The Galway-Kilkenny rivalry is a hurling rivalry between Irish county teams Galway and Kilkenny, who first played each other in 1898. Recently it has become one of the biggest rivalries in Gaelic games. Kilkenny's home ground is Nowlan Park and Galway's home ground is Pearse Stadium, however, all of their championship meetings have been held at neutral venues.

While Kilkenny have the highest number of All-Ireland and Leinster titles, Galway were the standard bearers in Connacht before joining the Leinster championship in 2009, however, All-Ireland success for them has been sporadic. Between them the two teams have won 41 All-Ireland championships.

History

While Kilkenny is classed as one of the "Big Three", Galway is considered an in-between county, meaning it has some good years and some bad years. Galway have always had the capability to stop the Kilkenny forces.

Statistics Up to date as of 2023 season Team All-Ireland Provincial National League TotalKilkenny 367519130Galway5281144Combined4110330174

Notable Matches

Galway 5-18 : 4-18 Kilkenny (August 2005 Croke Park) - Lauded as the greatest game of the modern era, Galway went in as underdogs but managed to stun the hurling world by enialating Kilkenny in the opening 30 minutes leading 2-11:1-04 after 30 minutes. Kilkenny came back into it and trailed only by 2 points at the break 2-11:3-05. But 3 second-half goals by Niall Healy helped Galway to stay in front and bring them to a shocking win by 5-18:4-18. Kilkenny 1-19 : 1-12 Galway (July 2010 at Croke Park) - Galways first Leinster final pitted them against the mighty Kilkenny who were going for an infamous 5-In-A-Row All Irelands. Despite a strong start with Galway jumping to a 1-03:0-00 lead, Kilkenny soon got to grips and rallied to lead 0-14:1-05 at half time. Galway were unlucky not to win the second half (K 1-05:0-07 G), but never gave up and battled until the end. Galway 2-21 : 2-11 Kilkenny (July 2012 at Croke Park) - Kilkenny had become the Kings of hurling and were seen as unbeatable, that is until Anthony Cunninghams men took them on in the Leinster Final of 2012. Galway held Kilkeeny scoreless for 20 minutes and led at half time by 2-12:0-04. Kilkenny fought back in the second half, but it was never going to be enough as Galway finished strongly to win their first Leinster title by 2-21:2-11. Kilkenny 0-19 : 2-13 Galway (September 2012 at Croke Park) - The sides second meeting in the 2012 Trilogy was the All-Ireland final. Again Galway jumped into a lead 1-04:0-02 and held on to lead by 5 at the break 1-09:0-07, but sloppy defending meant they conceded 10 second half frees all converted by Henry Shefflin. Galway finished with a last-gasp free from Joe Canning to force a replay, final score Galway 2-13, Kilkenny 0-19. Kilkenny 3-22: 3-11 Galway (September 2012 #2 at Croke Park) - For the third match in 2012 Galway jumped into a 2-02:0-02 lead but that was the last we heard of Galway until the dying moments as Kilkenny dominated the rest of the match scoring 3-22 to win by eleven points. Galway 5-16 : 3-22 Kilkenny (June 2014 at O'Connor Park) - Galway came back from 10 points down with six minutes to play to force a draw. Joe Canning scored the last point of the game with the last play from out on the left near the touch-line to level the game after Henry Shefflin appeared to have won it for Kilkenny with a similar point at the other end. Kilkenny went on to win the replay the week after.

Recent results

Legend

Galway winKilkenny winDrawn match

Senior championship

No. Date Winners Score Runners-up Venue Stage 1. 30 October 1898 Kilkenny (1) 3-4 - 0-4 Galway Athlone All-Ireland semi-final 2. 13 May 1906 Kilkenny (2) 2-8 - 1-7 Galway Athlone All-Ireland semi-final 3. 29 September 1912 Kilkenny (3) 8-3 - 2-2 Galway Jones's Road All-Ireland semi-final 4. 18 May 1924 Galway (1) 5-4 - 2-0 Kilkenny Croke Park All-Ireland semi-final 5. 9 August 1925 Galway (2) 9-4 - 6-0 Kilkenny Croke Park All-Ireland semi-final 6. 29 August 1926 Kilkenny (4) 6-2 - 5-1 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland semi-final 7. 11 August 1929 Galway (3) 7-7 - 7-1 Kilkenny St. Brendan's Park All-Ireland semi-final 8. 16 August 1931 Kilkenny (5) 7-2 - 3-1 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland semi-final 9. 13 August 1933 Kilkenny (5) 5-10 - 3-8 Galway St. Brendan's Park All-Ireland semi-final 10. 4 August 1935 Kilkenny (6) 6-10 - 1-8 Galway St. Brendan's Park All-Ireland semi-final 11. 8 August 1937 Kilkenny (7) 0-8 - 0-6 Galway St. Brendan's Park All-Ireland semi-final 12. 6 August 1939 Kilkenny (8) 1-16 - 3-1 Galway St. Cronan's Park All-Ireland semi-final 13. 29 July 1945 Kilkenny (9) 5-3 - 2-11 Galway St. Brendan's Park All-Ireland semi-final 14. 27 July 1947 Kilkenny (10) 2-9 - 1-11 Galway St. Brendan's Park All-Ireland semi-final 15. 16 August 1953 Galway (4) 3-5 - 1-10 Kilkenny Croke Park All-Ireland semi-final 16. 6 August 1972 Kilkenny (11) 5-28 - 3-7 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland semi-final 17. 4 August 1974 Kilkenny (13) 2-32 - 3-17 Galway St. Brendan's Park All-Ireland semi-final 18. 7 September 1975 Kilkenny (14) 2-22 - 2-10 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland final 19. 6 August 1978 Kilkenny (15) 4-20 - 4-13 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland semi-final 20. 2 September 1979 Kilkenny (16) 2-12 - 1-8 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland final 21. 8 August 1982 Kilkenny (17) 2-20 - 2-10 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland semi-final 22. 10 August 1986 Galway (5) 4-12 - 0-13 Kilkenny Semple Stadium All-Ireland semi-final 23. 6 September 1987 Galway (6) 1-12 - 0-9 Kilkenny Croke Park All-Ireland final 24. 9 August 1992 Kilkenny (18) 2-13 - 1-12 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland semi-final 25. 5 September 1993 Kilkenny (19) 2-17 - 1-15 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland final 26. 27 July 1997 Kilkenny (20) 4-15 - 3-16 Galway Semple Stadium All-Ireland quarter-final 27. 13 August 2000 Kilkenny (21) 2-19 - 0-17 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland semi-final 28. 19 August 2001 Galway (7) 2-15 - 1-13 Kilkenny Croke Park All-Ireland semi-final 29. 10 July 2004 Kilkenny (22) 4-20 - 1-10 Galway Semple Stadium All-Ireland qualifier 30. 21 August 2005 Galway (8) 5-18 - 4-18 Kilkenny Croke Park All-Ireland semi-final 31. 22 July 2006 Kilkenny (23) 2-22 - 3-14 Galway Semple Stadium All-Ireland quarter-final 32. 28 July 2007 Kilkenny (24) 3-22 - 1-18 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland quarter-final 33. 20 June 2009 Kilkenny (25) 2-20 - 3-13 Galway O'Connor Park Leinster semi-final 34. 4 July 2010 Kilkenny (26) 1-19 - 1-12 Galway Croke Park Leinster final 35. 8 July 2012 Galway (9) 2-21 - 2-11 Kilkenny Croke Park Leinster final 36. 9 September 2012 Galway 2-13 - 0-19 Kilkenny Croke Park All-Ireland final 37. 30 September 2012 Kilkenny (27) 3-22 - 3-11 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland final replay 38. 22 June 2014 Kilkenny 3-22 - 5-16 Galway O'Connor Park Leinster semi-final 39. 28 June 2014 Kilkenny (28) 3-19 - 1-17 Galway O'Connor Park Leinster semi-final replay 40. 5 July 2015 Kilkenny (29) 1-25 - 2-15 Galway Croke Park Leinster final 41. 6 September 2015 Kilkenny (30) 1-22 - 1-18 Galway Croke Park All-Ireland final 42. 3 July 2016 Kilkenny (31) 1-26 - 0-22 Galway Croke Park Leinster final 43. 27 May 2018 Galway (10) 1-22 - 2-11 Kilkenny Salthill Leinster Round Robin 44. 1 July 2018 Galway 0-18 - 0-18 Kilkenny Croke Park Leinster final 45. 8 July 2018 Galway (11) 1-28 - 3-15 Kilkenny Croke Park Leinster final replay 46. 9 June 2019 Galway (12) 2-22 - 3-20 Kilkenny Nowlan Park Leinster Round Robin 47. 14 November 2020 Kilkenny (32) 2-20 - 0-24 Galway Croke Park Leinster Final 48. 1 May 2022 Galway (13) 1-24 - 3-17 Kilkenny Pearse Stadium Leinster Round Robin 49. 30 April 2023 Kilkenny 0-28 - 1-25 Galway Nowlan Park Leinster Round Robin 50. 11 June 2023 Kilkenny (33) 4-21 - 2-26 Galway Croke Park Leinster Final 51. 28 April 2024 Galway 2-23 - 0-29 Kilkenny Pearse Stadium Leinster Round Robin

National League

No. Date Winners Score Runners-up Venue Stage 28 March 2010 Galway 2-21 - 1-23 Kilkenny Nowlan Park Round 5 13 March 2011 Galway 4-14 - 3-11 Kilkenny Pearse Stadium Round 4 1 April 2012 Kilkenny 3-26 - 0-10 Galway Nowlan Park Round 5 24 February 2013 Galway 3-11 - 0-17 Kilkenny Pearse Stadium Round 1 21 April 2013 Kilkenny 1-24 - 1-17 Galway Semple Stadium League semi-final 9 March 2014 Kilkenny 2-16 - 1-16 Galway Nowlan Park Round 3 20 April 2014 Kilkenny 1-16 - 0-15 Galway Gaelic Grounds League semi-final 8 March 2015 Galway 0-20 - 0-18 Kilkenny Pearse Stadium Round 3 6 March 2016 Kilkenny 0-21 - 1-14 Kilkenny Nowlan Park Round 3

Records

Scorelines

Biggest championship win: For Galway: Galway 5-4 - 2-0 Kilkenny, All-Ireland semi-final, Croke Park, 18 May 1924 Galway 9-4 - 6-0 Kilkenny, All-Ireland semi-final, Croke Park, 9 August 1925 For Kilkenny: Kilkenny 5-28 - 3-7 Galway, All-Ireland semi-final, Croke Park, 6 August 1972 Highest aggregate: Kilkenny 2-32 - 3-17 Galway, All-Ireland semi-final, St. Brendan's Park, 4 August 1974

Top scorers

Team Player Score Total Galway Joe Canning 6-56 74 Kilkenny Henry Shefflin 5-110 125

Top scorer in a single game: For Kilkenny: 2-11 - Henry Shefflin, Kilkenny 4-20 - 1-10 Galway, All-Ireland qualifier, Semple Stadium, 11 July 2004 0-17 - Eddie Keher, Kilkenny 5-28 - 3-7 Galway, All-Ireland semi-final, Croke Park, 6 August 1972 For Galway: 2-9 - Ger Farragher, Galway 5-18 - 4-18 Kilkenny, All-Ireland semi-final, Croke Park, 21 August 2005 2-9 - Joe Canning, Galway 3-13 - 2-20 Kilkenny, Leinster semi-final, O'Connor Park, 20 June 2009

External links Kilkenny v Galway head-to-head championship record

References