The Limerick County Board 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 ...

(GAA) () or Limerick GAA is one of the 32

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, ...

s of the GAA in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, and is responsible for

Gaelic games Gaelic games () are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the most popular of the s ...

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

. The county board is also responsible for the Limerick county teams. The county hurling team have the fourth highest total of

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 ...

(SHC) titles, behind

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

and Tipperary. The county football team was the first from the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

both to win an

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

(SFC), as well as to appear in the final. As of 2009, there were 108 clubs affiliated to Limerick GAA — the third highest, alongside Antrim.

Hurling

Clubs

Clubs contest the following competitions: *

Limerick Senior Hurling Championship The Limerick Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Bon Secours Hospital County Senior Hurling Championship and abbreviated to the Limerick SHC) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Limerick County Board ...

Limerick Intermediate Hurling Championship The Limerick Intermediate Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Limerick County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association for the third tier hurling teams in County Limerick, Ireland. The series of games are play ...

Limerick Junior Hurling Championship The Limerick Junior A Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Woodlands House Hotel County Junior A Hurling Championship and abbreviated to the Limerick JAHC) is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition organised by ...

* Limerick Minor Hurling Championship * Limerick Under-21 Hurling Championship The senior competition's most successful club is

Patrickswell Patrickswell, historically known as Toberpatrick (), is a small town in County Limerick, Ireland. It is primarily a commuter village for people working in Limerick, including the nearby industrial suburb of Raheen. The population was 848 at th ...

, with 20 titles. Ahane has 19 titles.

County team

Limerick's first outright success in hurling was achieved when the Kilfinane club defeated

Kilkenny GAA The Kilkenny County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (Kilkenny GAA) () is one of the 32 County board (Gaelic games), county boards of the GAA in Ireland and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Kilkenny. The county board has its hea ...

club

Tullaroan Tullaroan () is a village in the western part of County Kilkenny in the Slieveardagh Hills near the Tipperary border. Tullaroan is also the name of the local civil parish. Sport Tullaroan GAA are the most successful Gaelic Athletic Association ...

in the final of the

1897 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 1897 was the 11th series of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, Ireland's premier hurling knock-out competition. Limerick won the championship, beating Kilkenny 3-4 to 2-4 in the final. Form ...

(SHC). At that time, counties were represented by champion clubs. Limerick won the 1918 All-Ireland SHC, then repeated the feat in the 1921 All-Ireland SHC when the team won the inaugural

Liam MacCarthy Cup The Liam MacCarthy Cup () is a trophy awarded annually by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to the team that wins the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Based on the design of a medieval drinking vessel, the trophy was first awarded i ...

. The team that achieved those wins featured many players who contested eight consecutive

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 ...

(SHC) finals (1917–1924 inclusive), a record that has never been equalled. The team won five consecutive

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 ...

(NHL) titles during the 1930s, a record still unequalled. Those titles were won in 1933–34, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1936–37 and 1937–38. Limerick also won four consecutive Munster SHC titles, and remains the only team other than

to have done so. After winning All-Ireland SHC titles in 1934 and in 1936, another All-Ireland SHC title followed in 1940. The team from this era did much to raise the profile of the sport: whereas around 30,000 people attended the 1930 All-Ireland SHC Final, attendances had risen to 50,000 by the 1940 final and players such as the Mackeys (

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

and

Mick Mick is a masculine given name or nickname, usually a hypocorism of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in the English-speaking world as an ethnic slur for Irish people. In Australia, the meaning also broadened to incl ...

), Ryans (

Timmy Timmy is a masculine name, a short form of Timothy (given name), Timothy or Tim (given name), Tim. This variation is popular as a nickname and is commonly used when someone is young, but it is also used in adulthood. It is a version of the Greek ...

and

), Clohesseys (

Dave Dave may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the 1993 film * ''Dave'' (TV series), a 2020 American comedy series * ...

and

Paddy Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *A nickname or slur for an Irish person Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird species *Black ...

Bob McConkey Robert McConkey (11 January 1895 – 5 January 1961) was an Irish hurler. His championship career at the senior level with the Limerick county team spanned sixteen years from 1918 until 1934. McConkey first played competitive hurling with t ...

and Paddy Scanlon were recalled for decades afterwards. Victory in 1940 left Limerick with six All-Ireland SHC titles and as the only team from outside the "big three" (Cork, Tipperary and

) to have won more than one All-Ireland SHC title.

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

had at that stage also six All-Ireland SHC titles but no native of that county had played on any of its winning teams. Limerick won a sixth NHL title in 1946–47 but success soon became a rarity. Limerick won the 1970–71 NHL title and soon followed this by winning the 1973 All-Ireland SHC, its seventh title. Four further NHL titles followed that century: 1983–84, 1984–85, 1991–92 and, lastly,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. The 2018 season concluded with Limerick winning the 2018 All-Ireland SHC, the team's first since 1973, with a 3–16 to 2–18 point defeat of Galway in the final. The team built on this success, winning the NHL in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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 ...

and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, the Munster SHC in

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 ...

and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

and the All-Ireland SHC again in

and

Football

Clubs

Clubs contest the

Limerick Senior Football Championship The Limerick Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top Limerick GAA clubs. The champions qualify to represent Limerick in the Munster Senior Club Football Championship, the winners of which progre ...

. That competition's most successful club is Claughaun with 14 titles.

County team

1887 Limerick football team, All-Ireland champions Limerick won the first

in 1887 and repeated this success in 1896, when it became the first non-

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

team to beat the then all-conquering

in a championship match. Limerick currently play in Division 2 of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

. Between 1953 and 1964, Limerick did not play in the Munster Football Championship.

Camogie

Limerick contested the

All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship The All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship is a competition for inter-county teams in the women's field sport of game of camogie played in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Camogie Association and are played during the summer mo ...

final of 1980, losing to Cork in a replay. They first contested Munster championship in 1922-4, but the game struggled and had to undergo further revivals in 1932, 1947 and 1960, when Chris O'Connell, Carrie Gillane and Eithne Neville re-established it. This culminated in the county team's appearance in the

All-Ireland Junior Camogie Championship The All-Ireland Junior Camogie Championship is a competition for third-tier county teams in the women's field sport of camogie and for second-string teams of first-tier counties. In accordance with the practice in GAA competitions the term juni ...

of 1977 and Limerick's appearance in the

final of 1980, where they lost to Cork in a replay. Three Limerick clubs have won the

All-Ireland Senior Club Camogie Championship The All-Ireland Club Camogie Championship is a competition for club teams in the Irish women’s field sport of camogie. It is contested by the senior club champions of the leading counties and organised by An Cumann Camógaíochta. Trophy The t ...

, Granagh-Ballingarry (3), Ballyagran (1978) and Croagh Kilfinny(1975). Notable players include All Star award winners Rose Collins, Eileen O'Brien and Vera Sheehan,

young player of the year Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one's age is low, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an America ...

for 2007

Niamh Mulcahy Niamh Mulcahy is a camogie player, winner of the Camogie All Stars Awards#Young Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year award in 2007. She was player of the match when Limerick won the All Ireland Senior B championship in 2007 on a team man ...

. and Vera Mackey, Agnes Hourigan from Ballingarry and Eithne Neville from Kilfinny who won

medals with Dublin in 1938 and 1957 respectively. Chris O'Connell and Agnes Hourigan served as

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

Camogie Association The Camogie Association (, formerly ) organises and promotes the sport of camogie in Ireland and around the world. The association has close ties with the Gaelic Athletic Association, but is still a separate organisation. History The Camogie A ...

. Under Camogie's National Development Plan 2010-2015, "Our Game, Our Passion", five new camogie clubs were to be established in the county by 2015. Limerick have the following achievements in camogie. *

Runners-Up 1980 *

All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship The All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship is a competition in the women's field sport of camogie for second-tier county teams and for second-string teams of first-tier counties. If the winning team comes from a second-tier county, that co ...

Winners 1996, 2007, 2014 Runners-Up 2000, 2002, 2013 *

Winners 1977, 1995 Runners-Up 1988, 1994, Junior A Winners 2014 *

National Camogie League The National Camogie League, known for sponsorship reasons as the Very Camogie Leagues, is a competition in the Irish team sport of camogie, played exclusively by women. The competition is held in three divisions graded by ability. It was first ...

Runners-Up 1978, 1979, 2002 *

Div 2/Junior Winners 1991, 1992, 1996, 2007, 2013, Div 4 Winners 2014 *

All-Ireland Minor Camogie Championship The All-Ireland Minor Camogie Championship is a competition for under-18 teams in the women's field sport of camogie. Counties compete for the Síghle Nic an Ultaigh Cup. There are graded competitions at Minor B and Minor C level. History The ...

A Winners 2014, B Winners 2009, 2011 * All Ireland under-16 B Winners 2001, 2002, 2011

Ladies' football

Limerick Ladies Gaelic Football – A Complete Overview ⸻ All-Ireland Championship Success Limerick has enjoyed its greatest success at Junior level in the All-Ireland Ladies Football Championships: • 2010 – All-Ireland Junior Champions Limerick defeated Louth in a high-scoring final. Marie Curtin was the standout, scoring 2-5 and earning Player of the Match. • 2018 – All-Ireland Junior Champions Limerick claimed a decisive 5-06 to 0-08 victory over Louth in the final at Croke Park. • Runner-up finishes: • 2009 – Lost to Antrim • 2023 – Lost to Down ⸻ National League Success Limerick’s progression in the Lidl Ladies National Football League reflects their continued development: • 2016 – Division 4 Champions, gaining promotion. • 2024 – Division 4 Finalists, narrowly lost to Carlow but secured promotion to Division 3 for the 2025 season. ⸻ Historical Context Ladies football began taking hold in Limerick during the 1970s, with clubs like Ballyagran and Mungret pioneering the movement. Despite early struggles with player numbers and resources, momentum built in the 1990s with the formation of a development committee focused on school and youth engagement. Today, Limerick boasts a strong and growing player base across the county. ⸻ Notable Players – Past and Present From the 2010 All-Ireland Team: • Marie Curtin (Mungret St. Paul’s) – Dual star in soccer and GAA; Player of the Match in 2010 with 2-5 in the final. Earned 55 caps for the Republic of Ireland in soccer. ⸻ From the 2018 All-Ireland Junior Winning Team: Limerick’s 2018 All-Ireland triumph was marked by grit, energy, and standout individual performances. Key players included: • Cathy Mee (Ballylanders) – Energetic midfielder who led by example throughout the campaign. • Kristine Reidy (Feohanagh-Castlemahon) – Corner back, known for her sharp marking and defensive reading of the game. • Rebecca Delee (Feohanagh-Castlemahon) – A physically dominant half-forward with great distribution. • Catríona Davis (Monagea) – Sharp-shooting forward with accuracy from play and frees. • Loretta Hanley (Feohanagh-Castlemahon) – Midfield, a physical presence and key ball-winner. • Martina Giltenane (Mungret St. Paul’s) – Calm and reliable goalkeeper. • Mairéad Kavanagh (St. Ailbe’s) – Intelligent and crafty forward option. • Áine McGrath (Ballylanders) – Tenacious defender in the half-back line. • Also featuring: Megan O’Shea, Niamh Ryan, and Cliona Ní Cheallaigh, who all played key roles in the team’s depth and success. ⸻ Other Notable Limerick Players – Past & Present: • Róisín Ambrose (Old Mill) – A midfield powerhouse in recent years and captain of the senior team. Named to the TG4 Junior Team of the Year in 2023. • Grace and Yvonne Lee (Monagea) – Tough, consistent defenders, also named to the 2023 Junior Team of the Year. • Aoibheann Clancy (Galtee Gaels) – Former underage GAA player who chose soccer, now starring for the Republic of Ireland. • Yvonne Tracy – Started in Limerick GAA before a stellar soccer career with Arsenal and Ireland. ⸻ Current Outlook (2025 Season) As of 2025, Limerick competes in Division 3 of the Lidl National League, continuing to rebuild and develop. With strong underage structures and club talent pushing through, the team looks set for further competitive growth. The county’s mix of experience and emerging stars provides hope for a return to All-Ireland finals in the coming years.

References

External links

*
Limerick
on Hoganstand.com
National and provincial titles won by Limerick teams

Fr. Casey's GAA Club, Abbeyfeale

Milford GAA Club, Castletroy, Limerick

Mountcollins Gaa Club
{{GAA bodies Gaelic games governing bodies in Munster