The Ulster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Ulster GAA Hurling Intermediate Club 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 Ulster Council 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 ...

and contested by the champion intermediate clubs and, in some cases, champion senior clubs in the province of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

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 Ulster Intermediate Club Championship was introduced in 2004. In its current format, the championship begins in late October or early November and is usually played over a four-week period. The seven participating club teams compete in a straight knockout competition that culminates with the Ulster final for the two remaining teams. The winner of the Ulster Intermediate Championship qualifies for the subsequent All-Ireland Club Championship. The competition has been won by 15 club teams, while Gort na Móna, St. Gall's and Middletown Na Fianna are the only clubs to have won the title more than once. Antrim clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories with 12 wins.

Liatroim Fontenoys Leitrim ( ; ) is a village in County Leitrim, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, on the River Shannon near the border with County Roscommon. It is at the junction of the R280 road (Ireland), R280 and R284 road (Ireland), R284 regional roads. Locatio ...

are the reigning champions, having beaten Middletown Na Fianna by 2-20 to 0-21 in the 2022 final.

Format

Overview

The Ulster Championship is a

single elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. Each team is afforded only one defeat before being eliminated from the championship. Pairings for matches are drawn at random and there is no

seeding The term seeding and related terms such as seeded are used in several different contexts: *Sowing, planting seeds in a place or on an object *Cloud seeding, manipulating cloud formations *Seeding (computing), a concept in computing and peer-to-pee ...

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

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 ...

, however, if both sides are still level at the end of extra time penalties are taken to determine a winner.

Competition format

Quarter-final: Six teams contest this round. The three winning teams advance directly to the semi-final stage. The three losing teams are eliminated from the championship. Semi-finals: Four teams contest this round; the three winning teams from the quarter-finals and one team who receives a bye. The two winning teams advance directly to the final. The two losing teams are eliminated from the championship. Final: The final is contested by the two semi-final winners.

Format

Overview

Competition format

Teams

Qualification

Roll of honour

Performances by county

List of Finals

References