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

and contested by the five champion junior clubs and one champion intermediate club in the province of Munster 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 ...

. It is the most prestigious competition for junior clubs in Munster hurling. The Munster Intermediate Club Championship was introduced in 2001. In its current format, the championship begins in late October or early November and is usually played over a four-week period. The six participating club teams compete in a straight knockout competition that culminates with the Munster final for the two remaining teams. The winner of the Munster Intermediate Championship, as well as being presented with the Rody Nealon Cup, qualifies for the subsequent All-Ireland Club Championship. The competition has been won by 19 teams, however, no team has ever won the championship on more than one occasion.

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories with 14 wins. Cork side Ballygiblin are the reigning champions, having beaten

Skeheenarinky Skeheenarinky () is a townland in south-west County Tipperary, Ireland. It is a dispersed settlement with a focal point at Skeheenarinky Cross where a school is located. Location Situated between the foothills of the Galtee Mountains and the lo ...

from Tipperary by 2-14 to 1-9 in the 2021 final.

Format

Overview

The Munster Championship is a

single elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. Each team is afforded only one defeat before being eliminated from the championship. Pairings for matches are drawn at random and there is no

seeding The term seeding and related terms such as seeded are used in several different contexts: *Sowing, planting seeds in a place or on an object *Cloud seeding, manipulating cloud formations *Seeding (computing), a concept in computing and peer-to-pee ...

. Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is a period of extra time, however, if both sides are still level at the end of extra time a replay takes place and so on until a winner is found.

Competition format

Quarter-final: Four teams contest this round. The two winning teams advances directly to the semi-final stage. The two losing teams are eliminated from the championship. Semi-finals: Four teams contest this round. The two winning teams advance directly to the final. The two losing teams are eliminated from the championship. Final: The final is contested by the two semi-final winners.

Teams

Qualification

Trophy and medals

At the end of the Munster final, the winning team is presented with a trophy. The Rody Nealon 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 other 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. The cup is named after Rody Nealon. He was an

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

medal winner with

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

in 1925 before later serving as chairman and secretary of the

Burgess __NOTOC__ Burgess may refer to: People and fictional characters * Burgess (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Burgess (given name), a list of people Places * Burgess, Michigan, an unincorporated community * Burgess, Missouri, U ...

club at different times, while he was also a member of the Tipperary County Board and the Munster Council. In accordance with GAA rules, the Munster Council awards a set of 24 gold medals to the winners of the Munster final.

Sponsorship

Since 2001, the Munster Championship has been sponsored. The sponsor has usually been able to determine the championship's sponsorship name.

List of Finals

Roll of Honour

Wins by County

Records and statistics

County representatives

Biggest wins

The most one sided Munster finals: * 24 points – 2010:

Meelin Meelin () is a village in northern County Cork, barony of Duhallow, Ireland. The village is near the border with County Limerick and County Kerry. Meelin is within the Cork North-West (Dáil constituency). At above sea level, Meelin is the hi ...

5-18 (33) – (9) 0-09 St. Patrick's * 18 points – 2006:

Kilworth Kilworth () is a village in north County Cork, located about 2 kilometres north of Fermoy near the river Funcheon. The M8 Cork–Dublin motorway passes nearby. Kilworth has an army camp, located on the R639 regional road between Mitchelstown a ...

4-16 (28) – (10) 1-07 Knockshegowna * 13 points – 2014: Modeligo 5-12 (27) – (14) 0-14

Castlemartyr Castlemartyr (, formerly anglicised as ''Ballymarter'' or ''Ballymartyr'') is a village in County Cork, Ireland. It is located 25 minutes east of Cork city, 10 km (6 mi) east of Midleton, 16 km (10 mi) west of Youghal and 6& ...

* 12 points – 2017:

Dungourney Dungourney () is a village in County Cork, Ireland on the R627 regional road northeast of Midleton. The river Dungourney flows through the village. St. Peter's National School is located in the centre. There is a church in the west of the vil ...

1-17 (20) – (8) 0-08

Fenor Fenor, officially Fennor (), is a village in County Waterford, Ireland. The village itself is quite small, consisting almost entirely of the local school, pub, and parish church. It is on the R675 road around west of Tramore. History Ston ...

* 11 points – 2008:

Dripsey Dripsey () is a village in County Cork on the R618 regional road around west of Cork City. It is situated on a tributary of the River Lee, the Dripsey River. It is in the Catholic parish of Inniscarra. The Dripsey area hosts a water treatment ...

2-11 (17) – (6) 1-03

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 ...