duggan Park ( ga, Páirc Ó Dubhagain) is a GAA stadium in Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland. The ground, named after Bishop of Clonfert Patrick Duggan, was opened in 1934 and has a capacity of 3,000. See also * List of Gaelic Athletic ...

and St Brendan's Park.

Final

The final has regularly been played at

Salthill Salthill () is a seaside area in the City of Galway in the west of Ireland. Lying within the townland of Lenaboy (''an Léana Buí''), it attracts many tourists all year round. There is a 2 km long promenade, locally known as ''the Pro ...

Managers

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

s in the Galway Championship are involved in the day-to-day running of the team, including the training, team selection, and sourcing of players. Their influence varies from club-to-club and is related to the individual club committees. The manager is assisted by a team of two or three selectors and a backroom team consisting of various coaches.

Winners

Roll of honour

* 1956 Awarded to Turloughmore

Records and statistics

Teams

By decade

The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of Galway Senior Hurling Championship titles, is as follows: * 1880s: 1 each for Meelick (1887) and Peterswell (1889) * 1890s: 3 for

Ardrahan Ardrahan () is a village in County Galway, Ireland. History Richard de Burgo conquered Galway in 1236, and granted the land to Maurice Fitzgerald who built the castle whose ruins still stand today. The churchyard wall contains the remains ...

(1894-95-96) * 1900s: 4 for Peterswell (1900-04-05-07) * 1910s: 2 each for Kilconieron (1912–19), Woodfield (1913–17),

Gort Gort ( or ) is a town of around 3,000 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 and R460 regional roads, wh ...

(1914–16) and

Craughwell Craughwell (historically ''Creaghmoyle'', from ) is a town and townland in County Galway, Ireland. Name The name Craughwell is also used as a surname, properly '' Ó Creachmhaoil'', though often anglicised as ''Craughwell'', ''Croughwell'' and ...

(1915–18) * 1920s: 5 for Tyangh (1920-22-23-25-28) * 1930s: 4 for Castlegar (1936-37-38-39) * 1940s: 3 for

Liam Mellows William Joseph Mellows ( ga, Liam Ó Maoilíosa, 25 May 1892 – 8 December 1922) was an Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician. Born in England to an English father and Irish mother, he grew up in Ashton-under-Lyne before moving to Ireland ...

(1943-45-46) * 1950s: 5 for Castlegar (1950-52-53-57-58) * 1960s: 6 for

Turloughmore Turloughmore ( ; ) is a village in County Galway, Ireland. The name means "the large lake," a notable feature of the area, together with the Clare River (''Abhainn an Chláir''). Turloughmore lies on the N63 national secondary road A nationa ...

(1961-62-63-64-65-66) * 1970s: 3 each for Castlegar (1972-73-79) and

(1974-75-78) * 1980s: 2 each for Sarsfields (1980–89) and

(1981–83) * 1990s: 4 each for Sarsfields (1992-93-95-97) and

Athenry Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th century street-plan. The town is also well known by virtu ...

(1994-96-98-99) * 2000s: 5 for

Portumna Portumna ( - meaning 'the landing place of the oak') is a market town in the south-east of County Galway, Ireland, on the border with and linked by a bridge to County Tipperary. The town is located to the west of the point where the River Shanno ...

(2003-05-07-08-09) * 2010s: 4 for St. Thomas's (2012-16-18-19)

Gaps

Top five longest gaps between successive championship titles: * 65 years:

(1941-2006) * 47 years:

(1970-2017) * 47 years:

(1934-1981) * 39 years:

(1910-1949) * 28 years:

(1983-2011)

References

External links

Official Galway WebsiteGalway on Hoganstand
{{Galway GAA, state=expanded Galway GAA club championships 1 Senior hurling county championships