All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship records and statistics

Beaten sides

Between 1887 and 1996 the championship was played on a straight knock out format whereby the All-Ireland champions were the only undefeated team of the competition. The introduction of the qualifier system in 1997 has resulted in five 'back-door' All-Ireland champions:

• Offaly (1998) were beaten by Kilkenny in the Leinster final.
• Cork (2004) were beaten by Waterford in the Munster final.
• Tipperary (2010) were beaten by Cork in the first round of the Munster championship.
• Kilkenny (2012) were beaten by Galway in the Leinster final.
• Clare (2013) were beaten by Cork in the Munster semi final.

On a number of occasions teams have been defeated twice but have remained in the championship:

• Limerick (2005) were beaten by Tipperary and Galway but still qualified for the All-Ireland quarter-final.
• Waterford (2005) were beaten by Cork and Clare but still qualified for the All-Ireland quarter-final.
• Limerick (2006) were beaten by Tipperary and Clare but still qualified for the All-Ireland quarter-final.
• Cork (2007) were beaten by Waterford and Tipperary but still qualified for the All-Ireland quarter-final.

Final success rate

Only one county has appeared in the final once, being victorious on that occasion:

• Kerry (1891)

Historic success rate

When a county won its first All Ireland before losing a final at a later time

• Tipperary (1887-1909)

On the opposite end of the scale, only one county has appeared in the final more than once, losing on each occasion:

• Antrim (1943, 1989)

Winning other trophies

Although not an officially recognised achievement, a number of teams have achieved the distinction of winning the All-Ireland championship, their provincial championship and the National Hurling League:

• Kilkenny in 1933, 1982, 1983, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2014.
• Tipperary in 1949, 1950, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1988 and 2001.
• Cork in 1926, 1941 and 1953.
• Limerick in 1934 and 1936
• Galway in 1987 and 2017.
• Wexford in 1956.

Biggest wins

• The most one sided All-Ireland finals:
  • 34 points – 1896: Tipperary 8-14 – 0-4 Dublin
  • 29 points – 1894: Cork 5-20 – 2-0 Dublin
  • 27 points – 1943: Cork 5-16 – 0-4 Antrim
  • 27 points – 1928: Cork 6-12 – 1-0 Galway
  • 26 points – 1918: Limerick 9-5 – 1-3 Wexford
  • 23 points – 2008: Kilkenny 3-30 – 1-13 Waterford
• The most one sided All-Ireland semi-finals:
  • 52 points – 1900: Galway 10-23 – 0-1 Antrim
  • 44 points – 1954: Wexford 12-17 – 2-3 Antrim
  • 36 points – 1925: Tipperary 12-9 – 2-3 Antrim
  • 35 points – 1912: Limerick 11-4 – 0-2 Antrim
  • 35 points – 1904: Cork 8-18 – 2-3 Antrim
• The most one sided All-Ireland quarter-finals:
  • 36 points – 1906: Kilkenny 7-21 - 1-3 Antrim
  • 34 points – 1971: Galway 7-24 - 1-8 Antrim
  • 30 points – 1986: Galway 4-24 - 1-3 Kerry
  • 26 points – 1988: Galway 4-30 - 2-8 London
  • 26 points – 1996: Galway 4-22 - 0-8 New York
• The most one sided Munster finals:
  • 31 points – 1918: Limerick 11-3 – 1-2 Clare
  • 31 points – 1982: Cork 5-31 – 3-6 Waterford
  • 28 points – 1893: Cork 5-13 – 0-0 Limerick
  • 27 points – 1903: Cork 5-16 – 1-1 Waterford
  • 26 points – 1905: Cork 7-12 – 1-4 Limerick
• The most one sided Leinster finals:
  • 28 points – 1916: Kilkenny 11-3 – 2-2 Wexford
  • 22 points – 1954: Wexford 8-5 – 1-4 Dublin
  • 21 points – 1901: Wexford 7-6 – 1-3 Offaly
  • 20 points – 1913: Kilkenny 7-5 – 2-1 Dublin
  • 19 points – 1928: Dublin 9-7 – 4-3 Offaly
• The most one sided Ulster finals:
  • 35 points – 1906: Donegal 5-21 – 0-01 Antrim
  • 29 points – 1901: Antrim 0-41 – 0-12 Derry
  • 28 points – 1930: Antrim 10-04 – 2-00 Down
  • 27 points – 1935: Antrim 7-09 – 0-03 Cavan
  • 26 points – 2007: Antrim 2-24 – 0-04 Down
• The most one sided Connaught finals:
  • 41 points – 1922: Galway 12-08 – 1-00 Roscommon
  • 38 points – 1997: Galway 6-24 – 0-05 Roscommon
  • 24 points – 1999: Galway 4-26 – 2-08 Roscommon
  • 21 points – 1905: Galway 3-15 – 1-00 Mayo
  • 18 points – 1909: Mayo 10-01 – 4-01 Galway

Successful defending

Only 5 teams of the 13 who have won the All-Ireland championship have ever successfully defended the title. These are:

• Kilkenny on 13 attempts out of 36 (1905, 1912, 1913, 1933, 1975, 1983, 1993, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2015)
• Cork on 12 attempts out of 30 (1893, 1894, 1903, 1929, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1953, 1954, 1977, 1978, 2005)
• Tipperary on 7 attempts out of 27 (1896, 1899, 1900, 1950, 1951, 1962, 1965)
• Wexford on 1 attempt out of 6 (1956)
• Galway on 1 attempt out of 4 (1988)

Gaps

• Longest gaps between successive All-Ireland titles:
  • 81 years: Clare (1914-1995)
  • 57 years: Galway (1923-1980)
  • 45 years: Wexford (1910-1955)
  • 45 years: Limerick (1973-2018)
  • 33 years: Limerick (1940-1973)
  • 29 years: Galway (1988-2017)
  • 28 years: Dublin (1889-1917)
  • 28 years: Wexford (1968-1996)
  • 21 years: Limerick (1897-1918)
  • 18 years: Tipperary (1971-1989)

• Longest gaps between successive All-Ireland final appearances:
  • 63 years: Clare (1932-1995)
  • 46 years: Antrim (1943-1989)
  • 45 years: Waterford (1963-2008)
  • 34 years: Laois (1915-1949)
  • 33 years: Wexford (1918-1951)
  • 33 years: Limerick (1940-1973)

Provinces

• Only on four occasions has the All-Ireland final involved two teams from the same province:
  • Tipperary vs Clare (1997)
  • Kilkenny vs Offaly (1998)
  • Kilkenny vs Offaly (2000)
  • Cork vs Clare (2013)
• The province providing the highest number of different winning teams is Munster, with six: Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford.

Longest undefeated run

The record for the longest unbeaten run stands at 21 games held by Kilkenny. It began with a 1-23 to 1-9 win against Westmeath in their opening game of the 2006 championship and finished with a 3-22 to 0-19 win against Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final of the 2010 championship. The 21 game unbeaten streak, which included no drawn game, ended with a 4-17 to 1-18 loss to Tipperary in the 2010 All-Ireland final.

This broke the previous record of 16 consecutive games unbeaten by Tipperary, which began in May 1949 with a victory in the opening round of the championship, and ended with a seventeen-point defeat of Waterford in the Munster semi-final of the 1952 championship. The 16 game unbeaten streak, which included 15 wins and one draw, ended with a 1-11 to 2-6 loss to Cork in the subsequent Munster final.

Most wins

• Henry Shefflin from Kilkenny is the only player to win ten All-Ireland medals on the field of play: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014
• Five players have won nine All-Ireland medals through a combination of being on the field and as non-playing substitutes:
  • Noel Hickey of Kilkenny: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012
  • Noel Skehan of Kilkenny: 1963, 1967, 1969, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1982, 1983
  • J.J. Delaney of Kilkenny: 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014
  • Tommy Walsh of Kilkenny: 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014
  • Jackie Tyrrell of Kilkenny: 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015
• Winners of All-Ireland medals on the field of play in three decades::
  • Paddy 'Balty' Ahern (Cork) (1919, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1931)
  • Frank Cummins (Kilkenny) (1969, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1982, 1983)
  • Jimmy Doyle (Tipperary) (1958, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1971)
  • John Doyle (Tipperary) (1949, 1950, 1951, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965)
  • Tommy Doyle (Tipperary) (1937, 1945, 1949, 1950, 1951)
  • Declan Ryan (Tipperary) (1989, 1991, 2001)

All-Ireland final appearances

Single All-Ireland final top scorers

Cumulative All-Ireland final top scorers

Oldest lived All-Ireland medal winners

Disciplinary

Just five players have ever been sent off in an All-Ireland final: Tom Ryan of Tipperary and Lar Foley of Dublin in the 1961 final, Éamonn Scallan of Wexford in the 1996 final against Limerick (sent off in the 34th minute); Benny Dunne of Tipperary in the 2009 final and Cyril Donnellan of Galway in the 2012 final replay .