2017 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship


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 compete on a round-robin basis.

Leinster and Munster Championship Formats

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
Seven of the twelve Leinster counties compete. Galway and Kerry, though not in Leinster, also participate. The competition begins with a qualifier group consisting of the four weakest teams. Two teams from the qualifier group progress and the remainder of the competition is knock-out. Most of the beaten teams enter the All-Ireland qualifiers – the two bottom teams in the Leinster qualifier group do not.
In 2017 the bottom team in the Leinster qualifier group will be relegated to next year's Christy Ring Cup. Their place in next year's Leinster qualifier group will be taken by the winner of 2017's Christy Ring Cup.
Meath qualified for this year's Leinster Championship by winning the 2016 Christy Ring Cup.
Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Five of the six Munster counties compete. Kerry participates in The Leinster Hurling Championship. The competition has a knock-out format. All of the beaten teams enter the All-Ireland qualifiers.

Qualifiers Format

The eight teams beaten in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Leinster and Munster Hurling Championships enter the All-Ireland hurling qualifiers. 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 qualifiers are knock-out and eventually result in two teams who progress to the two All-Ireland quarter-finals.

All-Ireland Format

The beaten finalists in the Leinster and Munster championships play 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 play the winners of the two quarter finals. The final normally takes place on the first Sunday in September.

Non-participating Provincial Championships

Connacht and Ulster teams can compete in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship by gaining promotion through the tiers of hurling – the Christy Ring Cup, the Nicky Rackard Cup and the Lory Meagher Cup.
Connacht Senior Hurling Championship
This competition is no longer organised. Galway represent Connacht and participate in the Leinster Championship.
Ulster Senior Hurling Championship
Although this competition takes place, it is not part of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Currently no Ulster teams qualify to play in this year's Leinster championship which means that winning the Christy Ring cup is their only route into this year's All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.

Summary

Championships

Other Championship Tiers

[Leinster Senior Hurling Championship]

Leinster Format

Nine counties compete - seven from Leinster plus Galway and Kerry. Last year's Leinster champions receive a bye into the semi-final. The championship begins 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 continues in a knock-out format. Two semi-finals and a final follow.

Leinster Qualifier Group

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'''Leinster Knockout Stage'''
Last year's Leinster champions receive a bye into the semi-finals. The remaining six teams play in three quarter-finals. An informal system of promotion or relegation operates in this round; if a team from the qualifier group wins their quarter-final, they will be seeded in next year's Leinster championship and the beaten seeded team will compete in next year's Leinster qualifier group.
Leinster Quarter-Finals
'''Leinster Semi-Finals'''
Last year's Leinster champions receive a bye into the semi-finals. They are joined by the winners of the three quarter-finals.
Leinster Final

[Munster Senior Hurling Championship]

Munster Format

Five of the six Munster counties participate. Kerry compete in the qualifier group of the Leinster championship. The competition is entirely knock-out.

Munster Quarter-Final

Munster Semi-Finals

Munster Final

All-Ireland Qualifiers

Qualifiers Overall Format

A total of nine teams enter the qualifiers – five of the seven teams eliminated in Leinster before the final, 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

Qualifiers Preliminary Round Format

The GAA congress held in Feb 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 play the losers of one of the three Leinster quarter finals.

Qualifiers Preliminary Match

Qualifiers Round 1

Qualifiers Round 1 Format

After the qualifiers preliminary round, the eight remaining qualifier teams play in four matches. A draw is made such that the three Munster teams are paired with three teams beaten in the Leinster championship. Teams who have already met in the Leinster championship cannot be drawn to meet again if such a pairing can be avoided. The draw was made on the morning of the 26 June.

Qualifiers Round 1 Matches

Qualifiers Round 2

Qualifiers Round 2 Format

The four winners of round 1 play in two matches. Teams who have already met in the Leinster or Munster championships cannot be drawn to meet again if such a pairing can be avoided.

Qualifiers Round 2 Matches

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

Bracket

All-Ireland Quarter-Finals

The beaten finalists from the Leinster and Munster championships play the winners of round 2 of the qualifiers in the two quarter-finals. Teams who have already met in the Leinster or Munster championships cannot be drawn to meet again if such a pairing can be avoided.

All-Ireland Semi-Finals

The Leinster and Munster champions play the winners of the two quarter-finals. Teams who have already met in the Leinster or Munster championships cannot be drawn to meet again if such a pairing can be avoided.
This year, as Cork had met both Tipperary and Waterford in the Munster championship, a repeat pairing could not be avoided. The draw took place on 24 July to decide the fixtures.

All-Ireland Final

Championship Statistics

Top scorer overall

RankPlayerCountyTallyTotalMatchesAverage
1Pauric MahonyWaterford0-505068.33
2Joe CanningGalway0-464659.20
3Séamus CallananTipperary3-344358.60
4Ross KingLaois0-424258.40
5T. J. ReidKilkenny4-2739313.00
5Patrick HorganCork0-393949.75
7Allan DevineWestmeath0-383857.60
8Patrick PurcellLaois5-173265.33
9Shane NolanKerry3-2231310.33
9Shane DooleyOffaly3-2231310.33

Top scorer in a single game

RankPlayerCountyTallyTotalOpposition
1Séamus CallananTipperary3-1120Dublin
2T. J. ReidKilkenny2-1218Waterford
3Shane DooleyOffaly3-0817Westmeath
4Patrick PurcellLaois3-0615Meath
5T. J. ReidKilkenny2-0713Wexford
5Ross KingLaois0-1313Kerry
5Patrick HorganCork0-1313Clare
8Shane NolanKerry2-0612Laois
8Shane NolanKerry1-0912Meath
8Patrick HorganCork0-1212Waterford

Clean sheets

RankGoalkeeperCountyClean sheets
1Stephen O'Keeffe Waterford4
2Paddy Moloney Westmeath2
3Eoin Murphy Kilkenny1
3Nickie Quaid Limerick1
3Mark Fanning Wexford1
3James Dempsey Offaly1
3Andrew Fahy Clare1
3Daragh Mooney Tipperary1
3Darren Gleeson Tipperary1
3--1

Scoring events

Widest winning margin: 24 points
Most goals in a match: 7
Most points in a match: 53
Most goals by one team in a match: 6
Highest aggregate score: 66
Lowest aggregate score: 37
Most goals scored by a losing team: 3

Broadcast Rights

Matches will be broadcast live on television in Ireland on RTÉ and Sky Sports under a new five-year contract that was agreed in December 2016.
In the United Kingdom, matches will be shown on Sky Sports and worldwide coverage will be provided on GAAGO. RTÉ Radio 1 will also have full radio rights to all championship games which were previously shared with Newstalk.
RTÉ coverage will be shown on RTÉ One on The Sunday Game Live presented by Michael Lyster in high definition. Des Cahill will present The Sunday Game highlights and analysis show on Sunday evening.

Live Hurling On TV

, the national broadcaster in Ireland, will provide the majority of the live television coverage of the championship in the first year of a five-year deal running from 2017 until 2021. Sky Sports will also broadcast a number of matches and will have exclusive rights to some games.

Awards

;Sunday Game Team of the Year
The Sunday Game team of the year was picked on 3 September, which was the night of the final. The panel consisting of Brendan Cummins, Michael Duignan, Tomás Mulcahy, Jackie Tyrrell, Anthony Daly, Eddie Brennan and Cyril Farrell unanimously selected Galway's Gearóid McInerney as the Sunday game player of the year.
;All Star Team of the Year
On 2 November, the 2017 PwC All-Stars winners were announced. On 3 November 2017 at the presentation of the All-Star awards, Joe Canning was named as the All Stars Hurler of the Year with Conor Whelan named the All Stars Young Hurler of the Year.