The 2017 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 130th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1887. The championship began on 23 April 2017 and ended on 3 September 2017. The draw for the championship was held on 13 October 2016 and was broadcast live on RTÉ2.
Tipperary, the 2016 champions, were defeated by Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final. Meath fielded a team in the championship for the first time since 2004.
On 3 September 2017 Galway won the championship following a 0–26 to 2–17 defeat of Waterford in the All-Ireland final. This was their fifth All-Ireland title and their first in 29 championship seasons.
Format The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was a double-elimination tournament based on the Leinster and Munster provincial championships and the Christy Ring Cup. Fifteen teams took part.
The 2017 championship was the last to feature mostly knock-out Leinster and Munster championships. On 30 September 2017, the Special Congress held at Croke Park voted by 62% to restructure the Leinster and Munster championships as two provincial groups of five teams who competed on a round-robin basis.
Provincial championships Connacht Senior Hurling Championship
This competition is no longer organised. Galway represents Connacht and participates in the Leinster Championship. The other Connacht teams could compete in the 2017 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (tier 1) by gaining promotion through the tiers of hurling – the Christy Ring Cup (tier 2), the Nicky Rackard Cup (tier 3) and the Lory Meagher Cup (tier 4).
Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
Nine counties competed – seven from Leinster plus Galway and Kerry. 2016 Leinster champions received a bye in the semi-final. The championship began with a qualifier group involving the four weakest teams. The group winners and runners-up join four of the five strongest teams in the three Leinster quarter finals as the competition continued in a knock-out format. Two semi-finals and a final followed.
The 2016 Leinster champions received a bye into the semi finals. The remaining six teams (four seeded teams plus the qualifier group winners and runners-up) played in three quarter-finals. An informal system of promotion or relegation operated in this round; if a team from the qualifier group won their quarter-final, they were seeded in the 2017 Leinster championship and the beaten seeded team competed in the 2017 Leinster qualifier
In 2017 the bottom team in the Leinster qualifier group was relegated to the 2018 Christy Ring Cup (2nd tier). Their place in the 2018 Leinster qualifier group was taken by the winner of 2017's Christy Ring Cup.
Meath qualified for the 2017 Leinster Championship by winning the 2016 Christy Ring Cup.
Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Five of the six Munster counties competed. Kerry participated in The Leinster Hurling Championship (see above). The competition was a knock-out format. All of the beaten teams entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Ulster Senior Hurling Championship
Although this competition takes place, it is not part of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Currently no Ulster teams qualified to play in the 2017 Leinster championship which means that winning the Christy Ring cup is their only route into the 2017 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.
Qualifiers Format A total of nine teams enter the qualifiers – five of the seven teams eliminated in Leinster before the final (three losing quarter-finalists and two losing semi-finalists), all three teams knocked-out in Munster before the final and the winners of 2017's Christy Ring Cup.
The fixtures are decided by draws which are detailed in the sections below. All qualifier matches are knock-out and eventually result in two teams who progress to the two All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Qualifiers Preliminary round The GAA congress held in February 2017 voted to allow the winners of the 2017 Christy Ring cup to enter the 2017 qualifiers in a new preliminary round. The Christy Ring cup winners played the losers of one of the three Leinster quarter finals.
Qualifiers Round 1 Format After the qualifiers preliminary round, the eight remaining qualifier teams played in four matches. A draw was made such that the three Munster teams were paired with three teams beaten in the Leinster championship. Teams who had already met in the Leinster championship could not be drawn to meet again if such a pairing could be avoided. The draw was made on the morning of the 26 June.
Qualifiers Round 2 Format The four winners of round 1 played in two matches. Teams who had already met in the Leinster or Munster championships could not be drawn to meet again if such a pairing could be avoided.
All-Ireland Format
The beaten finalists in the Leinster and Munster championships played the two winning teams from round two of the qualifiers in the two All-Ireland quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, the Leinster and Munster champions played the winners of the two quarter finals. The final normally takes place on the first Sunday in September.
Team changes
To Championship Promoted from the Christy Ring Cup
Meath
From Championship Relegated to the Christy Ring Cup
Carlow
Note: 2017 Christy Ring Cup winners (Carlow) entered All-Ireland qualifiers.
Teams
General information Fifteen counties competed in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship: nine teams in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, five teams in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship and one team in the Christy Ring Cup. CountyLast provincial titleLast championship titlePosition in 2016 championshipCurrent championship Carlow — —Group Stage (Leinster Senior Hurling Championship)Christy Ring Cup Clare19982013Quarter-finalsMunster Senior Hurling Championship Cork20142005Round 2Munster Senior Hurling Championship Dublin20131938Round 1Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Galway20121988Semi-finalsLeinster Senior Hurling Championship Kerry18911891Group Stage (Leinster Senior Hurling Championship)Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Kilkenny20162015Runners-upLeinster Senior Hurling Championship Laois19491915Round 1Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Limerick20131973Round 2Munster Senior Hurling ChampionshipMeath — —Champions (Christy Ring Cup)Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Offaly19951998Round 1Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Tipperary20162016ChampionsMunster Senior Hurling Championship Waterford20101959Semi-finalsMunster Senior Hurling Championship Westmeath — —Round 1Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Wexford20041996Quarter-finalsLeinster Senior Hurling Championship
Personnel and kits
TeamSponsorCaptain(s)Vice-captain(s)Manager(s)ClarePat O'DonnellPat O'ConnorDonal MoloneyGerry O'ConnorCorkChill InsuranceStephen McDonnellSéamus HarnedyKieran KingstonDublinAIGLiam RusheGer CunninghamGalwaySupermac'sDavid BurkeMicheal DonoghueKerryKerry GroupAiden McCabeFintan O'ConnorKilkennyGlanbiaMark BerginBrian CodyLaoisMW Hire ServicesRoss KingÉamonn KellyLimerickSporting LimerickJames RyanDiarmaid ByrnesGearóid HegartyJohn KielyMeathUnifluDamien HealyMartin Ennis OffalyCarroll CuisineSeán RyanKevin RyanTipperaryIntersport/ElverysPádraic MaherSéamus CallananMichael RyanWaterford3Kevin MoranDerek McGrathWestmeathRenaultAonghus ClarkeMichael RyanWexfordGainLee ChinMatthew O'HanlonDavy Fitzgerald
Summary
Championships Level on PyramidCompetitionChampionsRunners-upTier 12017 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Galway Waterford2017 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Galway Wexford2017 Munster Senior Hurling Championship Cork Clare2017 Ulster Senior Hurling Championship Antrim ArmaghTier 22017 Christy Ring Cup Carlow Antrim2017 Ulster Senior Hurling Shield Derry TyroneTier 32017 Nicky Rackard Cup Derry ArmaghTier 42017 Lory Meagher Cup Warwickshire Leitrim
Provincial championships
Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
Group Stage Pos Team Qualification1 Laois33006–697–4521 6Advance to Knockout Stage2 Westmeath31025–451–62−3 23 Kerry31025–527–53−7 24 Meath31025–526–60−11 2Relegated to Christy Ring Cup Westmeath, Kerry and Meath were ranked according to score difference.
Leinster Knockout Stage
Matches
Leinster Quarter-finals
Leinster Semi-finals The 2016 Leinster champions received a bye into the semi-finals. They were joined by the winners of the three quarter-finals.
Leinster final
Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Munster Quarter-final
Munster Semi-finals
Munster final
Ulster Senior Hurling Championship
Ulster Semi-finals
Ulster final
All-Ireland Qualifiers
Qualifiers preliminary round
Match
Qualifiers Round 1
Matches
Qualifiers Round 2 Matches
All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
Bracket
All-Ireland Quarter-finals
All-Ireland Semi-finals
All-Ireland final
Championship Statistics
Top scorer overall
Rank Player County Tally Total Matches Average1Pauric MahonyWaterford0–505068.332Joe CanningGalway0–464659.203Séamus CallananTipperary3–344358.604Ross KingLaois0–424258.405T. J. ReidKilkenny4–2739313.00Patrick HorganCork0–393949.757Allan DevineWestmeath0–383857.608Patrick PurcellLaois5–173265.339Shane NolanKerry3–2231310.33Shane DooleyOffaly3–2231310.33
Top scorer in a single game
Rank Player County Tally Total Opposition1Séamus CallananTipperary3–1120Dublin2T. J. ReidKilkenny2–1218Waterford3Shane DooleyOffaly3-0817Westmeath4Patrick PurcellLaois3-0615Meath5T. J. ReidKilkenny2-0713WexfordRoss KingLaois0–1313KerryPatrick HorganCork0–1313Clare8Shane NolanKerry2-0612LaoisShane NolanKerry1-0912MeathPatrick HorganCork0–1212Waterford
Clean sheets
Rank Goalkeeper County Clean sheets1Stephen O'Keeffe Waterford42Paddy Moloney Westmeath23Eoin Murphy Kilkenny1Nickie Quaid LimerickMark Fanning WexfordJames Dempsey OffalyAndrew Fahy ClareDaragh Mooney TipperaryDarren Gleeson Tipperary
Scoring events
Widest winning margin: 24 points Waterford 1–35 – 0–14 Offaly (Qualifier Round 1) Most goals in a match: 7 Tipperary 6–26 – 1–19 Dublin (Qualifier Round 2) Most points in a match: 53 Cork 2-27 – 1-26 Tipperary (Munster quarter-final) Most goals by one team in a match: 6 Tipperary 6–26 – 1–19 Dublin (Qualifier Round 2) Highest aggregate score: 66 Tipperary 6–26 – 1–19 Dublin (Qualifier Round 2) Lowest aggregate score: 37 Kilkenny 0–20 – 0–17 Limerick (Qualifier Round 1) Most goals scored by a losing team: 3 Wexford 1–20 – 3–11 Kilkenny (Leinster semi-final) Tipperary 0–28 – 3–16 Clare (All-Ireland quarter-final)
Miscellaneous
Galway won their first All-Ireland since 1988. It was the first meeting of Galway and Waterford in an All-Ireland Hurling Final. Wexford defeated Kilkenny in the Leinster Championship for the first time since 2004. Waterford set a championship record by scoring 35 points against Offaly in their All-Ireland qualifier meeting. First time championship meetings: Tipperary v Westmeath (Qualifiers round 1) Galway played Wexford in their first ever Leinster final meeting. The game set a new attendance record of 60,032 who saw Galway win their second Leinster senior championship. Waterford defeated Kilkenny in the championship for the first time since 1959. This was the first year Meath competed in the championship since 2004. In the Munster final, Patrick Horgan scored 0–13 to overtake Christy Ring's total of 33–205 to become Cork's top scorer of all time. The first final since 1996 not to involve one of the "Big Three" counties (Cork, Kilkenny and Tipperary). Galway defeated Waterford for the very first time in the senior hurling championship. A peak audience of 1.1 million watched Galway beat Waterford in the hurling final on RTÉ, making it the most watched programme on RTÉ in 2017 at the time.