All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship
The All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship is a competition for inter-county teams in the women's field sport of game of camogie played in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Camogie Association and are played during the summer months with the All-Ireland Camogie Final being played in Croke Park, Dublin. The prize for the winning team is the O'Duffy Cup.
The men's equivalent tournament is the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.
History
Highlights and incidents
Highlights and incidents through the history of the championship include:- The [1932 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|first final in which Dublin GAA|Dublin, captained by Association president] Máire Gill and helped by two Bray players, beat Galway 3–2 to 0–2 at Galway Sportsfield in the summer of 1933, refereed by Stephen Jordan TD.
- Six goals scored by Kitty Buckley of Old Aloysius for Cork v Dublin [1941 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|n the 1941 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|1941 final].
- The 1942 final, broadcast on radio for the first time and the 1943 final between Dublin and Cork which set an attendance record of 9,136. In the absence of [1962 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|accurate figures for the 1962 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|1962 final] which may have had a higher attendance, it set a record that stood until 1995.
- [1945 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|The rival 1945 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|1945 “official” and “unofficial” finals], the result of splits in the association which occurred intermittently between 1938 and 1951, with a number of "official" and "unofficial" competitions, "new" and "old" associations and widespread confusion. Cork had pulled out of the 1944 Munster championship and Dublin pulled out of the 1945 All-Ireland championship over the dispute over male officials.
- The [1946 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|1946 final in Corrigan Park on front of a gate of £230, in which Antrim GAA|Antrim defeated Cork], leading to Corrigan Park's depiction by the press as the "home of camogie."
- The 1948 final won by CIÉ club who represented Dublin en masse, as the county board was in dispute with the association.
- The 1949 home final in which Kathleen Cody scored 6-7 of Dublin's 8-7 total in the final.
- Dublin's winning streak, longest in the history of Gaelic games, winning 18 out of 19 titles between 1948 and 1966. They were [1968 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|unbeaten in the Leinster championship between July 26, 1936 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|1936, and June 2, 1968]. Kathleen Mills won 15 All-Ireland medals between 1941 and 1962, Sophie Brack won eight All-Ireland medals in succession and competed in nine successive finals. Úna O'Connor won ten All-Ireland medals.
- Sophie Brack's four goals in the 1951 final.
- The 1955 final between Dublin and Cork, regarded as the greatest of its era, with the performance of Sophie Brack rated as the best individual display.
- [1956 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|Antrim's victory over Dublin in the 1956 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|1956 semi-final] to prevent 9-in-a-row, with Marian Kearns scoring the winning goal. Theresa Cairns, who played for Antrim in the semi-final and final victory over Cork, was just 14.
- Dublin's revenge victory over Antrim in 1957 with a last-minute winning goal from Bríd Reid followed by a dramatic goal line save by Eileen Duffy.
- Judy Doyle's four goals in the 1964 final and five in the 1965 final.
- The extraordinary end to the 1966 semi-final between Dublin and Tipperary when Tipperary, expecting to have won by a point, were told instead that they had lost by a point after a hastily convened Central Council meeting in a nearby hotel.
- The “and Mairéad must score” moment at the end of the 1966 final when Mairéad Carabine doubled on a falling ball to send it inches over the crossbar when a goal would have earned a replay for Antrim against Dublin.
- Sue Cashman's equalising [1967 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|point for Antrim in the 1967 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|1967 final]; they won the replay with a great display by Mairéad McAtamney.
- Wexford's breakthrough victory in 1968
- The display by Liz Garvan in bringing Cork back to the podium in 1970, scoring 3-6 of Cork's 5–7 in the final.
- The 1973 season when the All-Ireland championship reverted to its original format, the open draw.
- Cally Riordan of Cork becoming the only person male or female to win two All Ireland medals in the one day when appearing for both Junior and Senior teams in the 1973 finals.
- Kilkenny's emergence after a replayed final in 1974, with the help of a winning goal by Ursula Grace and a player of the match performance from a young Angela Downey.
- Gretta Quigley's performance [1975 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|in captaining Wexford GAA|Wexford to victory in 1975] the day after she was married
- Cork's last gasp point from Mary O’Leary, sister of Seánie, to win the 1982 final.
- Angela Downey's famous [1989 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|goal in 1989 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|1989, scored despite the fact she lost both hurley and skirt] as she bore down on goal.
- Kilkenny winning 7 All-Ireland titles in a row in the modern era of camogie from 1985 to 1991.
- Lynn Dunlea's t[1993 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|hree goals in the 1993 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|1993 final].
- Linda Mellerick's [1995 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|last minute goal in 1995 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship|1995 to secure Cork's victory over Kilkenny].
- Galway's breakthrough victory in 1996 with two goals from 18-year-old Denise Gilligan
- Irene O'Keeffe's two first half goals in 1998 to help Cork win the first final to be shown live on television.
- Tipperary's breakthrough victory in 1999, with the 14-year-old Claire Grogan on the team, and retention of title the following year with two early goals from Deirdre Hughes and subsequent rivalry with Cork. Tipperary won five All Irelands in six years.
- Six goals exchanged in the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship, which is considered to be one of the best games of all time with Wexford running out winners in the end, with Ursula Jacob scoring 2-7 of Wexford's 3–13.
- Galway's first All-Ireland since 1996 in the 2013 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship and Therese Maher's stand out performance as she got her elusive medal after 16 years
- Waterford's first appearance in an All-Ireland senior camogie final in 78 years 2023 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship, losing to Cork in the final.
Participating teams
Ten Counties currently participate in the Senior Championship. These are Clare, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford.Format
The counties participate in a group series with the top teams progressing to the knock-out stages. The eight teams were divided into two groups of four in 2009. In every other year the teams were placed in a single group of between six and eight teams. The first two championships were played on an open draw basis until in 1934 the championship was changed to the traditional quadro-provincial structure traditional to Gaelic games. Following the withdrawal of Connacht from the inter-provincial senior semi-finals the competition changed to an open-draw knockout system in 1974.Introduction of group system in 2006
The championship structure was changed from a knockout to a round-robin system in 2006. The system was retained despite some initial criticism. An anomaly occurred in four of the first six championships under the new format with the defeated All-Ireland finalists beating the eventual champions in the group stages, only to eventually lose to the same opposition in the All-Ireland final:- In 2006 Tipperary beat Cork by 3–8 to 1–10 in the group stages only to lose the final 0–12 to 0-4
- In 2008, Galway beat Cork 1–9 to 0–8 in the group stages only to lose the final 2–10 to 1–8,
- In 2010, Galway beat Wexford 1–8 to 0–10 in the group stages only to lose the final 1–12 to 1-10
- and in 2011 involving the same counties, Galway beat Wexford by a massive 2–14 to 0–9 in the group stages only to lose the final 2–7 to 1-8.
Roll of Honour
Winners by team
Cork have won the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship the most times, earning a 30th title in 2024. Dublin are in second place in the roll of honour with 26 titles. Dublin won their first championship in 1932 and dominated the competition for the next thirty five years. Between 1948 and 1955 they won eight consecutive titles. Two years later in 1957 Dublin began another great run of success which ended in 1966 with the capturing of their tenth consecutive All-Ireland title. Antrim won a hat-trick of titles from 1945‐1947. For a twenty-year period from 1974 until 1994 the Kilkenny camogie team dominated the championship. Between 1999 and 2006 Tipp won five All-Ireland titles from eight consecutive final appearances.Six counties - Louth, Waterford, Down, Derry, Mayo and Limerick have appeared in a final without ever winning the O’Duffy Cup, while London appeared in the All-Ireland final "proper", effectively a play-off between the All-Ireland champions and British provincial champions in 1949 and 1950. Three counties, Kildare, Cavan and Clare have contested the All-Ireland semi-final without qualifying for a final. The following is a list of the top county teams by number of wins.