The Kerry county hurling team represents Kerry in

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

and is governed by

Kerry GAA The Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), or Kerry GAA, is one of the 32 County board (Gaelic games), county boards of the GAA in Ireland. It is responsible for Gaelic games in County Kerry, and for the Kerry county teams. ...

, the

county board A county board is a common form of county legislature, particular of counties in the United States. Related forms of county government include: * Board of Supervisors — a form of county legislature in some U.S. states * County commission, ...

of the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

. The team competed in the Joe McDonagh Cup since the competition's inception but was relegated to the (3rd tier) Christy Ring Cup in May 2025. They also compete in the

National Hurling League The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...

. Kerry's home ground is Austin Stack Park,

Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...

. The team's manager is John Griffin. The team last won the Munster Senior Championship in 1891, the All-Ireland Senior Championship in 1891 and has never won the National League.

History

For many years the senior team played in the Junior and Intermediate Championships and had some success. They won All-Ireland titles at Junior level in 1961 and 1972, and won a Munster Championship at junior level in 1956. At Intermediate level they won Munster titles in 1970 and 1973. Kerry have played in just one Munster Minor Hurling Championship Final, in 1938, when they lost to a Cork team that included the great Christy Ring. They have, however, won and played in a number of All-Ireland B Finals. In 2003, team made it to the fourth round of the qualifiers only to go down to

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

1–14 to 0–24 in Austin Stack Park in Tralee. Along the way they beat

Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

and beaten

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

finalists

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

. The wins over Westmeath and Carlow represented the first time a Kerry team strung two consecutive Championship victories together. It also marked the first occasion that the Kerry hurling team played more championship games then the Kerry football team. Kerry have never won the

Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship The Munster GAA Hurling Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Munster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-c ...

, their most notable achievement in the championship came in 2004 when they ran

to three points at Austin Stack Park. They have, however, won and played in a number of All-Ireland U21 B Championship Finals. The advent of the multi-tier structure saw Kerry become more competitive. They first made the semi-finals of the (then 2nd tier) Christy Ring Cup in 2009 where they lost out to

after a replay. They went a step more in 2010 making the final but losing out to

. In 2011 they again made the final, but this time won the title with victory over

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the east of Ireland, south of Dublin. According to the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had ...

. From 2013 to 2015 they made the final each year, losing to Down in 2013 and

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...

in 2014 before finally getting over the line thanks to victory over

. Kerry won the Division 2A final of the 2015 National Hurling League and advanced to the relegation/promotion match with favourites Antrim, a late point by substitute John Egan saw Kerry advance to Division 1B. In 2016, Kerry played in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship round robin along with

and Offaly. During the 2018 Munster Senior Hurling League Kerry recorded their first ever senior victory over Cork beating them 1–23 to 1–13 at Austin Stack Park. On 8 January 2022 Kerry recorded their first victory over Tipperary 0–17 to 0–14 in the Munster Hurling Cup quarter-final. At the time, it was deemed Kerry's greatest hurling success in Austin Stack Park since they beat All-Ireland champions Clare by 3–7 to 1–8 in the opening round of 1995–96 NHL.

Panel

^INJ Player has had an injury which has affected recent involvement with the county team.
^RET Player has since retired from the county team.
^WD Player has since withdrawn from the county team due to a non-injury issue.

Management team

:''Appointed in August 2024', with one addition noted.'' *

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

: John Griffin * Selectors: Aidan Healy, Seán Maunsell * Lead physio: Donnchadh Walsh ''(from April 2021)''

Managerial history

* Éamonn Kelly: –15 * Ciarán Carey: 2015–16 * Fintan O'Connor: 2016–21 * Stephen Molumphy: 2021–24 * John Griffin: 2024–present

Players

Notable players

Honours

National

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship, known simply as the All-Ireland Championship, is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest-tier competition for ...

** Winners (1): 1891 * All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship ** Winners (3):

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

, 1986 * Joe McDonagh Cup ** Runners-up (3):

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

* Christy Ring Cup ** Winners (2):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

** Runners-up (3):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship ** Winners (2): 1961, 1972 ** Runners-up (2): 1968, 1969 * National Hurling League Division 2 ** Winners (7): 1956–57, 1961–62, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1978–79,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

* National Hurling League Division 2A ** Winners (2):

* National Hurling League Division 3 ** Winners (1): 1989–90 * National Hurling League Division 3A ** Winners (1):

* All-Ireland Under-21 B Hurling Championship ** Winners (10): 1998, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2018 * All Ireland Minor B Hurling Championship ** Winners (10): 1997, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

Provincial

Munster Senior Hurling Championship The Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship, is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster GAA, Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the h ...

** Winners (1): 1891 ** Runners-up (5): 1889, 1890, 1892, 1900, 1908 * Munster Intermediate Hurling Championship ** Winners (2): 1970, 1973 ** Runners-up (1): 1972 * Munster Junior Hurling Championship ** Winners (1): 1956 ** Runners-up (2): 1959, 1960 *Leinster Minor B Hurling Championship ** Winners (2): 1987, 1988

References

External links

* {{GAA National Leagues County hurling teams