The Down county hurling team represents

Down GAA The Down County Board ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae An Dún) or Down GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in County Down ...

, the

county board A county board is a common form of county legislature, particular of counties in the United States. Related forms of county government include: * Board of Supervisors — a form of county legislature in some U.S. states * County commission, ...

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 ...

, in the

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

sport of

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 ...

. The team competes in the

Christy Ring Cup The Christy Ring Cup () is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. Originally introduced as a second-tier competition, it is currently the third tier overall in the inter-county hurling championship system. Eac ...

and the

National Hurling League The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...

. Down's home ground is

Páirc Esler Páirc Esler ( , ; also ga, Páirc an Iúir ) is a GAA stadium in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the home of the Down Gaelic football and hurling teams and the Newry Shamrocks GAA club. The ground has a capacity of about 20,000. ...

Newry Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...

. The team's manager is

Ronan Sheehan Ronan Sheehan (born 1953) is an Irish novelist, short story writer and essayist. He was an early member of the Irish Writers' Co-operative (founded in 1974 by Fred Johnston, Neil Jordan and Peter Sheridan) and its Secretary from 1975 to 1983. ...

. The team last won the Ulster Senior Championship in 1997, but has never won the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League.

History

Down played in the

Leinster Minor Hurling Championship The Leinster GAA Hurling Minor Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Electric Ireland Leinster GAA Hurling Minor Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Ass ...

for three years in the 1970s, even playing Antrim in an unusual Leinster semi-final at

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...

in 1979. Although Down had not won the All-Ireland B championship in four final appearances, when the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship was revived, Down won titles in 1992, 1995 and 1997, losing the All-Ireland semi-finals by 14, 11 and 16 points. Down defeated

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 ...

in a Division 1 match in 1993 by a scoreline of 1–12 to 1–11. Down hurlers won the

for the first time in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, their greatest All-Ireland level success to date. This entitled them to enter the

2014 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship The 2014 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 127th staging of the All-Ireland championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1887. The draw for the 2014 fixtures took place on 3 October 2013. The champion ...

; however, Down opted to remain in the 2nd on this occasion. In 2020, Down caused an upset in the Christy Ring Cup by knocking Offaly out in the semi-final. The team did so in a first ever inter-county hurling penalty shootout. The final against

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 ...

was scheduled for the one hundredth anniversary of

Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence agai ...

, with promotion to the 2021 Joe McDonagh Cup achieved by both finalists.

South Down

In 2007, the GAA announced that a hurling team from "South Down" (i.e. excluding the Ards peninsula) would compete in parallel to the main Down team, to encourage hurling in an area of growing population where the game had not been strong. While players from all of Down were eligible for the main Down team, Ards players could not play for South Down. The new team competed in the

2008 National Hurling League The 2008 National Hurling League, known for sponsorship reasons as the Allianz National Hurling League, was the 77th edition of the National Hurling League (NHL), an annual hurling competition for the GAA county teams. Tipperary won the league, be ...

, recording their first win by beating Cavan at

Ballela Ballela is a small village and parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is about east of Banbridge, perched on top of one of the many drumlins that are common in the county. A number of prehistoric ringforts begird the village. Name Ballel ...

, scoring 4–15 to Cavan's 0–9. South Down then competed in the

2008 Nicky Rackard Cup The 2008 Nicky Rackard Cup was the 4th annual third tier hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. Sligo beat Louth in the final. Format Ten county teams participated in the 2008 Nicky Rackard Cup, with Fingal (north ...

and in the

Lory Meagher Cup The Lory Meagher Cup (; often referred to as the Meagher Cup) is the fifth-highest inter-county senior championship in hurling. Each year, the champion team in the Lory Meagher Cup is promoted to the Nicky Rackard Cup. The Lory Meagher Cup, wh ...

until

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Managerial history

* 2009: Jim McKernanMcKernan welcomes 'Magic's' return , May 11, 2009
/ref>

Players

Notable players

All Stars

* All Stars: 1 **1992

Gerard McGrattan Gerard McGrattan (born 1972) is an Irish former hurler who played as a right wing-forward for the Down senior team. McGrattan made his first appearance for the team during the 1992 championship and quickly became a regular player until his ...

* Christy Ring Cup Champion 15 Awards: 10 **2005 Garth Johnson & Martin Coulter **2007 Graham Clarke **2009 Finton Conway & Sean Ennis & Ruairi McGrattan **2010 Paul Braniff **2011 Paul Braniff **2012 Paul Braniff **2013 Paul Braniff, Gareth Johnson, Conor Woods & Patrick Hughes **2014 Conor Woods **2015 Danny Toner & Fintan Conway **2016 John McManus & Caolan Taggart **2017 Michael Hughes & Eoghan Sands **2018 Dáithí Sands **2019 Caolan Taggart & Dáithi Sands

Honours

:''Official honours, with additions noted.''

National

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

** Semi-finalists (2):

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

**Quarter-finalists (1):

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship The All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship was an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association between 1974 and 2004 for the so-called 'weaker' hurling teams in Ireland. The teams now play in the Joe McDonagh Cup (Tie ...

Joe McDonagh Cup The Joe McDonagh Cup is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It forms the second tier of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and is the second highest level of inter- ...

** Runners-up (6): 1988 *

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 ...

** Winners (1):

** Runners-up (4):

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

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 ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship The All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship was a hurling competition organized by the Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland. The competition was originally contested by the second teams of the strong counties, and the first teams of the weaker ...

Nicky Rackard Cup The Nicky Rackard Cup (; often referred to as the Rackard Cup) is the fourth tier of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Each year, the champion team in the Nicky Rackard Cup is promoted to the Christy Ring Cup, and the lowest finishin ...

** Winners (1): 1964 ** Runners-up (1): 2004 * National Hurling League Division 2 ** Winners (1):

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

* National Hurling League Division 2B ** Winners (1):

Provincial

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

** Winners (4): 1941, 1992, 1995, 1997 ** Runners-up (19): 1930, 1939, 1940, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015 *

Ulster Intermediate Hurling Championship The Ulster Intermediate Hurling Championship is an inter county competition between the Intermediate Hurling county teams in the province of Ulster in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Ulster Council. The winners of the Ulster Int ...

** Winners (4): 1968, 1971, 1972, 1998 *

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

** Winners (7): 1956, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1967, 1992, 1993 *

Ulster Under-21 Hurling Championship The Ulster U-21 Hurling Championship, or for sponsorship reasons the Erin Ulster Under-21 Hurling Championship, is an Under 21 hurling tournament between counties affiliated to Ulster. The winners of the Ulster championship go on to qualify for t ...

** Winners (11): 1969, 1971, 1975, 1977, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1990, 2003, 2004 *

Ulster Minor Hurling Championship The Ulster Hurling Minor Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1930 for the youngest competitors (under-18) in the province of Ulster in Ireland. It is sponsored b ...

** Winners (13): 1930, 1932, 1934, 1957, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1978, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1994, 2012

References

{{GAA National Leagues County hurling teams