The Offaly Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Molloy Environmental 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 contested by top-tier

Offaly GAA The Offaly County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Uíbh Fhailí) or Offaly GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Offaly. Separ ...

clubs. The Offaly 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 ...

has organised it since 1896.

Shinrone Shinrone () is a village in County Offaly, Ireland. It is in the southernmost part of the county, close to the border with County Tipperary. It lies at the junction of the R491 regional road between Nenagh and Roscrea with the R492 to Sharavo ...

are the title holders (

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

) defeating Kilcormac–Killoughey in the Final.

History

The title has been won at least once by 12 different teams. The all-time record-holders are

Coolderry Coolderry () is a small roadside village in southern County Offaly, Ireland. It is located 8 kilometres north of Roscrea and 11 kilometres south of Birr. The village lies close to the Slieve Bloom Mountains. Places of note include Gloster Hou ...

, who have won a total of 31 titles. Since the beginning, the championship has been dominated by

, Birr, Drumcullen and St Rynagh's. They have won a combined total of 90 of the 124 championship titles. Coolderry dominated the first twenty years of the championship, winning eleven titles between 1889 and 1917. After this initial golden age, Coolderry regularly claimed championship titles in each of the following decades. After making their own breakthrough in 1908, Drumcullen went on to become the team of the decade during the 1920s after winning eight titles between 1918 and 1933.

Tullamore Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, midlands reg ...

and Birr subsequently came to the fore, winning eleven titles between them between 1932 and 1948. Drumcullen enjoyed their most successful decade when they won seven championships between 1950 and 1960. This would be their last championship title. St Rynagh's inscribed their name on the roll of honour for the first time in 1965. They became the preeminent team of the next three decades and won 16 championship titles between 1965 and 1993. By this stage Birr had begun their own golden era. After winning their first championship in twenty years in 1991, the club went on to claim eleven more titles between then and 2008.

Format

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

O'Connor Park O'Connor Park ( ga, Páirc Uí Chonchúir) is a GAA stadium in Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland. It is one of the principal grounds of the Offaly GAA Gaelic football and hurling teams. It is known for sponsorship reasons as Bord na Móna O� ...

in November. The prize for the winning team is the Seán Robbins Cup. Initially played as a knock-out competition, the championship currently features a group stage followed by a knock-out stage. Current teams The 10 teams competing in the 2022 Offaly Senior Hurling Championship are: Ballinamere Belmont Birr Clodiagh Gaels Coolderry Kilcormac–Killoughey Kinnitty Seir Kieran Shinrone St Rynagh's Hurling Club

Honours

The winning team is presented with the Seán Robbins Cup. A native of Birr, Robbins served two terms as county chairman and served as

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 ...

chairman. He was also a president of the county board and was also a prominent referee at All-Ireland AND Leinster levels. The cup was first presented in 1960. The Offaly Senior Hurling Championship winners qualify for the subsequent

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

. This place is reserved for club teams only as divisional and amalgamated teams are not allowed in the provincial championship. The Offaly County Championship is an integral part of the wider

. The winners of the Offaly county final join the champions of the other hurling counties to contest the provincial championship.

List of finals

(r) = replay

Wins listed by club

Records and statistics

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 Offaly 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.

Teams

By decade

The most successful team of each decade, judged by the number of Offaly Senior Hurling Championship titles, is as follows: * 1890s: 2 for Killoughey (1896–97) * 1900s: 5 for

(1901-03-04-05-06) * 1910s: 5 for

(1910-11-14-16-17) * 1920s: 5 for Drumcullen (1924-25-27-28-29) * 1930s: 5 for

(1932-34-35-36-37) * 1940s: 5 for Birr (1940-43-44-46-48) * 1950s: 6 for Drumcullen (1950-51-52-54-57-58) * 1960s: 4 for St Rynagh's (1965-66-68-69) * 1970s: 6 for St Rynagh's (1970-72-73-74-75-76) * 1980s: 3 each for St Rynagh's (1981-82-87) and

Kinnitty Kinnitty () is a village in County Offaly, Ireland. It is located 13 km east of Birr on the R440 and R421 regional roads. Name and location The village derives its name from the myth that the head of an ancient princess is buried beneath ...

(1983-84-85) * 1990s: 4 for Birr (1991-94-97-99) * 2000s: 8 for Birr (2000-01-02-03-05-06-07-08) * 2010s: 4 for Kilcormac–Killoughey (2012-13-14-17) 4 for

(2010-11-15-18)

Gaps

Top ten longest gaps between successive championship titles: * 45 years:

(1964–2009) * 44 years:

(1923–1967) * 23 years:

(1909–1932) * 23 years: Birr (1915–1938) * 23 years: Birr (1948–1971) * 23 years: St Rynagh's (1993–2016) * 20 years: Birr (1971–1991) * 18 years:

(1937–1955) * 18 years:

(1986–2004) * 14 years:

(1963–1977)

Top scorers

By year

References

External links

Official Offaly WebsiteOffaly on Hoganstand
{{Offaly GAA, state=expanded Hurling competitions in Leinster Offaly GAA club championships Senior hurling county championships