2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final

2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final

Event	2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
Waterford Limerick 0-19 0-30
Date	13 December 2020
Venue	Croke Park, Dublin
Man of the Match	Gearóid Hegarty [1]
Referee	Fergal Horgan
Attendance	0
Weather	Dry
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The 2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final, the 133rd event of its kind and the culmination of the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, was played at Croke Park in Dublin on 13 December 2020. ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}

The match was televised live on RTÉ2 as part of The Sunday Game , presented by Joanne Cantwell from the outside studio at Croke Park, with analysis by Anthony Daly, Donal Óg Cusack and Henry Shefflin. Commentary on the game was provided by Marty Morrissey alongside Michael Duignan. The match was also live on Sky Sports, with analysis from Jamesie O'Connor and Ollie Canning. ^[6]

Limerick won the game by 0-30 to 0-19 to claim their second All-Ireland title in three years. ^{[7] [8] [9]}

Background

• The championship was delayed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games. This was the latest the final had taken place in a year since 1924, when the All-Ireland hurling final took place on 14 December. ^[10]
• Waterford had not won the All-Ireland since 1959 (61 years) and had only appeared in three finals in the interim (1963, 2008 and 2017). ^[11]
• This was the third final in the previous four years not to involve one of the Big Three (Cork, Kilkenny, Tipperary) — the 2017 (Galway—Waterford) and 2018 (Limerick—Galway) finals also did not involve them.
• This was the third final in which both the teams were from the province of Munster, with the first two being in 1997 (Clare—Tipperary) and 2013 (Clare—Cork).
• This was only the third All-Ireland final in history in which neither team scored a goal, the first two being in 1999 and 2004.

Paths to the final

Waterford

Cork v Waterford

31 October 2020Munster Semi-Final	Cork	1-24 (27)–(31) 1-28	Waterford	Thurles
15:30				Venue: Semple Stadium
	Gls: P Horgan 1 (f). Pts: P Horgan 8 (3f); S Kingston 4; S Harnedy 2; M Coleman 2 (1 sideline), B Cooper 2, C Lehane 2; C Joyce 1, D Dalton 1, A Cadogan 1.	Report	Gls: C Lyons 1. Pts: S Bennett 12 (12f); A Gleeson 3, D Hutchinson 3, J Barron 3; C Lyons 2; S McNulty 1, K Moran 1, K Bennett 1, J Prendergast 1, P Curran 1.	TV: Sky Sports

Limerick v Waterford

15 November 2020 Munster Final	Limerick	0-25 (25)–(21) 0-21	Waterford	Thurles
16:00				Venue: Semple Stadium
	Pts: A Gillane 10 (8f); G Mulcahy 4; P Casey 3; D Byrnes 2 (1 65), C Lynch 2, G Hegarty 2; S Flanagan 1, A Breen 1.	Report	Pts: Stephen Bennett 12 (8f, 1 65); A Gleeson 3; J Dillon 2; D Hutchinson 1, K Bennett 1, J Prendergast 1, P Curran 1.	Referee: C Lyons (Cork)

Waterford v Clare

21 November 2020All-Ireland Quarter-Final	Waterford	3-27 (36)–(27) 3-18	Clare	Cork
				Venue: Páirc Uí Chaoimh
	Gls: D Hutchinson 2, J Fagan 1. Pts: S Bennett 10 (7f); K Bennett 3; D Hutchinson 2, A Gleeson 2, C Gleeson 2, J Barron 2, N Montgomery 1, C Lyons 1, P Curran 1, T de Burca 1, D Lyons 1, J Fagan 1.	Report	Gls: A Shanagher 2, A McCarthy 1. Pts: T Kelly 8 (6f); C Malone 4; S O’Donnell 2; A Shanagher 1, D Reidy 1, R Taylor 1, D McInerney 1 (sideline).	Referee: P O'Dwyer (Carlow) TV: Sky Sports Mix

Kilkenny v Waterford

28 November 2020All-Ireland Semi-Final	Kilkenny	2-23 (29)–(33) 2-27	Waterford	Dublin
				Venue: Croke Park
	Gls: TJ Reid 1, M Keoghan 1. Pts: TJ Reid 14 (12fs); E Cody 2, R Hogan 2, J Donnelly 2; C Buckley 1, P Deegan 1, M Keoghan 1.	Report	Gls: S Bennett 1, D Lyons 1. Pts: S Bennett 10 (6fs), A Gleeson 4; C Lyons 2, J Prendergast 2, D Hutchinson 2, N Montgomery 2; S McNulty 1, J Barron 1, J Fagan 1, I Daly 1, T de Búrca 1.	Referee: F Horgan (Tipperary)

Limerick

Limerick v Clare

25 October 2020Munster Quarter-Final	Limerick	0-36 (36)–(26) 1-23	Clare	Thurles
15:45 GMT (UTC±0)				Venue: Semple Stadium
	Pts: A Gillane 12 (9f, 1 65); G Hegarty 5; T Morrissey 4; P Casey 3, K Hayes 3, D Byrnes 3; G Mulcahy 2; C Lynch 1, D Hannon 1, S Flanagan 1, P Ryan 1.	Report	Gls: R Taylor 1. Pts: T Kelly 17 (9f); D Ryan 2, C Malone 2; S O’Halloran 1, R Taylor 1.	Referee: F Horgan (Tipperary) TV: RTÉ 2

Tipperary v Limerick

1 November 2020Munster Semi-Final	Tipperary	2-17 (23)–(32) 3-23	Limerick	Cork
16:00				Venue: Pairc Ui Chaoimh
	Gls: J Morris 1, J McGrath 1. Pts: J Forde 10 (10f); N McGrath 2; J Morris 1; B Maher 1; N O'Meara 1; M Breen 1; A Flynn 1.		Gls: A Gillane 2 (1 pen); S Flanagan 1. Pts: A Gillane 6 (5f); D Byrnes 3 (2f); T Morrissey 2; G Hegarty 2; W O'Donoghue 2; C Lynch 2; G Mulcahy 2; S Flanagan 1; P Casey 1; D Reidy 1; P Ryan 1.	TV: RTÉ 2

Limerick v Waterford

15 November 2020 Munster Final	Limerick	0-25 (25)–(21) 0-21	Waterford	Thurles
16:00				Venue: Semple Stadium
	Pts: A Gillane 10 (8f); G Mulcahy 4; P Casey 3; D Byrnes 2 (1 65), C Lynch 2, G Hegarty 2; S Flanagan 1, A Breen 1.	Report	Pts: Stephen Bennett 12 (8f, 1 65); A Gleeson 3; J Dillon 2; D Hutchinson 1, K Bennett 1, J Prendergast 1, P Curran 1.	Referee: C Lyons (Cork)

Limerick v Galway

29 November 2020All-Ireland Semi-Final	Limerick	0-27 (27)–(24) 0-24	Galway	Dublin
				Venue: Croke Park

Pre-match

The 2020 Joe McDonagh Cup Final between Kerry and Antrim took place prior to the All-Ireland senior final. ^{[12] [13]}

On 4 December 2020, the officials were chosen for the final by the GAA, with Tipperary's Fergal Horgan being named as the referee in what would be his second senior final after being the referee in 2017. Colm Lyons from Cork was named as standby referee, with the other linesman being Paud O'Dwyer from Carlow and the sideline official Seán Cleere from Kilkenny. ^[14]

Jubilee team

The Clare team that won the 1995 All-Ireland Final were remembered before the match to mark 25 years. There was no traditional walk out and parade due to COVID-19 restrictions but the Clare captain of 1995 Anthony Daly was present to place the Liam MacCarthy Cup in front of the Hogan Stand before the match. ^[15]

Match details

Waterford v Limerick

RTÉ, Sky Sports

13 December 2020 15:30 All-Ireland Final

Report

Waterford	0-19 – 0-30	Limerick
(HT: 0-11 - 0-14)
Pts: S Bennett 10 (9fs); A Gleeson 5 (1 sideline, 1f); K Bennett 1, D Hutchinson 1, K Moran 1, C Lyons 1.		Pts: A Gillane 10 (6fs); G Hegarty 7; T Morrissey 5; S Flanagan 3; W O’Donoghue 1, D Hannon 1, K Hayes 1, P Ryan 1, D Byrnes 1.

Croke Park , Dublin Referee: F Horgan (Tipperary) Attendance: 0

Waterford

Limerick

WATERFORD: 1 Stephen O'Keeffe 2 Ian Kenny 3 Conor Prunty 4 Shane McNulty 5 Calum Lyons 6 Tadhg de Búrca 7 Kevin Moran 8 Jamie Barron 9 Kieran Bennett 10 Jack Fagan 11 Neil Montgomery 12 Stephen Bennett 13 Dessie Hutchinson 14 Austin Gleeson 15 Jack Prendergast Manager: Liam Cahill

LIMERICK: 1 Nicky Quaid 2 Seán Finn 3 Dan Morrissey 4 Barry Nash 5 Diarmaid Byrnes 6 Declan Hannon 7 Kyle Hayes 8 Darragh O'Donovan 9 William O'Donoghue 10 Gearóid Hegarty 11 Cian Lynch 12 Tom Morrissey 13 Aaron Gillane 14 Séamus Flanagan 15 Graeme Mulcahy Manager: John Kiely

Post-match

Financial Times columnist Simon Kuper wrote after Stephen O'Keeffe's performance that hurling was "the best sport ever and if the Irish had colonised the world, nobody would ever have heard of football". ^{[16] [17]}

References

1. "'The one thing that kept me going over the lockdown was, 'Imagine winning an All-Ireland at Christmas time'". The 42. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
2. "GAA confirms plans for this year's Inter-County Football and Hurling Championships". IrishCentral.com. 26 June 2020.
3. O'Toole, Fintan. "December All-Ireland final dates confirmed as GAA unveil 2020 championship plan". The42.
4. O'Riordan, Ian. "All-Ireland finals set for December 13th and 19th as GAA confirm 2020 schedule". The Irish Times.
5. Moran, Seán. "2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship key dates". The Irish Times.
6. "Limerick 0-30 Waterford 0-19: As it happened". The 42. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
7. "LIMERICK 0-30 WATERFORD 0-19". GAA.ie. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
8. "All-Ireland SHC final recap: Limerick 0-30 Waterford 0-19". RTE Sport. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
9. "LIVE All-Ireland hurling final: Limerick 0-30 Waterford 0-19 (FT)". Irish Times. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
10. McGough, Leo (30 June 2020). "Own points and unfinished matches: The story of hurling championship games in December". Irish Examiner.
11. "Cyril Farrell: Tried-and-trusted Waterford game-plan will rattle Galway". Irish Independent. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
12. "Antrim and Kerry hurlers may not watch All-Ireland final at Croke Park". Irish Examiner. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
13. "Antrim see off Kerry to secure McDonagh Cup success at Croke Park". Irish Examiner. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
14. "Fergal Horgan confirmed as All-Ireland Hurling final referee". Irish Examiner. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
15. "Anthony Daly to represent Clare jubilee team on All-Ireland day". GAA.iel. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
16. "GAA tweets of the week". Hogan Stand. 14 December 2020.
17. "Tweet by Simon Kuper".