The Munster Hurling Intermediate 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

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 1961 for the strong hurling teams in the province of

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

in Ireland. In some cases the teams consist of players who are not on the senior squads for their county (thus in effect, they are a second team), or in others of players who are from junior or intermediate clubs. The competition was established to prevent the stronger counties from dominating the

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

. The series of games are played during the summer months with the Munster final currently being played in July. The prize for the winning team is the Sweet Afton Cup. The championship has always been played on a straight knockout basis whereby once a team loses they are eliminated from the series. The Munster Championship is an integral part of the wider

All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling Intermediate All-Ireland Championship, known simply as the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Effectively contested by the second ...

. The winners of the Munster final, like their counterparts in Leinster Championship, are rewarded by advancing directly to the latter stages of the All-Ireland series of games. The title has been won at least once by all six Munster counties, four of which have won the title more than once. The all-time record-holders are

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 ...

, who have won the competition 13 times.

Format

The Munster 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 – there are no

seeds A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm pl ...

. Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is

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 ...

and, if the sides still remain level, a second period of extra time is played. The format has remained the same since the very first Munster Championship in 1961. An open draw is made in which three of the five teams automatically qualify for the semi-final stage of the competition. Two other teams play in a lone quarter-final with the winner joining the other three teams at the semi-final stage. Once a team is defeated they are eliminated from the championship. The Munster Championship has wider implications for the

. The winners of the Munster final automatically qualify for the latter stages of the All-Ireland series of games. Unlike the final runners-up in the minor and senior championships, there is no 'back-door system' at intermediate level. Five of the six counties of Munster – Clare,

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

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 ...

and

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

– participate in the championship.

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in Count ...

, the sixth county in the province, contested the Munster Championship until recently.

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 ...

took part in the competition in the 1960s.

Trophies

At the end of the Munster final, the winning team is presented with a trophy. The cup, named the Sweet Afton 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 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 present trophy was presented by Tipperary man Jerry Shelly in 1961 to commemorate the new competition.

General statistics

Performance by county

Biggest Munster final wins

* The most one sided Munster finals: ** 24 points – 1963:

6–10 (28) – (4) 0–4 Clare ** 21 points – 2009:

5–24 (39) – (18) 3–9

** 20 points – 1969:

4–14 (26) – (6) 0–6

** 13 points – 2014:

4–15 (27) – (14) 2–8

** 12 points – 1964:

4–13 (25) – (13) 1–10

** 12 points – 2007:

5–12 (27) – (15) 1–12

Miscellaneous

hold the record for the longest streak of success in finals. They won four championships in-a-row between 2003 and 2006. *

hold the record for the longest streak of defeated in finals. They lost three championship deciders in-a-row between 2004 and 2006. *

hold the record for the most consecutive appearances in Munster finals. They played in four-in-a-row on two separate occasions, firstly between 1967 and 1970, and most recently between 2003 and 2006. * Two counties have completed the Munster intermediate and senior double in the same year: ** Cork in 1969, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006 ** Tipperary in 1961, 1971 ** Waterford in 2007 * Cork is the only county to have completed the Munster minor, under-21, intermediate and senior 'grand slam' in the same year. This was achieved in 1969 and again in 2005. * Only one player has captained his county to Munster titles in both the intermediate and senior grades: **

Pat Mulcahy Pat Mulcahy (born 25 August 1975) is an Irish hurler who played as a Full back for the Cork senior team. Mulcahy made his first appearance for the team during the 1997 championship and was a regular member of the starting fifteen until his r ...

captained Cork to the intermediate title in 1997 and the senior title in 2006.

List of Munster Finals

References

2008 Final Report

Sources

Roll of Honour on www.gaainfo.com
{{Munster Council Munster GAA inter-county hurling competitions