The Munster Junior Club Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Munster GAA Hurling Junior Club Championship) is an annual

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 ...

competition organised by the Munster Council 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 ...

and contested by the five champion junior clubs and one champion intermediate club in the province of

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 ...

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 ...

. It is the most prestigious competition for junior clubs in Munster hurling. The Munster Junior Club Championship was introduced in 2001. In its current format, the championship begins in late October or early November and is usually played over a four-week period. The six participating club teams compete in a straight knockout competition that culminates with the Munster final for the two remaining teams. The winner of the Munster Junior Championship, as well as being presented with the Rody Nealon Cup, qualifies for the subsequent All-Ireland Club Championship. The competition has been won by 21 teams, however, only two teams has ever won the championship on more than one occasion.

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 * ...

clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories with 17 wins. Russell Rovers are the title holders, defeating

Kilrossanty Kilrossanty () is a small village and civil parish in County Waterford, Ireland. It lies between the Comeragh Mountains and the R676 road between Dungarvan and Carrick-on-Suir, close to the Mahon Falls. It is north of Dungarvan, and west of ...

by 3–12 to 1–07 in the 2024 final.

Format

Overview

The Munster Championship is a

single elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. Each team is afforded only one defeat before being eliminated from the championship. Pairings for matches are drawn at random and there is no

seeding The term seeding and related terms such as seeded are used in several different contexts: *Sowing, planting seeds in a place or on an object *Cloud seeding, manipulating cloud formations *Seeding (computing), a concept in computing and peer-to-pee ...

. Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is a period of

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

, however, if both sides are still level at the end of extra time a replay takes place and so on until a winner is found.

Competition format

Quarter-final: Four teams contest this round. The two winning teams advances directly to the semi-final stage. The two losing teams are eliminated from the championship. Semi-finals: Four teams contest this round. The two winning teams advance directly to the final. The two losing teams are eliminated from the championship. Final: The final is contested by the two semi-final winners.

Teams

Qualification

2024 teams

TBD clubs will compete in the 2024 Munster Junior Club Hurling Championship: TBD teams from

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

, twelve teams from

, seven teams from Kerry, TBD teams from

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 ...

, twenty six teams from Tipperary and fourteen teams from

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

. Note: Bold indicates county representatives.

Trophy and medals

At the end of the Munster final, the winning team is presented with a trophy. The Rody Nealon Cup is held by the winning team until the following year's final. Traditionally, the presentation is made at a special rostrum in the stand where GAA and other dignitaries and special guests view the match. The cup is decorated with ribbons in the colours of the winning team. During the game the cup actually has both teams' sets of ribbons attached and the runners-up ribbons are removed before the presentation. The winning captain accepts the cup on behalf of his team before giving a short speech. Individual members of the winning team then have an opportunity to come to the rostrum to lift the cup. The cup is named after Rody Nealon. He was an

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

medal winner with Tipperary in 1925 before later serving as chairman and secretary of the Burgess club at different times, while he was also a member of the Tipperary County Board and the Munster Council. In accordance with GAA rules, the Munster Council awards a set of 24 gold medals to the winners of the Munster final.

Sponsorship

Since 2001, the Munster Championship has been sponsored. The sponsor has usually been able to determine the championship's sponsorship name.

List of Finals

List of Munster JHC finals

Roll of Honour

By club

By county

Records and statistics

County representatives

Biggest wins

The most one sided Munster finals: * 24 points – 2010:

Meelin Meelin () is a village in northern County Cork, barony of Duhallow, Ireland. The village is near the border with County Limerick and County Kerry. Meelin is within the Cork North-West (Dáil constituency). At above sea level, Meelin is the hi ...

5-18 (33) – (9) 0-09 St. Patrick's * 18 points – 2006:

Kilworth Kilworth () is a village in north County Cork, Ireland, located about north of Fermoy near the River Funshion. The M8 Cork–Dublin motorway passes nearby. Kilworth has an army camp, located on the R639 regional road between Mitchelstown an ...

4-16 (28) – (10) 1-07 Knockshegowna * 13 points – 2014: Modeligo 5-12 (27) – (14) 0-14

Castlemartyr Castlemartyr (, formerly anglicised as ''Ballymarter'' or ''Ballymartyr'') is a large village in County Cork, Ireland. It is around east of Cork city Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Irel ...

* 12 points – 2017:

Dungourney Dungourney () is a village in County Cork, Ireland on the R627 regional road northeast of Midleton. The river Dungourney flows through the village. St. Peter's National School is located in the centre. There is a church in the west of the vi ...

1-17 (20) – (8) 0-08

Fenor Fenor, officially Fennor (), is a village in County Waterford, Ireland. The village itself is quite small, consisting almost entirely of the local school, pub, and parish church. It is on the R675 road around west of Tramore. History Stone ...

* 11 points – 2008:

Dripsey Dripsey () is a village in County Cork, Ireland, on the R618 regional road around west of Cork City. It is situated on a tributary of the River Lee, the Dripsey River. It is in the Catholic parish of Inniscarra. The Dripsey area hosts a water ...

2-11 (17) – (6) 1-03

Kilgarvan Kilgarvan () is a small village in County Kerry, Ireland. It is situated on the banks of the Roughty River which flows into Kenmare Bay. The nearest town is Kenmare which is 11 km to the west along the R569 road. Killarney is 18 km ...

Top scorers

All time

By year

Single game

Finals

References

{{All-Ireland Junior Club Hurling Championship 3 All-Ireland Junior Club Hurling Championship 2001 establishments in Ireland Recurring sporting events established in 2001