The Leinster GAA Hurling All-Ireland Under-20 Championship known simply as the Leinster Under-20 Championship, is an annual

inter-county Inter-county, or inter county is Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) terminology which refers to competitions or matches between counties, as used in Gaelic games (differently from legal counties). The term can also be used to describe the players o ...

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

Leinster Council The Leinster Council is a provincial council of the Gaelic Athletic Association sports of hurling, Gaelic football, camogie, rounders and handball in the province of Leinster. The Leinster Council has been partnered with the European County ...

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 ...

(GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurling competition for male players between the ages of 17 and 20 in the

province of 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 Ire ...

. The championship was contested as the Leinster Under-21 Championship between

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

before changing to an under-20 age category from

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 ...

. It is sponsored by

Bord Gáis Energy Bord Gáis Energy is a utility that supplies gas and electricity and boiler services to customers in the Republic of Ireland. Bord Gáis Energy has been in operation in some form since 1976 and supplies over 750,000 customers with energy in Irel ...

. The series of games are played during the summer months with the Leinster final currently being played in July. The prize for the winning team is the Seán Robbins Cup. The championship has always been played on a straight knock-out basis whereby once a team loses they are eliminated from the series. The Leinster Championship is an integral part of the wider All-Ireland Under-20 Hurling Championship. The winners and runners-up of the Leinster final, like their counterparts in the

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

, advance to the semi-final stage of the All-Ireland series of games. Eight teams currently participate in the Munster Championship.

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 ...

is the most successful team with 26 titles, followed 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 ...

with 17 titles. The title has been won by six different teams, four of whom have won the title more than once.

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 ...

are the current holders.

History

Creation

The Leinster Championship began in 1964 in response to a

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

motion put forward 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 ...

for the introduction of a new championship grade. It was the fifth championship to be created after the

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

and intermediate grades.

Beginnings

The inaugural Leinster Championship featured

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 ...

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 ...

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional cen ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

. Louth and Westmeath contested the very first match on Sunday 29 March 1964. Wexford won the inaugural championship.

Team dominance

Since the beginning the championship has been dominated by Kilkenny and Wexford. They won all bar one of the available championship titles between 1964 and 1977 and have won a combined total of 42 championship titles. Kilkenny also have the distinction of being the only team to win four championships in-a-row, achieving this feat on two separate occasions. Dublin were the only team beside Kilkenny and Wexford to win the championship, with their lone title being claimed in 1967. Offaly and Laois added their names to the roll of honour in 1978 and 1983 respectively, however, the rest of the century belonged to Kilkenny and Wexford once again.

Proposed changes

In 2008 a motion was brought before a special Congress in an effort to combat player burnout. It was proposed to merge the existing under-21 and minor championships to create a new Leinster Under-19 Hurling Championship based on the provincial system. This motion was defeated by 115 votes to 58. A similar motion was later introduced in an effort to lower the age and create a new Leinster Under-20 Championship based on the provincial system, however, this motion was also defeated.

Age change

At the GAA Congress on 24 February 2018, the age limit of the championship was changed to twenty, following a successful motion by the Offaly County Board. In contrast to

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 ...

, under-20 hurlers are eligible to play both under-20 and senior hurling for their county.

Current format

Championship

The Leinster Championship is a

knockout tournament A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking ...

with pairings drawn at random. Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is a period of

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

, however, if the sides still remain level a replay is required. There are nine teams in the Leinster Championship. The finalists from the previous year receive a bye to separate semi-finals. The four "weakest" teams contest two play-off rounds with the winner joining the other three teams in the championship proper at the quarter-final stage.

Qualification for the All-Ireland Championship

As of the 2018 championship qualification for the All-Ireland Championship has changed due to the introduction of a "back door" for defeated finalists. Both the champions and runners-up qualify for the All-Ireland semi-finals.

Teams

Non-Leinster teams

On 30 September 2017, 72% of delegates at GAA Special Congress voted in favour of allowing

into the Leinster Championship along with any Ulster teams – as of agreed by the

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 King ...

and Leinster Councils.

Venues

History

Leinster Championship matches have always been played on a home and away basis whereby every second meeting between teams is played at the home venue of one of them. All of the current teams have home and away agreements, however, Antrim and

are not permitted to use their home grounds because they are outside the province of Leinster.

Attendances

Stadium attendances are a significant source of regular income for the Leinster Council and for the teams involved.

Final

The venue for the final also comes under the terms of the individual home and away agreements between the teams involved, however, on some occasions a neutral venue was used. The attendance at the 2017 Leinster final was 6,089.

Managers

Managers 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 ...

in the Leinster Championship are involved in the day-to-day running of the team, including the training, team selection, and sourcing of players from the club championships. Their influence varies from county-to-county and is related to the individual county boards. The manager is assisted by a team of two or three selectors and an extensive backroom team consisting of various coaches. The under-20 team manager also works closely with the senior team manager due to an overlap of players on both teams. Prior to the development of the concept of a manager in the 1970s, teams were usually managed by a team of selectors with one member acting as chairman.

Trophy and medals

At the end of the Leinster final, the winning team is presented with a trophy. The Seán Robbins Cup is held by the winning team until the following year's final. Traditionally, the presentation is made at a special rostrum in the stand where GAA and political dignitaries and special guests view the match. The cup is decorated with ribbons in the colours of the winning team. During the game the cup actually has both teams' sets of ribbons attached and the runners-up ribbons are removed before the presentation. The winning captain accepts the cup on behalf of his team before giving a short speech. Individual members of the winning team then have an opportunity to come to the rostrum to lift the cup. In accordance with GAA rules, the Leinster Council awards up to twenty-four gold medals to the winners of the Leinster final.

Sponsorship

Since 2003, the Leinster Championship has been sponsored. The sponsor has usually been able to determine the championship's sponsorship name.

Results

Summaries

Performances by counties

Records

Final

Team

*Most titles: 26: **

(1968, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2017. 2019) *Most consecutive title wins: 4: **

(1974, 1975, 1976, 1977) **

(2003, 2004, 2005, 2006) *Most appearances in a final: 36: **

(1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)

Teams

By decade

The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of championship titles, is as follows: * 1960s: 4 for

(1964-65-66-69) * 1970s: 4 each for

(1970-71-73-79) and

(1974-75-76-77) * 1980s: 6 for

(1980-81-82-84-85-88) * 1990s: 6 for

(1990-93-94-95-98-99) * 2000s: 6 for

(2003-04-05-06-08-09) * 2010s: 3 each for

(2010-11-16),

(2012-17-19) and

(2013-14-15)

Gaps

Top five longest gaps between successive championship titles: * 35 years:

(1972-2007) * 11 years:

(1978-1989) * 11 years:

(2002-2013) * 9 years:

(1987-1996) * 8 years:

(1992-2000)

Top scorers

By year

In a single game

In finals

References

{{Leinster Council 4

Lein Lein may refer to: People with that name *Allen Lein (1913–2003), American endocrinologist and medical school professor *Anatoly Lein (1931–2018), Soviet-born American chess Grandmaster * Lars O. Lein (1874–1958), American farmer and politici ...