Offaly Senior Hurling Championship

Offaly Senior Hurling Championship
Current season or competition: 2023 Offaly Senior Hurling Championship
Code	Hurling
Founded	1896;127 years ago (1896)
Region	Offaly (GAA)
Trophy	Seán Robbins Cup
No. of teams	10
Title holders	Kilcormac–Killoughey (5th title)
Most titles	Coolderry (31 titles)
Sponsors	Molloy Environmental Systems
TV partner(s)	TG4 (final only)
Official website	Official website

The Offaly Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Molloy Environmental Senior Hurling Championship) is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Offaly GAA clubs. The Offaly County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1896.

Kilcormac–Killoughey are the title holders (2023) defeating Shinrone in the Final.

History

The title has been won at least once by 12 different teams. The all-time record-holders are Coolderry, who have won a total of 31 titles.

Since the beginning, the championship has been dominated by Coolderry, Birr, Drumcullen and St Rynagh's. They have won a combined total of 90 of the 124 championship titles. Coolderry dominated the first twenty years of the championship, winning eleven titles between 1889 and 1917. After this initial golden age, Coolderry regularly claimed championship titles in each of the following decades. After making their own breakthrough in 1908, Drumcullen went on to become the team of the decade during the 1920s after winning eight titles between 1918 and 1933. Tullamore and Birr subsequently came to the fore, winning eleven titles between them between 1932 and 1948.^{[ citation needed ]}

Drumcullen enjoyed their most successful decade when they won seven championships between 1950 and 1960. This would be their last championship title. St Rynagh's inscribed their name on the roll of honour for the first time in 1965. They became the preeminent team of the next three decades and won 16 championship titles between 1965 and 1993. By this stage Birr had begun their own golden era. After winning their first championship in twenty years in 1991, the club went on to claim eleven more titles between then and 2008.^{[ citation needed ]}

Format

The series of games are played during the spring, summer and autumn months with the county final currently being played at O'Connor Park in November. The prize for the winning team is the Seán Robbins Cup. Initially played as a knock-out competition, the championship currently features a group stage followed by a knock-out stage.

Teams

2023 Teams

The 10 teams competing in the 2023 Offaly Senior Hurling Championship are:

Team	Location	Colours	Championship titles	Last championship title
Ballinamere	Ballykimurray	Green and yellow	0	—
Belmont	Belmont	Green and white	0	—
Birr	Birr	Green and red	22	2008
Coolderry	Coolderry	Green and white	31	2018
Kilcormac–Killoughey	Kilcormac and Killoughey	Green and yellow	5	2023
Kinnitty	Kinnitty	Green and white	9	1985
Seir Kieran	Clareen	Black and amber	4	1998
Shinrone	Shinroe	Red and white	1	2022
St Rynagh's	Cloghan and Banagher	Blue and gold	20	2021
Tullamore	Tullamore	Blue and white	10	2009

Honours

The winning team is presented with the Seán Robbins Cup. A native of Birr, Robbins served two terms as county chairman and served as Leinster Council chairman. He was also a president of the county board and was also a prominent referee at All-Ireland AND Leinster levels. The cup was first presented in 1960. ^[1]

The Offaly Senior Hurling Championship winners qualify for the subsequent Leinster Senior Club Hurling Championship. This place is reserved for club teams only as divisional and amalgamated teams are not allowed in the provincial championship.

The Offaly County Championship is an integral part of the wider Leinster Senior Club Hurling Championship. The winners of the Offaly county final join the champions of the other hurling counties to contest the provincial championship.

List of finals

(r) = replay

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Score
1896	Killoughey	3-03	Rahan	0-01
1897	Killoughey		Kinnitty
1898	Fortal		Killoughey
1899	Coolderry		Fortal
1900	Cadamstown		Fortal
1901	Coolderry		Killoughey
1902	Cadamstown		Tullamore
1903	Coolderry		Kilcormac
1904	Coolderry		Tullamore
1905	Coolderry		Kilcormac
1906	Coolderry		Moneygall
1907	Killoughey		Kilcormac
1908	Drumcullen		Ballinamere
1909	Tullamore		Drumcullen
1910	Coolderry		Killoughey
1911	Coolderry		Edenderry
1912	Birr		Killoughey
1913	Birr		Edenderry
1914	Coolderry		Killoughey
1915	Birr		Rahan
1916	Coolderry		Rahan
1917	Coolderry		Tullamore
1918	Drumcullen		Rahan
1919	Drumcullen		Rahan
1920	Kinnitty		Coolderry
1921	No competition
1922	No competition
1923	Kinnitty		Clara
1924	Drumcullen		Clara
1925	Drumcullen		Kinnitty
1926	Coolderry		Tullamore
1927	Drumcullen	9-05	Clara	1-02
1928	Drumcullen	4-00	Birr	1-02
1929	Drumcullen	3-01	Coolderry	1-03
1930	Kinnitty		Coolderry
1931	Coolderry		Drumcullen
1932	Tullamore		Coolderry
1933	Drumcullen		Kinnitty
1934	Tullamore		Drumcullen
1935	Tullamore		Clara
1936	Tullamore		Rahan
1937	Tullamore		Coolderry
1938	Birr		Coolderry
1939	Coolderry		Clareen
1940	Birr	4-08	Edenderry	2-01
1941	Drumcullen	2-05	Birr	0-07
1942	Coolderry	5-03	Birr	3-04
1943	Birr		Tullamore
1944	Birr		Tullamore
1945	Coolderry		Tullamore
1946	Birr		Tullamore
1947	Coolderry		Birr
1948	Birr		Coolderry
1949	Coolderry		Drumcullen
1950	Drumcullen		Coolderry
1951	Drumcullen		Birr
1952	Drumcullen		Seir Kieran
1953	Coolderry		Rahan
1954	Drumcullen		Coolderry
1955	Tullamore		Drumcullen
1956	Coolderry		Drumcullen
1957	Drumcullen	10-07	Shannon Rovers	1-03
1958	Drumcullen		Coolderry
1959	Tullamore		Coolderry
1960	Drumcullen		Shinrone
1961	Coolderry		Drumcullen
1962	Coolderry		Drumcullen
1963	Coolderry		Drumcullen
1964	Tullamore	1-11	St Rynagh's	3-01
1965	St Rynagh's	2-12	Coolderry	1-09
1966	St Rynagh's	6-10	Drumcullen	4-05
1967	Kinnitty	4-08	Coolderry	3-06
1968	St Rynagh's	1-12	Coolderry	3-04
1969	St Rynagh's	4-07	Kinnitty	1-09
1970	St Rynagh's	1-12	Kinnitty	2-08
1971	Birr	2-10	St Rynagh's	2-09
1972	St Rynagh's	4-10	Kinnitty	1-06
1973	St Rynagh's	0-12	Drumcullen	1-07
1974	St Rynagh's	1-11	Birr	2-03
1975	St Rynagh's	0-05, 0-14 (r)	Birr	0-05, 0-08 (r)
1976	St Rynagh's	3-11	Kinnitty	0-05
1977	Coolderry	1-07	Kinnitty	1-06
1978	Kinnitty	1-08	St Rynagh's	0-06
1979	Kinnitty	5-08	Coolderry	1-11
1980	Coolderry	3-03	Kinnitty	1-05
1981	St Rynagh's	1-10	Kinnitty	1-07
1982	St Rynagh's	2-09	Lusmagh	0-11
1983	Kinnitty	0-20	St Rynagh's	2-06
1984	Kinnitty	1-12	St Rynagh's	1-06
1985	Kinnitty	3-18	Seir Kieran	2-08
1986	Coolderry	3-08	St Rynagh's	1-10
1987	St Rynagh's	0-11	Seir Kieran	0-09
1988	Seir Kieran	3-13	St Rynagh's	4-06
1989	Lusmagh	1-11	Seir Kieran	1-10
1990	St Rynagh's	2-06	Birr	1-07
1991	Birr	1-12	Seir Kieran	1-11
1992	St Rynagh's	0-10	Lusmagh	0-09
1993	St Rynagh's	1-16	Birr	1-14
1994	Birr	0-08	Seir Kieran	0-07
1995	Seir Kieran	1–13, 0-10 (r)	St Rynagh's	1–13, 0-09 (r)
1996	Seir Kieran	0-13	St Rynagh's	1-08
1997	Birr	0-14	Seir Kieran	2-04
1998	Seir Kieran	1–10, 1-11 (r)	St Rynagh's	0–13, 0-09 (r)
1999	Birr	3-15	St Rynagh's	1-11
2000	Birr	3-21	Seir Kieran	1-09
2001	Birr	0-11	St Rynagh's	0-10
2002	Birr	3-11	Kilcormac–Killoughey	2-07
2003	Birr	1-18	Ballyskenagh	1-11
2004	Coolderry	3-10	Birr	2-11
2005	Birr	0-20	Coolderry	0-05
2006	Birr	0–11, 2-09 (r)	Coolderry	1-08, 1-11 (r)
2007	Birr	0-15	Kilcormac–Killoughey	0-10
2008	Birr	1-15	Kinnitty	0-15
2009	Tullamore	2-12	Kilcormac–Killoughey	0-11
2010	Coolderry	3-15	Tullamore	1-12
2011 [2]	Coolderry	2-14	Birr	0-16
2012 [3]	Kilcormac–Killoughey	2-16	St Rynagh's	2-12
2013 [4]	Kilcormac–Killoughey	1-21	Birr	1-14
2014 [5]	Kilcormac/Killoughey	2-18	St Rynagh's	1-09
2015 [6]	Coolderry	2-15	St Rynagh's	1-16
2016 [7]	St Rynagh's	2-16	Birr	1-15
2017 [8]	Kilcormac/Killoughey	2-16	St Rynagh's	1-16
2018	Coolderry	2-17	Kilcormac–Killoughey	0-17
2019	St Rynagh's	0-16	Birr	1-12
2020	St Rynagh's	1-19	Kilcormac–Killoughey	1-13
2021	St Rynagh's	1-11	Coolderry	0-12
2022 [9]	Shinrone	0-26	Kilcormac–Killoughey	2-13
2023 [10]	Kilcormac–Killoughey	3-26	Shinrone	3-08

Wins listed by club

#	Club	Wins	Years won	Runners-up	Years runner-up
1	Coolderry	31	1899, 1901, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1910, 1911, 1914, 1916, 1917, 1926, 1931, 1939, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1949, 1953, 1956, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1977, 1980, 1986, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2018	18	1920, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1937, 1938, 1948, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1959, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1979, 2005, 2006, 2021
2	Birr	22	1912, 1913, 1915, 1938, 1940, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1948, 1971, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008	13	1928, 1941, 1942, 1951, 1974, 1975, 1990, 1993, 2004, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2019
3	St Rynagh's	20	1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021	16	1964, 1971, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017
4	Drumcullen	17	1908, 1918, 1919, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1933, 1941, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1960	11	1909, 1931, 1934, 1949, 1955, 1956, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1973
5	Tullamore	10	1909, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1955, 1959, 1964, 2009	9	1902, 1904, 1917, 1926, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 2010
6	Kinnitty	9	1920, 1923, 1930, 1967, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1985	11	1897, 1925, 1933, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 2008
7	Kilcormac–Killoughey	5	2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2023	8	1903, 1905, 1907, 2007, 2008, 2018, 2020, 2022
8	Seir Kieran	4	1988, 1995, 1996, 1998	7	1952, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1997, 2000
9	Killoughey	3	1896, 1897, 1907	5	1898, 1901, 1910, 1912, 1914
10	Cadamstown	2	1900, 1902	0
11	Lusmagh	1	1989	2	1982, 1992
	Fortal		1898	2	1899, 1900
	Shinrone		2022	2	1960, 2023
12	Rahan	0		7	1896, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1919, 1936, 1953
	Clara			4	1923, 1924, 1927, 1935
	Edenderry			3	1911, 1913, 1940
	Moneygall			1	1906
	Clareen			1	1939
	Shannon Rovers			1	1957

Records and statistics

Managers

Managers in the Offaly Championship are involved in the day-to-day running of the team, including the training, team selection, and sourcing of players. Their influence varies from club-to-club and is related to the individual club committees. The manager is assisted by a team of two or three selectors and a backroom team consisting of various coaches.

Winning managers

Manager	Team(s)	Wins	Winning years
Pad Joe Whelehan	Birr	8	1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008
Ken Hogan	Birr Coolderry St Rynagh's	6	1991, 2010, 2011, 2019, 2020, 2021
Danny Owens	Kilcormac–Killoughey	3	2012, 2013, 2014
John Goode	Birr	2	2005, 2006
Kevin Martin	Tullamore	1	2009
Johnny Kelly	Coolderry	1	2015
Francis Forde	St Rynagh's	1	2016
Stephen Byrne	Kilcormac–Killoughey	1	2017
Joachim Kelly	Coolderry	1	2018

Teams

By decade

The most successful team of each decade, judged by the number of Offaly Senior Hurling Championship titles, is as follows:

• 1890s: 2 for Killoughey (1896–97)
• 1900s: 5 for Coolderry (1901-03-04-05-06)
• 1910s: 5 for Coolderry (1910-11-14-16-17)
• 1920s: 5 for Drumcullen (1924-25-27-28-29)
• 1930s: 5 for Tullamore (1932-34-35-36-37)
• 1940s: 5 for Birr (1940-43-44-46-48)
• 1950s: 6 for Drumcullen (1950-51-52-54-57-58)
• 1960s: 4 for St Rynagh's (1965-66-68-69)
• 1970s: 6 for St Rynagh's (1970-72-73-74-75-76)
• 1980s: 3 each for St Rynagh's (1981-82-87) and Kinnitty (1983-84-85)
• 1990s: 4 for Birr (1991-94-97-99)
• 2000s: 8 for Birr (2000-01-02-03-05-06-07-08)
• 2010s: 4 for Kilcormac–Killoughey (2012-13-14-17) 4 for Coolderry (2010-11-15-18)

Gaps

Top ten longest gaps between successive championship titles:

• 45 years: Tullamore (1964–2009)
• 44 years: Kinnitty (1923–1967)
• 23 years: Tullamore (1909–1932)
• 23 years: Birr (1915–1938)
• 23 years: Birr (1948–1971)
• 23 years: St Rynagh's (1993–2016)
• 20 years: Birr (1971–1991)
• 18 years: Tullamore (1937–1955)
• 18 years: Coolderry (1986–2004)
• 14 years: Coolderry (1963–1977)

Top scorers

By year

Year	Top scorer	Team	Score	Total
2008	Shane Dooley	Tullamore	5-32	47
2009	Joe Bergin	Seir Kieran	5-63	78
2010	Shane Dooley	Tullamore	7-61	82
2011	Damien Murray	Coolderry	2-40	46
2012	Ciarán Slevin	Kilcormac–Killoughey	2-55	61
2013	Ciarán Slevin	Kilcormac–Killoughey	1-75	78
2014	Brian Carroll	Coolderry	4-63	75
2015	Damien Murray	Coolderry	4-63	75
2016	Colm Coughlan	Kinnitty	1-68	71
2017	Joe Bergin	Seir Kieran	7-54	75
2018	Aidan Treacy	St Rynagh's	1-82	85
2019	Eoghan Cahill	Birr	2-83	89

See also

• Offaly Senior B Hurling Championship
• Offaly Intermediate Hurling Championship
• Offaly Junior A Hurling Championship

References

1. "Winning captains honoured at Offaly decider". Hogan Stand. 15 October 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
2. "Connolly goal puts icing on cake for Coolderry". Irish Independent . 17 October 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
3. "Glory for Kilcormac/Killoughey". Irish Examiner . 8 October 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
4. "Kilcormac-Killoughey retain Offaly senior hurling crown". The Score. 6 October 2013. Archived from the original on 9 October 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
5. "Currams leads charge for three-in-a-row Offaly champs". Irish Independent . 20 October 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
6. "Brady's late strike revives Coolderry". Irish Independent . 19 October 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
7. "St Rynagh's withstand Birr charge". Irish Examiner . 24 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
8. "Offaly SHC final: Kilcormac-Killoughey reign supreme". Hogan Stand . 1 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
9. "Shinrone make history with first Offaly SHC title". Hogan Stand . 2 October 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
10. "Emphatic Kilcormac-Killoughey return to Offaly hurling summit". Hogan Stand . 15 October 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.

External links

• Official Offaly Website
• Offaly on Hoganstand
• Offaly Club GAA