Donegal Senior Hurling Championship

Donegal Senior Hurling Championship
Current season or competition: 2024 Donegal Senior Hurling Championship
Irish	Craobh Iománaíocht Sinsear Co. Dhún na nGall
Code	Hurling
Founded	1924
Region	Donegal (GAA)
No. of teams	8
Title holders	Burt (40th title)
Most titles	Burt (40 titles)
Sponsors	None

The Donegal Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Donegal GAA clubs. The County Final is usually played at O'Donnell Park in Letterkenny.

Burt are the title holders, defeating Setanta by 3-16 to 1-18 in the 2024 final. ^[1]

Teams

2025 Teams

The 6 teams competing in the 2025 Donegal Senior Hurling Championship were:

Team	Location	Colours	Position in 2024	Titles won	Most recent title
Buncrana	Buncrana	Green, white and gold	Group stage	0	—
Burt	Burt	Primrose and blue	Champions	40	2024
Carndonagh	Carndonagh	Red and green	Group stage	3	1959
Seán MacCumhaills	Ballybofey and Stranorlar	Green and white	Stage B group stage	2	2016
Setanta	Killygordon	Green and black	Runners-up	19	2025
St Eunan's	Letterkenny	Amber and black	Stage B group stage	2	2021

2025 grades

Championship	Team
Senior
Senior	Buncrana
	Burt
	Carndonagh
	Seán MacCumhaills
	Setanta
	St Eunan's
Intermediate / Junior
Intermediate	An Clochán Liath
	Aodh Ruadh
	Burt (2nd team)
	Four Masters
	Letterkenny Gaels
	Setanta (2nd team)
	St Eunan's (2nd team)

History

Burt hold the most SHC titles of any club in the country (40), having passed out Waterford Senior Hurling Championship club Mount Sion's total of 35 with the 36th title win of 2013.^{[ citation needed ]}

Format

Group stage

The eight teams are divided into two groups of four. Over the course of the group stage, each team plays once against the others in the group, resulting in each team being guaranteed at least three games. Two points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. The teams are ranked in the group stage table by points gained, then scoring difference and then their head-to-head record. The top two teams in each group qualify for the knockout stage.

There is currently no direct relegation to the Donegal Junior Hurling Championship.

Knockout stage

Semi-finals: The two group winners and the two runners-up from the group stage contest this round. The winning teams from these two games advance to the final.

Final: The two semi-final winners contest the final. The winning team are declared champions.

Donegal IHC

Semi-finals: The two group third-placed teams and the two group third-placed teams from the group stage contest the Intermediate Championship. The two winning teams from these games advance to the Intermediate Championship final.

Final: The two semi-final winners contest the final. The winning team are declared Intermediate champions.

Trophy

The trophy presented to the winners is the Munster Cup. ^[2]

Qualification for subsequent competitions

The Donegal SHC winner qualifies for the Ulster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship.

Winners and finalists

Results by team

Results by team

#	Team	Title wins	Runners-up	Years won	Years runner-up
1	Burt	40	14	1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2024	1947, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1990,2007, 2008, 2016, 2022
2	Setanta	18	15	1973, 1974, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 2007, 2008, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023	1979, 1982, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2021, 2024
3	Letterkenny	6	1	1926, 1932, 1933, 1938, 1945, 1953	1924
4	Aodh Ruadh	5	4	1924, 1925, 1929, 1975, 1977	1943, 1971, 1976, 1989
5	Carrowmore	4	0	1934, 1935, 1936, 1937	—
6	Carndonagh	3	4	1944, 1954, 1959	1974, 1984, 1985, 1988
7	Seán MacCumhaills	2	5	2010, 2016	1998, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015
	St Eunan's			1972, 2021	2002, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2023
	Erin's Hope		0	1943, 1947	—
	Lifford			1958, 1960	—
	Erne Valley			1964, 1966	—
12	Finner Camp	1		1927	—
	Glenswilly			1963	—
14	Naomh Mura	0	6	—	1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
	Na Cealla Beaga		1	—	1970
	Roger Casement's			—	1977
	Four Masters			—	2001

Notes

• Runners-up unknown: 1925–1927, 1929, 1932–1938, 1943–1945, 1947, 1952–1969

Finals listed by year

Legend

• Gold – Ulster intermediate club champions
• Silver – Ulster intermediate club runners-up

Donegal SHC finals

(r) = replay

(aet) = after extra time

Year	Winner		Opponent		Winning captain	Notes
	Team	Score	Team	Score
1924 [3]	Aodh Ruadh	5-8	Letterkenny	0-1
1925	Aodh Ruadh
1926	Letterkenny
1927	Finner Camp
1928
1929	Aodh Ruadh
1930
1931
1932	Letterkenny
1933	Letterkenny
1934	Carrowmore
1935	Carrowmore
1936	Carrowmore
1937	Carrowmore
1938	Letterkenny
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943	Erin's Hope (Ballybofey and Stranorlar)		Aodh Ruadh
1944	Carndonagh
1945	Letterkenny
1946
1947	Erin's Hope (Ballybofey and Stranorlar)		Burt
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952	Burt
1953	Letterkenny
1954	Carndonagh
1955	Burt
1956	Burt
1957	Burt
1958	Lifford
1959	Carndonagh
1960	Lifford
1961	Burt
1962	Burt
1963	Glenswilly
1964	Erne Valley (Gleann-Eirne)
1965	Burt
1966	Erne Valley (Gleann-Eirne)
1967	Burt
1968	Burt
1969	Burt
1970	Burt	3-12	Na Cealla Beaga	1-3
1971	Burt	9-11	Aodh Ruadh	3-2
1972	St Eunan's	3-3	Burt	2-1
1973	Setanta		Burt
1974	Setanta		Carndonagh
1975	Aodh Ruadh	4-3	Burt	2-4
1976	Burt	3-7	Aodh Ruadh	2-6
1977	Aodh Ruadh	6-8	Roger Casement's	1-1
1978	Robert Emmet's & Burt			1-8 2-5		The 1978 final ended in a draw. It was never replayed.
1979	Burt	3-9	Setanta	1-5
1980	Setanta	2-8	Burt	0-8
1981	Setanta	2-7	Burt	1-3
1982	Burt	1-8	Setanta	1-6
1983	Setanta	2-14	Burt	2-8
1984	Setanta	3-14	Carndonagh	1-5
1985 [4]	Setanta	3-7	Carndonagh	4-3
1986	Setanta	2-2	Burt	1-4
1987	Setanta	5-8	Burt	2-9
1988	Setanta		Carndonagh
1989	Burt	4-6	Aodh Ruadh	1-11
1990	Setanta	3-8	Burt	0-16
1991	Burt	2-12	Naomh Mura	1-9
1992	Burt	2-12	Naomh Mura	2-8
1993	Burt	2-11	Setanta	3-7
1994	Burt	4-7	Naomh Mura	1-4
1995	Burt	0-16	Naomh Mura	2-5
1996 [5]	Burt	1-16	Naomh Mura	1-6
1997	Burt	3-17	Naomh Mura	3-9
1998	Burt	3-13	Seán MacCumhaills	0-3
1999	Burt	1-12	Setanta	1-8
2000 [6]	Burt	5-17	Setanta	0-6
2001	Burt		Four Masters
2002	Burt	3-21	St Eunan's	2-9
2003	Burt		Setanta
2004	Burt		Setanta
2005 [7]	Burt	3-8	Setanta	0-11
2006	Burt	0-17	Setanta	0-15
2007	Setanta	3-8	Burt	0-7
2008	Setanta	4-7	Burt	1-7
2009	Burt	3-13	Seán MacCumhaills	2-12
2010	Seán MacCumhaills	0-15	Setanta	0-12
2011	Burt	3-11	Setanta	2-7
2012 [8]	Burt	3-14	Seán MacCumhaills	1-12
2013 [9]	Burt	3-13	Setanta	2-14
2014 [10]	Burt	6-9	Seán MacCumhaills	1-9		Ardal McDermott was in charge of the winning team. [10]
2015 [11]	Burt	2-7	Seán MacCumhaills	0-12
2016 [12]	Seán MacCumhaills	2-13	Burt	2-9	Lee Henderson [12]	This result ended Burt's attempt at a six-in-a-row. [12]
2017 [13]	Setanta	1-16	St Eunan's	1-8
2018 [14]	Burt	3-14	Setanta	1-14	Stephen Gillespie [14]
2019 [15]	Setanta	3-13	St Eunan's	0-13
2020 [16]	Setanta	2-19	St Eunan's	2-13
2021 [17]	St Eunan's	2-9	Setanta	0-14	Conor O'Grady [18]
2022 [19]	Setanta	1-20	Burt	0-18		Liam McKinney was man of the match. [19]
2023 [20]	Setanta	4-13	St Eunan's	0-14	Mark Callaghan [20]
2024 [21]	Burt	3-16	Setanta	1-18	Liam McKinney
2025	Setanta	2-12	St Eunan's	0-13

See also

• Donegal Intermediate Hurling Championship (Tier 2)
• Donegal Junior Hurling Championship (Tier 3)
• Donegal Senior Football Championship
• Ulster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship

References

1. "Brilliant Burt defeat Setanta to win SHC title". Donegal News . 31 August 2024. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
2. McLaughlin, Gerry (4 September 2019). "Declan Coulter: Setanta focusing on Ulster and Keady tussle". The Irish News . Retrieved 4 September 2019. On Saturday he picked up his second Donegal county hurling medal, fighting hard against a crippling injury to help his adopted club take its 15th Munster Cup.
3. "Tirconaill Senior Hurling Final - Big Victory for Ballyshannon". Donegal Democrat .
4. Donegal News 1903-current, Saturday, 24 August 1985; Page: 12.
5. Donegal News 1903-current, Friday, 4 October 1996; Page: 19.
6. Donegal News 1903-current, Friday, 4 August 2000; Page: 27.
7. Donegal News 1903-current, Friday, 7 October 2005; Section: Front Page.
8. "McLaughlin goal seals another title for Burt". Irish Examiner . 17 September 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
9. "Donegal SHC final: Burt do it again". Hogan Stand . 15 September 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
10. "Donegal SHC final: four-in-a-row for Burt". Hogan Stand . 29 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
11. "Donegal SHC final: Five-in-a-row for Burt". Donegal Daily. 12 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
12. "Donegal SHC final: MacCumhaills end Burt's long reign". Hogan Stand . 11 September 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
13. "Setanta make experience count to see off St Eunan's and become champions again". Donegal Daily. 16 September 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
14. "Donegal SHC final: Title number 39 for Burt". Donegal Sport Hub. 1 September 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
15. "Donegal SHC final: Setanta goals sink St Eunan's". Hogan Stand . 2 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
16. "Donegal SHC: Setanta too good for St Eunan's". Irish Examiner . 3 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
17. "St Eunan's end 49-year wait for Donegal SHC crown". Hogan Stand . 30 October 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
18. Craig, Frank (6 January 2022). "Donegal's O'Grady optimistic ahead of the 2022 campaign". Donegal News . p. 52. Domestically, it was an historic season for O'Grady and his St Eunan's team-mates. They caused a huge upset back in October by dethroning kingpins Setanta — a victory that delivered the Letterkenny club its first SHC title since 1972. O'Grady skippered the Black and Amber to that first championship win in half a century and he admits that the emotions from that massive achievement are still lingerng.
19. "Setanta's class prevails in extra-time to win SHC over Burt". Donegal Daily. 30 July 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
20. "Comhghairdeas Setanta Hurling Club the 2023 Grand Canal Hotel Senior Hurling Champions". Donegal County Board. 12 August 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
21. "Burt stun Setanta to claim Donegal SHC title in thriller at O'Donnell Park". Sunday Independent . 31 August 2024. Retrieved 31 August 2024.

External links

• Official Donegal Website
• Donegal on Hoganstand
• Donegal Club GAA