2023 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship


The 2023 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 136th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county hurling tournament, since its establishment in [1887 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship|All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship|1887]. The competition began in April 2023 and ended on 23 July 2023.
Limerick entered the competition as defending champion, having won its previous three editions.
The final was played on 23 July 2023 at Croke Park in Dublin, between Limerick and Kilkenny. Defending champion Limerick won the game by 0–30 to 2–15 to claim a four-in-a-row, as well as a fifth title in six years.

Format

Leinster Championship

Participating counties (6)

Antrim, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Westmeath, Wexford

Group stage (15 matches)

Each team plays each other once. The 1st and 2nd placed teams advance to the Leinster final and the 3rd placed team advances to the all-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals. All other teams are eliminated from the championship and the bottom placed team may face relegation to next years Joe McDonagh Cup.

Final (1 match)

The top 2 teams in the group stage contest this game. The Leinster champions advance to the All-Ireland semi-finals and the Leinster runners-up advance to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

Munster Championship

Participating counties (5)

Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford

Group stage (10 matches)

Each team plays each other once. The 1st and 2nd placed teams advance to the Munster final and the 3rd placed team advances to the all-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals. All other teams are eliminated from the championship and the bottom placed team may face relegation to next years Joe McDonagh Cup.

Final (1 match)

The top 2 teams in the group stage contest this game. The Munster champions advance to the All-Ireland semi-finals and the Munster runners-up advance to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

Joe McDonagh Cup

Participating counties (6)

Carlow, Down, Kerry, Kildare, Laois, Offaly

Group stage (15 matches)

Each team plays each other once. The 1st and 2nd placed teams advance to the Joe McDonagh Cup final. All other teams are eliminated from the championship and the bottom placed team are relegated to next years Christy Ring Cup.

Final (1 match)

The top 2 teams in the group stage contest this game. The Joe McDonagh Cup champions and runners-up advance to the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals.

All-Ireland Championship

Preliminary quarter-finals (2 matches)

The 3rd placed teams from the Leinster and Munster championships play the Joe McDonagh Cup champions and runners-up. Two teams are eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the quarter-finals.

Quarter-finals (2 matches)

The winners of the preliminary quarter-finals join the Leinster and Munster runners-up to make up the quarter-final pairings. Teams who may have already met in the provincial championships are kept apart in separate quarter-finals. Two teams are eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the semi-finals.

Semi-finals (2 matches)

The winners of the quarter-finals join the Leinster and Munster champions to make up the semi-final pairings. Teams who may have already met in the provincial championships are kept apart in separate semi-finals where possible. Two teams are eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the final.

Final (1 match)

The two winners of the semi-finals contest this game.

Team changes

To Championship

Promoted from the Christy Ring Cup

From Championship

Relegated to the Christy Ring Cup

Teams

General information

Seventeen counties will compete in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship: six teams in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, five teams in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship and six teams in the Joe McDonagh Cup.
CountyLast provincial titleLast championship titlePosition in 2022 ChampionshipCurrent championship
Antrim2017—Preliminary quarter-finalsLeinster Senior Hurling Championship
Carlow——3rd Joe McDonagh Cup
Clare19982013Semi-finalsMunster Senior Hurling Championship
Cork20182005Quarter-finalsMunster Senior Hurling Championship
Down——5th Joe McDonagh Cup
Dublin201319384th Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
Galway20182017Semi-finalsLeinster Senior Hurling Championship
Kerry18911891Preliminary quarter-finalsJoe McDonagh Cup
Kildare——1st Joe McDonagh Cup
Kilkenny20222015Runners-upLeinster Senior Hurling Championship
Laois194919156th Joe McDonagh Cup
Limerick20222022ChampionsMunster Senior Hurling Championship
Offaly199519984th Joe McDonagh Cup
Tipperary201620195th Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Waterford201019594th Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Westmeath——5th Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
Wexford20191996Quarter-finalsLeinster Senior Hurling Championship

Teams by province

The participating teams, listed by province, with numbers in parentheses indicating final positions in the 2023 National Hurling League before the championship were:
Connacht
Leinster
Munster
Ulster

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship

Group Stage

TeamQualification
1 Galway5320175116+598Advance to Leinster Final
2 Kilkenny5311163120+437Advance to Leinster Final
3 Dublin5221125117+86Advance to All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals
4 Wexford5203137141−44
5 Antrim5113141167−263
6 Westmeath 510493173−802Relegation to Joe McDonagh Cup

Cup competitions

Joe McDonagh Cup

Final

Carlow will be promoted to the 2024 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship.

Stadia and locations

CountyLocationProvinceStadiumCapacity
AntrimBelfastUlsterCorrigan Park3,700
CarlowCarlowLeinsterDr Cullen Park11,000
ClareEnnisMunsterCusack Park19,000
CorkCorkMunsterPáirc Uí Chaoimh45,000
DownRubaneUlsterMcKenna Park5,000
DublinDublinLeinsterCroke Park82,300
GalwayGalwayConnachtPearse Stadium26,197
KerryTraleeMunsterAustin Stack Park12,000
KildareNewbridgeLeinsterHawkfield Centre of Excellence1,300
KilkennyKilkennyLeinsterNowlan Park27,000
LaoisPortlaoiseLeinsterO'Moore Park22,000
LimerickLimerickMunsterGaelic Grounds44,023
OffalyTullamoreLeinsterO'Connor Park18,000
TipperaryThurlesMunsterSemple Stadium45,690
WaterfordThurlesMunsterSemple Stadium45,690
WestmeathMullingarLeinsterCusack Park11,500
WexfordWexfordLeinsterChadwicks Wexford Park18,000

Statistics

Top scorers

Top scorer overall

RankPlayerCountyTallyTotalMatchesAverage
1T. J. Reid Kilkenny2–737989.87
2Evan Niland Galway0–777789.62
3Donal Burke Dublin2–5965610.83
4Aaron Gillane Limerick3–475678.00
5Tony Kelly Clare5–334876.85
6Conal Cunning Antrim2–424859.60
7Patrick Horgan Cork2–3945411.25
8Jason Forde Tipperary4–3143410.75
9Conor Whelan Galway7–183984.87
10Mark Rodgers Clare4–273966.50
11Stephen Bennett Waterford0–373749.25
12Eoin Cody Kilkenny5–213684.50
13Lee Chin Wexford1–323557.00
14Aidan McCarthy Clare1–273056.00
15Martin Keoghan Kilkenny5-092464.00
16Jake Morris Tipperary2–182454.80

In a single game

RankPlayerCountyTallyTotalOpposition
1Patrick Horgan Cork1–1417Limerick
2Jason Forde Tipperary2–1117Offaly
3Aidan McCarthy Clare1–1316Tipperary
4T. J. Reid Kilkenny2–1016Antrim
5Aaron Gillane
Limerick		1–1114Clare
6Tony Kelly
Clare		0–1313Waterford
7Stephen Bennett
Waterford		0–1313Limerick
8Evan Niland Galway0–1212Kilkenny
9Martin Keoghan
Kilkenny		3-0312Antrim
10Jason Forde
Tipperary		2-0612Clare
11Patrick Horgan
Cork		1-0912Clare

Scoring events

Miscellaneous

  • Limerick win their fourth All-Ireland in a row and their 12th in total
  • Limerick extended their unbeaten streak to 17 games, 16 wins and 1 draw, after defeating Waterford in the first round Munster championship. The streak began in the Munster quarter final clash versus Clare in October 2020, and ended with a defeat to Clare in the 2023 Munster SHC. Kilkenny are the only other county with a longer unbeaten streak, 21 games unbeaten from 2006 to 2010.
  • Tipperary scored 5 goals in a championship match for the first time since 2017 when they scored 5 against Clare in the Munster Championship. They went on to score 7 against Offaly in the All Ireland preliminary quarter-final.
  • The 7–38 scored by Tipperary against Offaly, equivalent to 59 points, is the highest score ever recorded in a SHC game. The aggregate score, 86 points in total, is also an all-time record.
  • Conor Whelan became the first player to score an All-Ireland SHC hat-trick since 2019 with three goals against.
  • Kilkenny's T. J. Reid becomes the first player to reach 600 points total while playing against Dublin on the 20th May 2023 in Round 4 of the Leinster Championship. While doing so, he also became the highest scoring player in the history of the All-Ireland competition, he over took this position from Cork's Patrick Horgan who is now just fourteen points behind T. J. Reid's top score.
  • This was the first year Kildare competed in the championship since 2004.
  • Offaly qualify for the All-Ireland knockout stage for the first time since 2003.
  • Westmeath defeated Wexford in the championship for the first time since 1940.
  • Cork's 18th year in a row without an All-Ireland senior title, their longest dry spell since the founding of the championship.
  • This was Kilkenny's eighth season in a row without a title, equalling their losing streak of 1984–91.
  • Kilkenny's first time losing two All Ireland senior finals in a row to the same opposition.
  • It was the first championship meeting between Offaly and Tipperary since 2010. Tipperary went on to defeat Offaly in the preliminary quarter final of the All Ireland series by 7–38 to 3–18 setting a new record for the highest team score in the history of the championship.
  • It was the first championship meeting between Clare and Dublin since 2012.
  • Limerick win their fifth Munster SHC in a row, the only time a county other than Cork has achieved this.
  • Nickie Quaid, Declan Hannon, Graeme Mulcahy and David Reidy became the first Limerick players to win six Munster Championship medals.

Live television coverage

RTÉ, the national broadcaster in Ireland, provided the majority of the live television coverage of the hurling championship with 17 games shown.
For the first time GAAGO also broadcast 9 matches in Ireland as part of a deal that will run to 2027 and had exclusive rights to some games.
After the GAA's broadcasting contract with Sky Sports expired in October 2022 and they did not seek contracts with producers on free-to-air channels such as Virgin Media Sport, GAAGO was the only place to watch certain games of the 2023 Munster Senior Hurling Championship. This was criticised by some including Tánaiste Micheál Martin.
After suspicion the service was operating beyond its clearance given by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in 2017, the commission opened an inquiry in May 2023 into the service's adherence to competition law. RTÉ told the Irish Examiner that they believed that "CCPC approval was not needed".
On 12 July 2023, senior GAA officials appeared before the Oireachtas Sport and Media Committee to defend the controversial GAAGO coverage of All-Ireland championships, saying broadcasting every championship match on TV was "not realistic" and not in the GAA's "interest".

Awards

;Sunday Game Team of the Year
The Sunday Game team of the year was picked 23 July on the night of the final.
The panel consisting of Jackie Tyrrell, Brendan Cummins, Donal Óg Cusack, Joe Canning, Shane Dowling, and Ursula Jacob also chose Kyle Hayes as the Sunday game player of the year.
;All Star Team of the Year
On 16 November, the All-Star winners were announced. The awards ceremony was held at the RDS on 17 November. Aaron Gillane was named as the GAA/GPA Hurler of the Year with Mark Rodgers named as the GAA/GPA Young Hurler of the Year.
Pos.PlayerTeamAppearances
GK Eoin MurphyKilkenny4
RCB Mikey ButlerKilkenny2
FB Huw LawlorKilkenny2
LCB Dan MorrisseyLimerick3
RWB Diarmaid ByrnesLimerick4
CB John ConlonClare2
LWB Kyle HayesLimerick4
MD Darragh O'DonovanLimerick2
MD William O'DonoghueLimerick2
RWF Shane O'DonnellClare2
CF T. J. ReidKilkenny7
LWF Tom MorrisseyLimerick3
RCF Conor WhelanGalway2
FF Aaron GillaneLimerick4
LCF Eoin CodyKilkenny1