The 2017 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 130th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1887. The championship began on 23 April 2017 and ended on 3 September 2017. The draw for the championship was held on 13 October 2016 and was broadcast live on RTÃÂ2.
Tipperary, the 2016 champions, were defeated by Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final. Meath fielded a team in the championship for the first time since 2004.
On 3 September 2017 Galway won the championship following a 0âÂÂ26 to 2âÂÂ17 defeat of Waterford in the All-Ireland final. This was their fifth All-Ireland title and their first in 29 championship seasons.
The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was a double-elimination tournament based on the Leinster and Munster provincial championships and the Christy Ring Cup. Fifteen teams took part.
The 2017 championship was the last to feature mostly knock-out Leinster and Munster championships. On 30 September 2017, the Special Congress held at Croke Park voted by 62% to restructure the Leinster and Munster championships as two provincial groups of five teams who competed on a round-robin basis.
Connacht Senior Hurling Championship
This competition is no longer organised. Galway represents Connacht and participates in the Leinster Championship. The other Connacht teams could compete in the 2017 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (tier 1) by gaining promotion through the tiers of hurling â the Christy Ring Cup (tier 2), the Nicky Rackard Cup (tier 3) and the Lory Meagher Cup (tier 4).
Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
Nine counties competed â seven from Leinster plus Galway and Kerry. 2016 Leinster champions received a bye in the semi-final. The championship began with a qualifier group involving the four weakest teams. The group winners and runners-up join four of the five strongest teams in the three Leinster quarter finals as the competition continued in a knock-out format. Two semi-finals and a final followed.
The 2016 Leinster champions received a bye into the semi finals. The remaining six teams (four seeded teams plus the qualifier group winners and runners-up) played in three quarter-finals. An informal system of promotion or relegation operated in this round; if a team from the qualifier group won their quarter-final, they were seeded in the 2017 Leinster championship and the beaten seeded team competed in the 2017 Leinster qualifier
In 2017 the bottom team in the Leinster qualifier group was relegated to the 2018 Christy Ring Cup (2nd tier). Their place in the 2018 Leinster qualifier group was taken by the winner of 2017's Christy Ring Cup.
Meath qualified for the 2017 Leinster Championship by winning the 2016 Christy Ring Cup.
Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Five of the six Munster counties competed. Kerry participated in The Leinster Hurling Championship (see above). The competition was a knock-out format. All of the beaten teams entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Ulster Senior Hurling Championship
Although this competition takes place, it is not part of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Currently no Ulster teams qualified to play in the 2017 Leinster championship which means that winning the Christy Ring cup is their only route into the 2017 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.
A total of nine teams enter the qualifiers â five of the seven teams eliminated in Leinster before the final (three losing quarter-finalists and two losing semi-finalists), all three teams knocked-out in Munster before the final and the winners of 2017's Christy Ring Cup.
The fixtures are decided by draws which are detailed in the sections below. All qualifier matches are knock-out and eventually result in two teams who progress to the two All-Ireland quarter-finals.
The GAA congress held in February 2017 voted to allow the winners of the 2017 Christy Ring cup to enter the 2017 qualifiers in a new preliminary round. The Christy Ring cup winners played the losers of one of the three Leinster quarter finals.
After the qualifiers preliminary round, the eight remaining qualifier teams played in four matches. A draw was made such that the three Munster teams were paired with three teams beaten in the Leinster championship. Teams who had already met in the Leinster championship could not be drawn to meet again if such a pairing could be avoided. The draw was made on the morning of the 26 June.
The four winners of round 1 played in two matches. Teams who had already met in the Leinster or Munster championships could not be drawn to meet again if such a pairing could be avoided.
The beaten finalists in the Leinster and Munster championships played the two winning teams from round two of the qualifiers in the two All-Ireland quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, the Leinster and Munster champions played the winners of the two quarter finals. The final normally takes place on the first Sunday in September.
Promoted from the Christy Ring Cup
Relegated to the Christy Ring Cup
Note: 2017 Christy Ring Cup winners (Carlow) entered All-Ireland qualifiers.
Fifteen counties competed in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship: nine teams in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, five teams in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship and one team in the Christy Ring Cup.
Leinster Quarter-finals
The 2016 Leinster champions received a bye into the semi-finals. They were joined by the winners of the three quarter-finals.
Widest winning margin: 24 points
Most goals in a match: 7
Most points in a match: 53
Most goals by one team in a match: 6
Highest aggregate score: 66
Lowest aggregate score: 37
Most goals scored by a losing team: 3
Matches will be broadcast live on television in Ireland on RTÃÂ and Sky Sports under a new five-year contract that was agreed in December 2016. In the United Kingdom, matches will be shown on Sky Sports and worldwide coverage will be provided on GAAGO. RTÃÂ Radio 1 will also have full radio rights to all championship games which were previously shared with Newstalk.
RTÃÂ coverage will be shown on RTÃÂ One on The Sunday Game Live presented by Michael Lyster in high definition. Des Cahill will present The Sunday Game highlights and analysis show on Sunday evening.
RTÃÂ, the national broadcaster in Ireland, will provide the majority of the live television coverage of the championship in the first year of a five-year deal running from 2017 until 2021. Sky Sports will also broadcast a number of matches and will have exclusive rights to some games.
The Sunday Game team of the year was picked on 3 September, which was the night of the final. The panel consisting of Brendan Cummins, Michael Duignan, Tomás Mulcahy, Jackie Tyrrell, Anthony Daly, Eddie Brennan and Cyril Farrell unanimously selected Galway's Gearóid McInerney as the Sunday game player of the year.
On 2 November, the 2017 PwC All-Stars winners were announced. On 3 November 2017 at the presentation of the All-Star awards, Joe Canning was named as the All Stars Hurler of the Year with Conor Whelan named the All Stars Young Hurler of the Year.