The Players Champions Cup is the trophy awarding to the winner of a

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 held periodically in the United States. It has been staged three times as the Fenway Hurling Classic in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, and once as the New York Hurling Classic in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The first two editions were sponsored by

AIG American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

, while the most recent editions have been sponsored by

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiary ...

Format

Matches are played in the Super 11’s format, which only permits goals to be scored, not points. Goals scored inside the exclusion zone are worth three points, else five points from outside. The 2015 event was a single match, divided into four 15-minute quarters with unlimited substitutions. Later events have had two semi-final matches then a final match, all held on the same day, with matches divided into two 20-minutes halves. Yellow cards result in a two-minute spell in the sin bin and frees are taken on a tap-and-go basis. A team has 30 seconds after gaining possession to attempt a shot at goal. This is reduced to 20 seconds in the final two minutes of each period. The dimensions of the pitch are x —the size of a

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

pitch, without the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...

s—which is laid into halves, with a defensive zone marked by a line drawn from each goal line.

Results

2015

This was the first time that hurling was played at

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...

since November 1954, when

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 ...

defeated an American team. With

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 ...

facing

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 ...

in the event's only match, the contest was marred by a brawl in the second quarter in front of the Dublin goal. A bout of pushing and shoving quickly started with players throwing punches, wrestling on the ground. Galway's

Iarla Tannian Iarla Tannian (born 12 April 1984) is an Irish hurler who currently plays at centre back for the Galway senior team. Tannian made his first appearance for the senior team during the 2007 National Hurling League and immediately became a regul ...

and Andy Smith along with Dublin's Conor Dooley were all yellow-carded. Each side was later fined €5,000 by the Central Competitions Control Committee of the GAA.

2017

The 2017 competition took place on 19 November at Fenway Park and was a doubleheader with Dublin playing Galway and Tipperary playing Clare in the Super 11's format. The winners of the two semi-finals played in the final for the Players Championship Cup. Clare defeated Galway in the final 50–33 to win the Players Champions Cup.

2018

The 2018 competition took place at Fenway Park on 18 November and was a doubleheader with Cork playing Clare and Limerick playing Wexford in the Super 11's format. The winners of the two semi-finals played in the final for the Players Championship Cup, with Limerick defeating Cork.

2019

The 2019 competition was held at

Citi Field Citi Field is a baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City, United States. It opened in 2009 and is the home field of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. The stadium was built as a replacement for the adjacent ...

on 16 November. In first-round games, defending champion Limerick defeated Wexford, and event newcomer Kilkenny defeated Tipperary. In the final, Kilkenny took a 34–22 halftime lead over Limerick, and continued on to a 64–40 win.

Appearances

Includes all matches played through the 2019 event. Championship years are denoted by bold type.

References

External links

Photo of the Players Champions Cup
via

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Dublin Vs. Galway AIG Fenway Hurling Classic - Complete Match
from

NESN New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN , is an American regional sports network, regional sports cable television, cable and satellite television, satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group (which ow ...

via

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2017 Fenway Hurling Classic
from NESN via YouTube 2015 in hurling 2017 in hurling 2018 in hurling 2019 in hurling Hurling competitions in Massachusetts Hurling competitions in New York (state) Senior inter-county hurling competitions Sports competitions in Boston Sports competitions in New York City Sports in Queens, New York