The Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the FBD Insurance Tipperary County 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 organised by the Tipperary 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 ...

since 1887 for the top hurling teams in the county of Tipperary 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 ...

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

Semple Stadium The Semple Stadium is the home of hurling and Gaelic football for Tipperary GAA and for the province of Munster. Located in Thurles, County Tipperary, it is the second largest GAA stadium in Ireland (after Croke Park), with a capacity of 45,690. ...

in October. The prize for the winning team is the Dan Breen Cup. Initially played as a knock-out competition on a divisional basis, the championship currently features a group stage followed by a knock-out stage. The Tipperary County Championship is an integral part of the wider

Munster Senior Club Hurling Championship The Munster Senior Club Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Munster GAA Hurling Senior Club Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1964 f ...

. The winners of the Tipperary county final join the champions of the other four hurling counties to contest the provincial championship. 32 teams currently participate in the Tipperary County Championship. The title has been won at least once by 25 different teams. The all-time record-holders are

Thurles Sarsfields Thurles Sarsfields is a Tipperary GAA club which is located in County Tipperary, Ireland. Both hurling and Gaelic football are played in the "Mid-Tipperary" divisional competitions. The club is centred in the town of Thurles at Semple Stadium ...

, who have won a total of 36 titles. Clonoulty-Rossmore won the 2018 Championship, their first championship since 1997 after a 0-23 to 2-13 win against Nenagh Éire Óg in the final.

History

Beginnings

Following the foundation of the

(GAA) in 1884, new rules for

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

and

were drawn up and published in the ''

United Irishman ''The United Irishman'' was an Irish nationalist newspaper co-founded by Arthur Griffith and William Rooney.Arthur Griffith ...

'' newspaper. County committees were quickly established, with the Tipperary County Board affiliating in 1886. Over the course of the following year, 130 clubs registered with the GAA in Tipperary, making it the strongest county in the country. After difficulties in organising the early championships, the title has been awarded every year except on one occasion since 1894. Civil unrest at the height of the

War of Independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List of o ...

resulted in the 1920 championship being cancelled.

Team dominance

Since the beginning, the championship has seen periods of dominance by various teams. Tubberadora became the preeminent team of the first decade, before being superseded by

. After winning the inaugural title in 1887, the

Thurles Thurles (; ''Durlas Éile'') is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of the same name in the barony of Eliogarty and in the ecclesiastical parish of Thurles (Roman Catholic parish), Thurles. The cathedral ch ...

-based club won six championships from a possible nine between 1904 and 1911.

Toomevara Toomevara, officially Toomyvara (), is a village in County Tipperary, Ireland. The village is at the junction on the R445 where it meets the R499 regional road. The village was bypassed in December 2010 by the M7 Dublin - Limerick motorway. It ...

made their first big breakthrough in 1910 and won titles at regular intervals over the course of the next twenty years. Boherlahen-Dualla won the first of four successive championship titles in 1915 and won a grand total of ten up to and including the 1941 championship. Thurles Sarsfields bounced back in 1929 after an eleven-year period in the doldrums. Over the course of the next 45 years the club established itself as the standard bearer of club hurling in Tipperary by winning 21 titles during this period. The club reached its peak by winning ten titles in eleven championship seasons between 1955 and 1965.

Roscrea Roscrea () is a market town in County Tipperary, Ireland, which in 2016 had a population of 5,446. Roscrea is one of the oldest towns in Ireland, having developed around the 7th century monastery of Saint Crónán of Roscrea, parts of which rem ...

won their first championship in 1968 before completing a three-in-a-row in 1970. The club won further titles in 1972, 1973 and 1980.

Moneygall Moneygall () is a small village on the border of counties Offaly and Tipperary, in Ireland. It is situated on the R445 road between Dublin and Limerick. There were 313 people living in the village as of the 2016 census. Moneygall has a Catholic ...

and Kilruane MacDonagh's shared five titles between 1975 and 1979, while Borris-Ileigh won three titles throughout the 1980s. After failing to win a championship in over thirty years, Toomevara returned to the top table in 1992. Over the course of the next sixteen years the club claimed 11 championship titles. Thurles Sarsfields also returned to their winning ways after a 31-year barren spell by claiming the 2005 championship. They have since become the most successful team of the 21st century by winning eight championships.

Format

The Tipperary senior hurling championship is probably the most complicated system in Ireland as it has striven to accommodate from 25 to, currently, 32 teams. A knockout divisional system and group backdoor system has been introduced to accommodate these teams. Before the new system, the county championship was run on a divisional basis with the teams in the divisional finals going into the county quarter-finals and proceeding from there. A new format is to be introduced in 2014 with the county championship divided into two sections of 16 teams each, the sections determined by clubs' placings in the 2013 championship. Each section will be divided into four groups of four teams with games played on a round robin basis. The top two teams in each Section 1 group, and the top team in each Section 2 group, qualify for the knockout stages, as do the four divisional champions. The bottom team in each Section 1 group is relegated to Section 2, and the top team in each Section 2 group is promoted to Section 1. The bottom teams in each of the Section 2 groups face relegation play-offs, with two teams relegated to the Intermediate Championship. The Intermediate champions move up to Section 2. Thus in 2015 there will be 31 teams in the Senior Championship.

Sponsorship

For four years between 2013 and 2016, the championship was sponsored by Clean Ireland Recycling. In August 2016, the Tipperary County Board announced that they had signed a three-year sponsorship deal with

Tipperary Water Tipperary Natural Mineral Water is an Irish brand of mineral water coming from a source at Annerville, Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland. Tipperary Water is part of C&C Group, an Irish-owned multinational company. History Tipperary Natural Min ...

. The company has since sponsored all of Tipperary's adult county championships.

Qualification for subsequent competitions

The Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship winners qualify for the subsequent

. This place is reserved for club teams only as divisional and amalgamated teams are not allowed in the provincial championship.

Venues

Early rounds

Fixtures in the group stage and early knock-out rounds of the championship are usually played at a neutral venue that is deemed halfway between the participating teams. Some of the more common venues include

MacDonagh Park MacDonagh Park is a GAA stadium in Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland. It is the home ground of the Nenagh Éire Óg club and has often been used for inter-county matches, including some of Tipperary's National Hurling League fixtures. See ...

St. Cronan's Park St Cronan's Park is a GAA stadium in Roscrea, County Tipperary, Ireland. It is the main ground of Roscrea GAA's Gaelic football and hurling teams. The ground is named after St Cronan, patron of the diocese of Roscrea, and has hosted a great num ...

and St. Michael's Park. All games from the quarter-finals onward are played at

Final

The final is usually played at Semple Stadium, previously Thurles Sportsfield.

Managers

Managers 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 ...

in the Tipperary 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.

Trophy

The winning team is presented with the Dan Breen Cup. A native of Donohill,

Dan Breen Daniel Breen (11 August 1894 – 27 December 1969) was a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. In later years he was a Fianna Fáil politician. Background Breen was born in Grang ...

(1894-1969) was a

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

in the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...

during the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

and the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...

. In later years, he was a

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

politician.

Top winners

Roll of honour

Records and statistics

Final

Team

*Most wins: 36: **

(1887, 1904, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1929, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1974, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) *Most consecutive wins: 5: **

(1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959) **

(1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965) *Most appearances in a final: 46: **

(1887, 1894, 1904, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1929, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1979, 1992, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 1974, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) *Most appearances in a final without ever winning: 5 **

Lorrha Lorrha (from ) is a small village at the northern tip of County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located on a minor road between the R489 Birr to Portumna road and the N65 Nenagh to Portumna road about five kilometres east of the point where the Ri ...

(1905, 1948, 1956, 1966, 1984) *Most appearances in a final without losing (streak): 21 **

(1904, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1929, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959) *Most defeats: 11 **

(1936, 1945, 1954, 1963, 1967, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1985)

Individual

*Most wins by a player: 14,

Mickey Byrne Michael Byrne (10 September 1923 – 16 October 2016), better known as "the Rattler" Byrne, was an Irish hurler whose league and championship career with the Tipperary senior team spanned fifteen years from 1945 to 1960. Born in Dublin, Byr ...

(

) (1944, 1945, 1946, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965)

Teams

By decade

The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship titles, is as follows: * 1890s: 3 for Tubberadora (1895-96-98) * 1900s: 5 for

(1904-06-07-08-09) * 1910s: 5 for

(1910-12-13-14-19) * 1920s: 5 for Boherlahen-Dualla (1922-24-25-27-28) * 1930s: 4 each for Moycarkey-Borris (1932-33-34-37) and

(1935-36-38-39) * 1940s: 4 for

(1942-44-45-46) * 1950s: 6 for

(1952-55-56-57-58-59) * 1960s: 5 for

(1961-62-63-64-65) * 1970s: 3 each for

(1970-72-73) and Kilruane MacDonagh's (1977-78-79) * 1980s: 3 for Borris-Ileigh (1981-83-86) * 1990s: 5 for

(1992-93-94-98-99) * 2000s: 6 for

(2000-01-03-04-06-08) * 2010s: 6 for

(2010-12-14-15-16-17)

Gaps

Top ten longest gaps between successive championship titles: * 101 years: Clonoulty-Rossmore (1888-1989) * 55 years: Boherlahen-Dualla (1941-1996) * 42 years: Moycarkey-Borris (1940-1982) * 37 years: Kilruane MacDonaghs (1985-2022) * 36 years: Holycross-Ballycahill (1954-1990) * 32 years:

(1960-1992) * 31 years:

(1974-2005) * 29 years:

(1931-1960) * 28 years: Borris-Ileigh (1953-1981) * 20 years:

(1890-1910)

Top scorers

Finals (1980-present)

References

External links

Tipperary on HoganstandPremierview
{{Tipperary GAA, state=expanded Hurl Senior hurling county championships 1