The Munster Senior Hurling League is an annual hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 2016 for the top inter-county teams in the province of Munster in Ireland.
| Munster Senior Hurling League | |
|---|---|
Current season or competition: 2024 Munster Senior Hurling League | |
 | |
| Irish | Sraith Shinsir Iomána na Mumhan |
| Code | Hurling |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Region | Munster (GAA) |
| Trophy | Munster Senior League Trophy |
| No. of teams | 6 (2024) |
| Title holders |  Cork (2023) (2nd title) |
| Most titles |  Limerick (3 titles) |
| Sponsors | Co-Op Superstores |
| Official website | Official website |
The series of games are played during January. The Munster Senior Hurling League is effectively a pre-season tournament. It allows teams to blood new players and to experiment prior to the opening of the National Hurling League.
2019 was the first year that all six eligible teams participated in the Munster Senior Hurling League. Participation or non-participation can be decided on an annual basis.[1] Cork are the current champions.
History
This competition is a successor completion to the Waterford Crystal Cup which lasted from 2006 to 2015.
Format
In the tournament's first three years, each team played all the others once in a single round-robin system (of 4 or 5 county teams), with the top two teams progressing to the final. In 2019 and 2020, all six counties competed, and they were drawn into two separate groups, with the two group winners meeting in the final.
In 2022 the competition was a straight knockout, with 5 teams, and was called the "Munster Hurling Cup". For 2023 the competition returned to the format of 2020, with two groups of three teams.
Stadia and locations
| Location | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Limerick | Gaelic Grounds | 44,023 |
| Killarney | Fitzgerald Stadium | 38,000 |
| Ennis | Cusack Park | 19,000 |
| Dungarvan | Fraher Field | 15,000 |
| Tralee | Austin Stack Park | 12,000 |
| Waterford | Walsh Park | 11,046 |
| Mallow | Mallow GAA Complex | 8,000 |
| Sixmilebridge | O'Garney Park | 7,000 |
| Kilmallock | FitzGerald Park | 4,000 |
| Nenagh | MacDonagh Park | |
| Clarecastle | Clarecastle GAA | |
| Rathkeale | Mick Neville Park |
As of the 2022 season, Munster League hurling has been played in eleven stadiums since the formation of the league in 2016.
While the traditional county grounds are sometimes used for league matches, smaller club grounds have usually been used for games which may not have had such a high profile.
Munster League matches are usually played on a rolling home and away basis.
The stadiums for the 2017 league showed a large disparity in capacity: Gaelic Grounds, the home ground of Limerick has a capacity of 50,500 with O'Garney Park, one of the grounds used by Clare, having a capacity of 7,000. The combined total capacity of the Munster League in the 2017 season was 111,000.
Stadium attendances are a significant source of regular income for the Munster Council and the individual county boards.
Roll of honour
Wins by county
| County | Titles | Years winners |
|---|---|---|
| Limerick | 3 | 2018, 2020, 2022 |
 Clare | 2 | 2016, 2019 |
| Cork | 2 | 2017, 2023 |
 Tipperary | 0 | Best finish: 2nd, 2019 and 2023 |
 Waterford | 0 | Best finish: 1st/2nd, 2024 (tournament unfinished) |
 Kerry | 0 | Best finish: 3rd, 2018 and 2022 |
List of finals
| Year | Winners | Runners-up | Venue | Winning Captain(s) | Attendance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County | Score | County | Score | ||||
| 2024 | Competition unfinished with Cork, Limerick and Waterford left in tournament.[2] | ||||||
| 2023 | Cork | 3-14 | Tipperary | 1-19 | Páirc Uí Rinn | Seán O’Donoghue | 4,727[3] |
| 2022 | Limerick | 0-27 | Clare | 0-18 | Cusack Park, Ennis | Barry Nash | 7,992[4] |
| 2021 | No competition | ||||||
| 2020 | Limerick | 1-32 | Cork | 0-20 | Gaelic Grounds | Cian Lynch | 5,295[5] |
| 2019 | Clare | 4-19 | Tipperary | 1-18 | Gaelic Grounds | Tony Kelly | 4,531[6][7] |
| 2018 | Limerick | 0-16 | Clare | 0-10 | Gaelic Grounds | Paul Browne Declan Hannon | 3,209[8] |
| 2017 | Cork | 1-21 | Limerick | 1-20 | Gaelic Grounds | Stephen McDonnell | 2,372[9] |
| 2016 | Clare | 0-18 | Limerick | 0-17 | Gaelic Grounds | Cian Dillon Tony Kelly | 4,583[10] |
Player records
Winning teams
| Year | Winning county | Winning Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Cork | P Collins; S O’Donoghue, R Downey, S O’Leary Hayes; C Cormack, N O’Leary, D Cahalane; T O’Connell, B Roche; S Twomey, R O’Flynn, L Meade; C Walsh, D Dalton), P Horgan |
| 2022 | Limerick | David McCarthy; Barry Nash, Dan Morrissey, Richie English; Colin Coughlan, Ronan Connolly, Paddy O’Loughlin; William O’Donoghue, Brian O’Grady; David Reidy, Cathal O’Neill, Gearoid Hegarty; Darren O’Connell, Pat Ryan, Oisin O’Reilly. Subs: Adam English, Rory Duff, Conor Boylan |
| 2020 | Limerick | Barry Hennessey; Tom Condon, Richie English, Aaron Costello; Diarmuid Byrnes, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash; Robbie Hanley, Cian Lynch (capt); Darragh O’Donovan, Tom Morrissey, David Dempsey; Graeme Mulcahy, David Reidy, Aaron Gillane Subs: Sean Finn, Gearoid Hegarty, Mark Quinlan, Brian O’Grady, Jerome Boylan |
| 2019 | Clare | D Tuohy; J McCarthy, D McInerney, R Hayes; A McCarthy, C Cleary, C Malone; S Golden, R Taylor; D Ryan, T Kelly N Deasy; C Guilfoyle, C McInerney, M O’Neill. Subs: P Collins, D Conroy, M O’Malley, G Cooney, J Browne. |
| 2018 | Limerick | N Quaid; T Condon, S Hickey, R English; D Byrnes, D Morrissey, W O’Meara; P Browne, C Lynch; T Morrissey, D O’Donovan, B O’Connell; A Gillane, S Flanagan, G Hegarty. Subs: B Murphy, D Reidy, A La Touche Cosgrave |
| 2017 | Cork | A Nash, S McDonnell, C Spillane, D Cahalane, M Ellis, C Joyce, M Coleman, L McLoughlin, D Kearney, C Lehane, L Meade, S Kingston, A Cadogan, P Horgan, D Fitzgibbon. Subs: D Griffin, K Burke, D Brosnan, S Harnedy, C O’Sullivan. |
| 2016 | Clare | A Fahy; J Browne, P O’Connor, P Flanagan; C Dillon, D McInerney, C Cleary; G O’Connell, D Reidy; P Duggan, C Ryan, D Fitzgerald; J Conlon, D Honan, B Duggan. Subs: T Kelly, B Bolger, S Golden, C O’Connell. |
Top Scorers
All time
| Pos. | Name | Team | Goals | Points | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shane Nolan | Kerry | 0 | 55 | 55 |
| 2 | David Reidy | Limerick | 4 | 28 | 40 |
| 3 | Stephen Bennett | Waterford | 3 | 30 | 39 |
| 4 | Patrick Horgan | Cork | 2 | 28 | 34 |
| Aaron Gillane | Limerick | 2 | 28 | 34 | |
| 5 | Declan Dalton | Cork | 0 | 33 | 33 |
| 6 | Barry Nash | Limerick | 5 | 15 | 30 |
| 7 | David Reidy | Clare | 2 | 23 | 29 |
| Niall Deasy | Clare | 1 | 26 | 29 | |
| 8 | Declan Hannon | Limerick | 1 | 23 | 26 |
| Pádraig Boyle | Kerry | 1 | 23 | 26 |
Overall
| year | Name | Team | Goals | Points | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Declan Hannon | Limerick | 1 | 21 | 24 |
| 2017 | Patrick Horgan | Cork | 2 | 27 | 33 |
| 2018 | Aaron Gillane | Limerick | 1 | 21 | 24 |
| 2019 | Stephen Bennett | Waterford | 2 | 25 | 31 |
Single game
| year | Name | Team | Goals | Points | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Declan Hannon | Limerick | 1 | 9 | 12 |
| 2017 | Pauric Mahony | Waterford | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| 2018 | Pádraig Boyle | Kerry | 1 | 10 | 13 |
| 2019 | Stephen Bennett | Waterford | 2 | 12 | 18 |
Finals
| year | Name | Team | Goals | Points | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Declan Hannon | Limerick | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| 2017 | Peter Casey | Limerick | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| Patrick Horgan | Cork | 0 | 9 | 9 | |
| 2018 | Aaron Gillane | Limerick | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| 2019 | Tony Kelly | Clare | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Séamus Callanan | Tipperary | 0 | 9 | 9 |