The Kerry Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Garvey's SuperValu Senior Hurling Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the

Kerry County Board The Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), or Kerry GAA, is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland. It is responsible for Gaelic games in County Kerry, and for the Kerry county teams. The Kerry branch of the Gae ...

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 ...

since 1889 for the top hurling teams in the county of Kerry 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 months, with the county final currently being played in

Austin Stack Park Austin Stack Park is a GAA stadium in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. It is one of the stadiums used by Kerry GAA's Gaelic football team and the stadium of the hurling team. The ground was named after Austin Stack, an Irish revolutionary a ...

in August. Initially played a knock-out competition, the championship currently uses a double elimination format whereby each team is guaranteed at least two games. The 2020 championship reverted to a straight knock-out format due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Kerry County Championship is an integral part of the wider

Munster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship The Munster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Munster GAA Hurling Intermediate Club Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association ...

. The winners of the Kerry county final join the intermediate champions of the other five counties to contest the provincial championship. The title has been won at least once by 21 different teams. The all-time record-holders are Kilmoyley who have won 26 titles. Causeway are the current title-holders after defeating Ballyduff by 2-15 to 0-16 in the 2022 championship final played at

in Tralee.

History

Beginnings

The inaugural championship took place in 1889 with just five clubs entering. These were Abbeydorney, Ballyduff,

Kenmare Kenmare () is a small town in the south of County Kerry, Ireland. The name Kenmare is the anglicised form of ''Ceann Mara'', meaning "head of the sea", referring to the head of Kenmare Bay. Location Kenmare is located at the head of Kenmare Ba ...

Kilgarvan Kilgarvan () is a small village in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is situated on the banks of the Roughty River which flows into Kenmare Bay. By car, the village is a ten-minute trip from Kenmare, and thirty minutes from Killarn ...

and Kilmoyley. The very first championship match was held on 10 March 1889 when Abbeydorney beat Ballyduff by 1-1 to 0-1. Walkovers and delays were regular occurrences in the early years of the championship, while no records exist for some championship finals. More clubs fielded teams as the years went on, with the championships of 1905 and 1913 being held on a league basis. The championship suffered severe disruption between 1920 and 1924 due to the

War of Independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List o ...

and subsequent

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Several championships were abandoned midway through, while the championships of 1921 and 1923 were cancelled. The last championship which failed to be completed was in 1935.

Club dominance

Since the beginning, the championship has been dominated at various times by Ballyduff and Kilmoyley who are collectively known as the "big two". They have won 49 championship titles between them. Kilmoyley dominated the first 25 years of the championship, winning ten titles between 1890 and 1914. The 1920s and 1930s saw a number of first-time winners, including Austin Stacks, Causeway and

Lixnaw Lixnaw () is a village in North County Kerry, Ireland. It is located near the River Brick SW of Listowel and NE of Tralee. History Lixnaw was once the seat of the Fitzmaurice family, the Earls of Kerry. In 1320 Nicolas, the third baron o ...

Crotta O'Neill's Crotta O'Neill's are a hurling club in the Kilflynn area of County Kerry, Ireland. The club is named after Maurice O'Neill, an Irish Republican. They play in the Kerry Senior Hurling Championship. The club is primarily concerned with the ga ...

also won their first championship in 1939 and dominated the next twelve years by winning eight titles in total. The second half of the 20th century was dominated by Ballyduff. The club won 19 championship titles in a forty-year period between 1955 and 1995. The only club who came close to matching their dominance was Causeway who won six championships between 1979 and 1987. The first two decades of the 21st century has seen the Kilmoyley-Ballyduff hegemony continue. Kilmoyley won their first title after a 30-year fallow period in 2001, before claiming seven more titles up to 2016. Ballyduff won five championships between 2006 and 2017. Kilmoyley won back to back titles in 2020-21 to give them ten titles in 20 years. The 2022 final included a first, a live referee microphone for its national broadcast on

TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known ...

. It was also the first time the Kerry County Hurling Final was shown on live national TV.

Trophy

The Neilus Flynn Cup is presented to the winners of the championship and is named after Neilus Flynn, who captained Causeway and St Brendan's (Div.) to County Championship successes in 1932 and 1936 respectively. The Flynn family donated both the original trophy (in 1987) and the new cup to the Kerry County Board. The current trophy, which was designed by silversmith Fintan Foley, was presented for the first time to the 2018 champions,

Roll of honour

Finals listed by year

Winning captains

*1889: Lawrence Egan (

) *1890: Jack W. Quane ( Kilmoyley) *1891:

John O'Mahony John Francis O'Mahony (1815 – 7 February 1877) was a Gaelic scholar and the founding member of the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States, sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Despite coming from a reasonably wealthy fa ...

( Ballyduff) *1892: Jack W. Quane ( Kilmoyley) *1893: Davy Fitzgerald ( Abbeydorney) *1894: John Gurnett ( Kilmoyley) *1895: Jack W. Quane ( Kilmoyley) *1896: Davy Fitzgerald ( Abbeydorney) *1897: John Ban McCarthy (

) *1898: No Record *1899: No Record *1900: Patsy O'Rourke ( Kilmoyley) *1901; Patsy O'Rourke ( Kilmoley) *1902: George Maybury (

) *1903: Chris Horan (

Tralee Celtic Tralee Celtic are a former Gaelic Athletic Association club form Tralee in County Kerry, Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern ...

) *1904: Paddy Guerin (

) *1905: Tim Meehan ( Kilmoyley) *1906: No Record *1907: Pat Meehan ( Kilmoyley) *1908: Dan Mullins (

Tralee Mitchels Tralee Mitchels were a Gaelic Athletic Association club in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland before the formation of the three Tralee clubs namely John Mitchels, Austin Stacks and Kerins O'Rahilly's. They were one of the top teams in the county ...

) *1909: No Record *1910: Tim Meehan ( Kilmoyley) *1911: Paddy O'Mahoney (

) *1912: Tom Costelleo (

) *1913: Maurice Treacy ( Abbeydorney) *1914: Tim Meehan ( Kilmoyley) *1915: No Record *1916: Willie Mangan (Tullig) *1917: Pat Carmody (Tubird) *1918: John Dunne (

Tralee Parnells Tralee Parnells are a hurling club from the town of Tralee in County Kerry, Ireland. Original club The original Parnells won 2 Kerry Senior Hurling Championships in 1918 and 1919. All Ireland winning football captain and one of Kerry's grea ...

) *1919: John Dunne (

) *1920: No Record *1921: Not Held *1922: Not Finished *1923: Not Held *1924: Championship abandoned *1925: Jer "Pluggy" Moriarty (

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in Count ...

) *1926: No Record *1927: Not Held *1928:

Joe Barrett Joe Barrett (17 July 1902 – 2 June 1952) was an Irish sportsperson. He played Gaelic football with his local club Austin Stack's and was a member of the Kerry senior inter-county team from 1923 until 1933. Barrett captained Kerry to t ...

( Rock Street) *1929: Dan Rayn ( Rock Street) *1930: No Record *1931:

( Rock Street) *1932:

Neilus Flynn Neilus Flynn was a hurler who played hurling with Causeway in County Kerry. He was the club's first Kerry Senior Hurling Championship The Kerry Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Garvey's SuperValu Senior Hurlin ...

( Causeway) *1933:

( Austin Stacks) *1934: Not Finished *1935: Not Played *1936:

( St Brendan's, Ardfert) *1937: Willie Shanahan (Pearses) *1938: John Twomey (Pearses) *1939: Jimmy Flaherty (

) *1940: Johnny Hussey ( Banna) *1941: Jack Kenney (

) *1942: Jerry McCarthy (

) *1943: Pat Ladie (

) *1944: Jimmy Flaherty (

) *1945: Jimmy Flaherty (

) *1946: Christy O’Mahony (

Ballyheigue Ballyheigue ( ), officially Ballyheige ( - meaning ''Settlement of Tadhg'') is a coastal village in County Kerry, Ireland. It is approximately north of Tralee on the R551. It is a scenic locale which forms part of the Wild Atlantic Way and h ...

) *1947: Jimmy Flaherty (

) *1948: Mick McGrath ( Kilmoyley) *1949: Frank Kissane ( St Brendan's, Ardfert) *1950: Jimmy Flaherty (

) *1951: Tom Nolan (

) *1952: Johnny Hussey ( St Brendan's, Ardfert) *1953: Richie Purcell (

) *1954: Jim Hogan (

) *1955: Michael Hennessy ( Ballyduff) *1956: Paudie Healy (

) *1957: Brendan Hennessy ( Ballyduff) *1958: Denis Hegarty (

) *1959: Teddy Hennessy ( Ballyduff) *1960: Stephen O'Sullivan ( Ballyduff) *1961: Richie McCarthy ( Ballyduff) *1962: Michael Curran ( Kilmoyley) *1963: John Flanagan ( Kilmoyley) *1964: Michael Regan ( Kilmoyley) *1965: Mike Joe Quinlan ( Ballyduff) *1966: Thomas Leen ( Ballyduff) *1967: John O' Sullivan ( St Brendan's, Ardfert) *1968: Tom Kenny (

) *1969: Con O' Mara (

Killarney Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Cast ...

) *1970: Patsy O'Connor ( Kilmoyley) *1971: Mike Fitzgerald ( Kilmoyley) *1972: Johnny Bunyan ( Ballyduff) *1973: Pat Costello ( Ballyduff) *1974: Tony Behan ( Abbeydorney) *1975: James McGrath ( St Brendan's, Ardfert) *1976: Eamonn O'Sullivan ( Ballyduff) *1977: Liam Boyle ( Ballyduff) *1978: Mike Carroll ( Ballyduff) *1979: Roger Hussy ( Causeway) *1980: Roy Dineen ( Causeway) *1981:

Maurice Leahy Maurice Leahy (born 1952 in Causeway, County Kerry) is an Irish former hurling manager and former player. He played hurling with his local club Causeway and with the Kerry senior inter-county team from 1977 until 1989. Leahy later served as ...

( Causeway) *1982: Gerald O'Grady ( Causeway) *1983: Moss McKenna (

) *1984: Tom O'Sullivan ( Ballyduff) *1985: Moss Allen (

) *1986: John Crowley ( St Brendan's, Ardfert) *1987: Anthony O'Connor ( Causeway) *1988: Tadgh O'Halloran ( Ballyduff) *1989: John Hennessy ( Ballyduff) *1990: Philip Stack ( St Brendan's, Ardfert) *1991: Jimmy O'Sullivan ( Ballyduff) *1992: Patrick O’Mahony (

) *1993: Liam Ross ( Ballyduff) *1994: Noel Browne ( Ballyduff) *1995: Christy Ross ( Ballyduff) *1996: Patrick O’Mahony (

) *1997; Nicholas Roche (

) *1998: Maurice O'Carroll ( Causeway) *1999: Trevor McKenna (

) *2000:

Michael ‘Boxer’ Slattery Michael "Boxer" Slattery is a hurler from County Kerry in Ireland. He has played with Ballyheigue and the Kerry senior team. Club career Slattery has won 3 County Senior Championships with Ballyheigue in 1996,1997 and 2000 when he was capta ...

(

) *2001: James McCarthy ( Kilmoyley) *2002: Ian Brick ( Kilmoyley) *2003: Maurice Murnane ( Kilmoyley) *2004: Shane Brick ( Kilmoyley) *2005: Fergus Fitzmaurice (

) *2006: David Slattery ( Ballyduff) *2007: Patrick Dowling (

) *2008:

Tom Murnane Tom Murane is a hurler from County Kerry, Ireland. He plays with the Kerry intercounty team, of whom he was captain of in 2008. He has won two Christy Ring Cup All Stars in 2009 and 2010. He plays his club hurling with Kilmoyley Kilmoyle ...

( Kilmoyley) *2009: Micheal Regan ( Kilmoyley) *2010: Padraig O'Grady ( Ballyduff) *2011: Ally O'Connor ( Ballyduff) *2012: Aidan Boyle ( Ballyduff) *2013: Eamon Corridon ( St Brendan's, Ardfert) *2014: Maurice Corridan (

) *2015: Sean Maunsell ( Kilmoyley) *2016: Aidan McCabe ( Kilmoyley) *2017: Mikey Boyle ( Ballyduff) *2018: Darragh Shanahan (

) *2019: Muiris Delaney ( Causeway) *2020: John B. O'Halloran ( Kilmoyley) *2021: Florence McCarthy ( Kilmoyley) *2022: Jason Diggins ( Causeway)

Records and statistics

Teams

By decade

The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of Kerry Senior Hurling Championship titles, is as follows: * 1890s: 4 for Kilmoyley (1890-92-94-95) * 1900s: 4 for Kilmoyley (1900-01-05-07) * 1910s: 2 each for Kilmoyley (1910-14),

(1911-12) and

(1918-19) * 1920s: 2 for Austin Stacks (as Rock Street) (1928-29) * 1930s: 2 for Kilflynn Pearses (1938-39) * 1940s: 5 for

(1941-43-44-45-47) * 1950s: 3 each for

(1953-56-58) and Ballyduff (1955-57-59) * 1960s: 4 for Ballyduff (1960-61-65-66) * 1970s: 5 for Ballyduff (1972-73-76-77-78) * 1980s: 4 for Causeway (1980-81-82-87) * 1990s: 4 for Ballyduff (1991-93-94-95) * 2000s: 6 for Kilmoyley (2001-02-03-04-08-09) * 2010s: 4 for Ballyduff (2010-11-12-17) * 2020s: 2 for Kilmoyley (2020-21)

Gaps

Top eleven longest gaps between successive championship titles: * 64 years: Ballyduff (1891-1955) * 61 years: Abbeydorney (1913-1974) * 54 years:

(1968-present) *47 years: Causeway (1932-1979) * 46 years:

(1946-1992) * 40 years:

(1902-1942) * 34 years: Kilmoyley (1914-1948) * 30 years: Kilmoyley (1971-2001) * 29 years:

(1954-1983) * 23 years: St Brendan's, Ardfert (1990-2013) * 20 years:

(1934-1954)

References

{{Kerry GAA, state=expanded 1 Senior hurling county championships