The 2000 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (also known as the Guinness Hurling Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 114th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county hurling tournament. The draw for the 2000 fixtures took place on 14 November 1999. The championship began on 6 May 2000 and ended on 10 September 2000.

Cork were the defending champions but were defeated by Offaly in the All-Ireland semi-final. Carlow, New York and Westmeath fielded teams after long absences.

On 10 September 2000, Kilkenny won the championship following a 5–15 to 1–14 defeat of Offaly in the All-Ireland final. This was their 26th All-Ireland title, their first in seven championship seasons. It was the third All-Ireland final to feature teams from the same province.

Offaly's Johnny Dooley was the championship's top scorer with 0–41. Kilkenny's D. J. Carey was the unanimous choice for Hurler of the Year.

New provincial formats Following a motion from the Westmeath County Board at Congress, the Leinster Council proposed the introduction of a "back door system" in their hurling championship. This would be introduced to help develop hurling in the "weaker" counties and to ensure at least two championship games for these teams. While the motion was passed at Congress in April, the new format was rejected by the GAA's management committee at a meeting on 30 October 1999. The committee disagreed with the prospect of allowing losers from earlier rounds to re-enter the championship through a "back door system". As a result of this the Leinster Council were forced to tweak their championship format. This also led to the postponement of the championship draw. The Leinster Council's diluted proposal saw the introduction of a round-robin for the four weakest teams in the province. The group stage winners would join the other three teams in the championship proper.

Team changes

To Championship Promoted from the All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling Championship

Carlow Westmeath

Re entered Championship

New York

From Championship Regraded to the All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling Championship

Roscommon

Teams Due to the introduction of the round robin system in Leinster, Carlow and Westmeath returned to the championship.

On 18 May 2000 the Roscommon County Board announced that the senior hurling team were withdrawing from the Connacht Championship. Nine of the previous year's panel were absent and, together with a lack of commitment from the remaining players, the board were left with no choice but to withdraw. As a result of this the Connacht Championship was not played and Galway's first game was an All-Ireland quarter-final.

The Kerry County Board were faced with a similar prospect to Roscommon, however, they declined to withdraw from the Munster Championship.

New York joined the Ulster Championship.

General information Nineteen counties competed in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship: one team in the Connacht Senior Hurling Championship, seven teams in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, six teams in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship and five teams in the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship. CountyLast provincial titleLast championship titlePosition in 1999 Championship Antrim1999 — Carlow — — Clare19981997 Cork19991999 Derry1908 — Down1997 — Dublin19611938 Galway19991988 Kerry18911891 Kilkenny19991993 Laois19491915 Limerick19961973 London —1901 New York — — Offaly19951998 Tipperary19931991 Waterford19631959 Westmeath — — Wexford19971996

Personnel and kits Team Manager Captain Sponsor Kit manufacturerAntrimSeán McNaughtonConor McCambridgeBushmillsO'NeillsCarlowEddie ByrneStone DevelopmentsO'NeillsClareGer LoughnaneBrian LohanEircellO'NeillsCorkJimmy Barry-MurphyFergal RyanEsat DigifoneO'NeillsDerryKevin McNaughtonConor MurrayO'Kane InsuranceO'NeillsDownJimmy O'ReillyCanal Court HotelO'NeillsDublinMichael O'GradyArnott'sO'NeillsGalwayMattie MurphyJoe RabbitteSupermac'sO'NeillsKerryMichael O'HalloranKerry GroupO'NeillsKilkennyBrian CodyWillie O'ConnorAvonmoreO'NeillsLaoisPadraig HoranP. J. PeacockMeadow MeatsO'NeillsLimerickÉamonn CreganOllie MoranRed Cow Moran's HotelO'NeillsLondonSetanta SportsO'NeillsNew YorkBudweiserO'NeillsOffalyPat FleuryJohnny DooleyCarroll MeatsO'NeillsTipperaryNicky EnglishTommy DunneFinchesO'NeillsWaterfordGerald McCarthyPaul FlynnGain FeedsO'NeillsWexfordJoachim KellyRory McCarthyWexford CreameryO'Neills

Ulster Senior Hurling Championship

Munster Senior Hurling Championship

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship

TeamSFSADiffQualification1 Laois32105–523–36 +225Advance to Knockout Stage2 Dublin32102–542–37 +1753 Carlow31026–335–43 −724 Westmeath30034–267–49 −320

Knockout Stage

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

All-Ireland quarter-finals

All-Ireland semi-finals

All-Ireland Final

Stadia and locations

Championship statistics

Top scorers

Overall Rank Player County Tally Total Matches Average1Johnny DooleyOffaly0–414158.202Tomás McGraneDublin1–333657.203Dave CuddyLaois1–293248.004Joe DeaneCork1–283147.755Henry ShefflinKilkenny2–212746.756Charlie CarterKilkenny3–112045.00Gary BiggsDerry1–172036.668Pat CoadyCarlow1–161936.33D.J. CareyKilkenny3–101944.7510Gregory O'KaneAntrim1–131628.00

Single game Rank Player County Tally Total Opposition1Gary O'KaneAntrim1–912LondonDave CuddyLaois0–1212DublinJohnny DooleyOffaly0–1212Derry4Gary BiggsDerry0–1010DownJoe DeaneCork0–1010TipperaryJoe DeaneCork0–1010Offaly7Tomás McGraneDublin1–69WestmeathDave CuddyLaois1–69CarlowJohnny DooleyOffaly0–99Wexford10Henry ShefflinKilkenny2–28OffalyEugene O'NeillTipperary1–58CorkPat CoadyCarlow1–58WestmeathJohnny DooleyOffaly0–88KilkennyDenis ByrneKilkenny0–88GalwayTomás McGraneDublin0–88LaoisTomás McGraneDublin0–88LaoisNeil RonanCork0–88Kerry

Clean sheets Rank Goalkeeper County Clean sheets1Kieran Stevenson Derry2Donal Óg Cusack CorkBrendan Cummins TipperaryBrendan McLoughlin DublinJames McGarry Kilkenny6Shane Elliott Antrim1Brendan Landers WaterfordJohn Lyons LaoisMichael Crimmins GalwayStephen Byrne Offaly

References

Further reading Corry, Eoghan, The GAA Book of Lists (Hodder Headline Ireland, 2005). Donegan, Des, The Complete Handbook of Gaelic Games (DBA Publications Limited, 2005). Nolan, Pat, Flashbacks: A Half Century of Cork Hurling (The Collins Press, 2000).

External links All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2000 Results