Munster Senior Hurling League


The Munster Senior Hurling League is an annual hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 2016 for the top inter-county teams in the province of Munster in Ireland.
The series of games are played during January. The Munster Senior Hurling League is effectively a pre-season tournament. It allows teams to blood new players and to experiment prior to the opening of the National Hurling League.
2019 was the first year that all six eligible teams participated in the Munster Senior Hurling League. Participation or non-participation can be decided on an annual basis. Cork are the current champions.

History

This competition is a successor completion to the Waterford Crystal Cup which lasted from 2006 to 2015.

Format

In the tournament's first three years, each team played all the others once in a single round-robin system, with the top two teams progressing to the final. In 2019 and 2020, all six counties competed, and they were drawn into two separate groups, with the two group winners meeting in the final.
In 2022 the competition was a straight knockout, with 5 teams, and was called the "Munster Hurling Cup". For 2023 the competition returned to the format of 2020, with two groups of three teams.

Stadia and locations

LocationStadiumCapacity
LimerickGaelic Grounds44,023
KillarneyFitzgerald Stadium38,000
EnnisCusack Park19,000
DungarvanFraher Field15,000
TraleeAustin Stack Park12,000
WaterfordWalsh Park11,046
MallowMallow GAA Complex8,000
SixmilebridgeO'Garney Park7,000
KilmallockFitzGerald Park4,000
NenaghMacDonagh Park
ClarecastleClarecastle GAA
RathkealeMick Neville Park

As of the 2022 season, Munster League hurling has been played in eleven stadiums since the formation of the league in 2016.
While the traditional county grounds are sometimes used for league matches, smaller club grounds have usually been used for games which may not have had such a high profile.
Munster League matches are usually played on a rolling home and away basis.
The stadiums for the 2017 league showed a large disparity in capacity: Gaelic Grounds, the home ground of Limerick has a capacity of 50,500 with O'Garney Park, one of the grounds used by Clare, having a capacity of 7,000. The combined total capacity of the Munster League in the 2017 season was 111,000.
Stadium attendances are a significant source of regular income for the Munster Council and the individual county boards.

Top Scorers

All time

Pos.NameTeamGoalsPointsTotal
1Kerry05555
2Limerick42840
3Waterford33039
4Cork22834
4Limerick22834
5Cork03333
6Limerick51530
7Clare22329
7Clare12629
8Limerick12326
8Kerry12326

Overall

yearNameTeamGoalsPointsTotal
2016Limerick12124
2017Cork22733
2018Limerick12124
2019Waterford22531

Single game

yearNameTeamGoalsPointsTotal
2016Limerick1912
2017Waterford01414
2018Kerry11013
2019Waterford21218

Finals

yearNameTeamGoalsPointsTotal
2016Limerick077
2017Limerick099
2017Cork099
2018Limerick088
2019Clare239
2019Tipperary099