Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship

Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship
Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship
Current season or competition:; 2019 Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship
Irish	Craobh Iomána Uladh
Code	Hurling
Founded	1970; 52 years ago
Region	Ulster (GAA)
Trophy	Four Seasons Cup
No. of teams	4
Title holders	Slaughtneil (4th title)
Most titles	Ruairí Óg, Cushendall (11 titles)
Sponsors	Allied Irish Banks
TV partner(s)	TG4
Motto	The toughest of them all
Official website	Ulster GAA

The Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Ulster GAA Hurling Senior Club Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association and contested by the champion hurling teams in the province of Ulster in Ireland. It is the most prestigious club competition in Ulster hurling.

Introduced in 1970, it was initially a straight knockout tournament open to the nine county club champion teams in Ulster. The competition currently retains the knockout format but features just four teams who represent the strongest hurling counties in Ulster.

In its current format, the Ulster Club Championship begins in October with the semi-finals. Entrants are not seeded. The two semi-final winners proceed to the final which is currently played in late October or early November. The winner of the Ulster Club Championship, as well as being presented with the Four Seasons Cup, qualifies for the subsequent All-Ireland Club Championship.

The competition has been won by 10 teams, 8 of which have won it more than once. Ruairí Óg, Cushendall is the most successful team in the tournament's history, having won it 11 times. Slaughtneil are the reigning champions, having beaten Dunloy by 1-15 to 0-10 in the 2019 final.^[1]

The championship[]

Qualification[]

County	Championship	Qualifying team
Antrim	Antrim Senior Hurling Championship	Champions
Armagh	Antrim Senior Hurling Championship	Champions
Derry	Derry Senior Hurling Championship	Champions
Down	Down Senior Hurling Championship	Champions

Finals by year[]

The winners are listed in bold if they also won the All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship.

Year	Winner	Score	County	Opponent	Score	County
2021	Slaughtneil	1-14	Derry	Ballycran	0-10	Down
2020	Cancelled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games
2019	Slaughtneil	1-15	Derry	Dunloy	0-10	Antrim
2018	Cushendall	1-15	Antrim	Ballycran	0-10	Down
2017^[2]	Slaughtneil	2-21	Derry	Ballygalget	1-12	Down
2016^[3]	Slaughtneil	2-14	Derry	Loughgiel Shamrocks	1-13	Antrim
2015	Cushendall	1-24 (aet)	Antrim	Slaughtneil	3-17 (aet)	Derry
2014^[4]^[5]	Portaferry	1-16	Down	Cushendall	0-10	Antrim
2013/14^[6]	Loughgiel Shamrocks	3-14	Antrim	Slaughtneil	1-15	Derry
2012/13^[7]	Loughgiel Shamrocks	2-25	Antrim	Portaferry	0-12	Down
2011/12	Loughgiel Shamrocks	2-18	Antrim	Ballycran	0-08	Down
2010/11	Loughgiel Shamrocks	2-24	Antrim	Keady Lamh Dhearg	0-06	Armagh
2009/10	Dunloy	2-16	Antrim	Ballycran	2-11	Down
2008/09	Cushendall	1-14	Antrim	Ballygalget	1-13	Down
2007/08	Dunloy	2-14	Antrim	Kevin Lynch's	2-08	Derry
2006/07	Cushendall	1-13; 1-15 (R)	Antrim	Kevin Lynch's	2-10; 1-07 (R)	Derry
2005/06	Ballygalget	1-18	Down	Cushendall	3-08	Antrim
2004/05	O'Donovan Rossa	0-16	Antrim	Ballygalget	0-14	Down
2003/04	Dunloy	3-19	Antrim	Kevin Lynch's	0-09	Derry
2002/03	Dunloy	0-12	Antrim	Portaferry	1-06	Down
2001/02	Dunloy	3-11	Antrim	Lavey	1-07	Derry
2000/01	Dunloy	4-11	Antrim	Slaughtneil	0-09	Derry
1999/00	Cushendall	1-12	Antrim	Ballygalget	1-8	Down
1998/99	Ballygalget	1-13; 1-14 (R)	Down	McQuillan Ballycastle	3-07; 1-12 (R)	Antrim
1997/98	Dunloy	3-16	Antrim	Lavey	4-10	Derry
1996/97	Cushendall		Antrim	Portaferry		Down
1995/96	Dunloy	2-18	Antrim	Ballycran	0-09	Down
1994/95	Dunloy	3-09	Antrim	Lavey	1-12	Derry
1993/94	Ballycran	2-10	Down	Cushendall	0-12	Antrim
1992/93	Cushendall	2-12	Antrim	Ballygalget	1-10	Down
1991/92	Cushendall	1-16	Antrim	Portaferry	0-05	Down
1990/91	Dunloy	0-17	Antrim	Ballygalget	2-04	Down
1989/90	Loughgiel Shamrocks	1-14	Antrim	Portaferry	2-09	Down
1988/89	O'Donovan Rossa	0-13	Antrim	Lavey	0-11	Derry
1987/88	Cushendall	3-10	Antrim	Ballycran	1-06	Down
1986/87	McQuillan Ballycastle	1-13	Antrim	Lavey	1-08	Derry
1985/86	Cushendall	0-19	Antrim	Ballycran	0-10	Down
1984/85	McQuillan Ballycastle	1-14	Antrim	Ballycran	1-03	Down
1983/84	McQuillan Ballycastle	4-12	Antrim	Ballygalget	2-03	Down
1982/83	Loughgiel Shamrocks	1-09	Antrim	Ballygalget	0-09	Down
1981/82	Cushendall	4-17	Antrim	Portaferry	0-09	Down
1980/81	McQuillan Ballycastle	1-20	Antrim	Ballycran	0-13	Down
1979/80	McQuillan Ballycastle	0-11	Antrim	Ballycran	0-08	Down
1978/79	McQuillan Ballycastle	2-14	Antrim	Portaferry	2-07	Down
1977/78	O'Donovan Rossa	1-13	Antrim	Ballycran	2-06	Down
1976/77	Ballycran	0-08	Down	O'Donovan Rossa	0-07	Antrim
1975/76	Ballygalget	4-06	Down	McQuillan Ballycastle	1-09	Antrim
1974/75	Ballycran	3-05	Down	Patrick Sarsfields	3-02	Antrim
1973/74	St. John's	w/o	Antrim	Kevin Lynch's	scr.	Derry
1972/73	O'Donovan Rossa	2-08	Antrim	Ballycran	3-02	Down
1971/72	Loughgiel Shamrocks	3-08	Antrim	Portaferry	1-12	Down
1970/71	Loughgiel Shamrocks	6-14	Antrim	Ballygalget	2-05	Down

Summary of championship winners[]

By county[]

#	County	Ulster Titles	Last Ulster winners
1	Antrim clubs	40	Cushendall (2018)
2	Down clubs	7	Portaferry (2014)
3	Derry clubs	4	Slaughtneil (2021)

By club[]

Rank	Team	Wins	Years won	Last Losing Final
1
1	Ruairi Og, Cushendall	11	1981, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2006, 2008, 2015, 2018	2014
2	Cuchullians, Dunloy	10	1990, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2009	2019
3	Loughgiel Shamrocks	8	1970, 1971, 1982, 1989, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013	2016
4	McQuillan GAC Ballycastle	6	1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986	1998
5	O'Donovan Rossa	4	1972, 1977, 1988, 2004	1976
6	Ballygalget	3	1975, 1998, 2005	2008
	Ballycran	3	1974, 1976, 1993	2018
	Slaughtneil	4	2016, 2017, 2019, 2021	2015,
7	St John's	1	1973	N/A
7	Portaferry	1	2014	2012

Records and statistics[]

Teams[]

By decade[]

The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of Ulster Championship titles, is as follows:

1970s: 2 each for Loughgiel Shamrocks (1970-71), O'Donovan Rossa (1972-77), Ballycran (1974-76), Ballycastle McQuillan (1978-79)
1980s: 4 for Ballycastle McQuillan (1980-83-84-86)
1990s: 4 each for Dunloy (1990-94-95-97) and Ruairí Óg (1991-92-96-99)
2000s: 6 for Dunloy (2000-01-02-03-07-09)
2010s: 4 for Loughgiel Shamrocks (2010-11-12-13)

Gaps[]

Top five longest gaps between successive championship titles:

23 years: Ballygalget (1975-1998)
21 years: Loughgiel Shamrocks (1989-2010)
17 years: Ballycran (1976-1993)
16 years: O'Donovan Rossa (1988-2004)
11 years: O'Donovan Rossa (1977-1988)

Top scorers[]

By year[]

Year	Top scorer	Team	Score	Total
2006	Geoffrey McGonagle	Kevin Lynch's	4-07	19
2007	Gregory O'Kane	Dunloy	0-21	21
2008	Martin Óg Coulter	Ballygalget	2-11	17
2009	Simon Wilson	Ballycran	1-14	17
2010	Liam Watson	Loughgiel Shamrocks	1-13	16
2011	Liam Watson	Loughgiel Shamrocks	1-07	10
2012	Paul Braniff	Portaferry	0-18	18
2013	Liam Watson	Loughgiel Shamrocks	0-13	13
2014	Neil McManus	Ruairí Óg	1-19	22
2015	Cormac O'Doherty	Slaughtneil	1-16	19
2016	Cormac O'Doherty	Slaughtneil	1-16	19
2017	Cormac O'Doherty	Slaughtneil	1-21	24
2018	Scott Nicholason	Ballycran	0-09	9
	Neil McManus	Ruairí Óg
	Colum McManus	Ballycran
2019	Cormac O'Doherty	Slaughtneil	1-15	18

In finals[]

Final	Top scorer	Team	Score	Total
1999	Jackie Carson	Ruairí Óg, Cushendall	1-04	7
2000	Séamus McMullan	Dunloy	1-03	6
2001	Paddy Richmond	Dunloy	2-03	9
2002	Gregory O'Kane	Dunloy	0-07	7
2003	Geoffrey McGonigle	Kevin Lynch's	0-08	8
2004	Johnny McGrattan	Ballygalget	0-07	7
2005	Johnny McGrattan	Ballygalget	1-08	11
2006	Geoffrey McGonigle	Kevin Lynch's	2-04	10
2007	Gregory O'Kane	Dunloy	0-07	7
2008	Martin Óg Coulter	Ballygalget	0-10	10
2009	Simon Wilson	Ballycran	1-06	9
2010	Eddie McCloskey	Loughgiel Shamrocks	0-07	7
2011	Eddie McCloskey	Loughgiel Shamrocks	1-02	5
2012	Liam Watson	Loughgiel Shamrocks	1-05	8
2012	Eddie McCloskey	Loughgiel Shamrocks	0-08	8
2013	Eddie McCloskey	Loughgiel Shamrocks	2-02	8
2014	Eoghan Sands	Portaferry	1-03	6
2014	Paul Braniff	Portaferry	0-06	6
2015	Neil McManus	Ruairí Óg, Cushendall	0-13	13
2016	Cormac O'Doherty	Slaughtneil	1-08	11
2017	Cormac O'Doherty	Slaughtneil	1-10	13
2018	Neil McManus	Ruairí Óg, Cushendall	0-09	9
2019	Cormac O'Doherty	Slaughtneil	1-04	18
2019	Conall Cunning	Dunloy	0-07	18

References[]

^ "Ulster Club SHC final: Slaughtneil too strong for 14-man Dunloy". Hogan Stand. 10 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
^ "Slaughtneil claim Ulster hurling double". Irish Independent. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
^ "Slaughtneil become first Derry team to win Ulster Club Hurling title". BBC Sport. 23 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
^ "Sands the man as Portaferry sink Cushendall". www.rte.ie. 2 November 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
^ "Ulster club SHC final: Portaferry shock 'Dall". Hogan Stand. 2 November 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
^ "Loughgiel secure title". Irish Examiner. 28 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
^ "McCloskey keeps Loughgiel on track". Irish Independent. 29 October 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.

[1] "Ulster Club SHC final: Slaughtneil too strong for 14-man Dunloy". Hogan Stand. 10 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.

[2] "Slaughtneil claim Ulster hurling double". Irish Independent. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.

[3] "Slaughtneil become first Derry team to win Ulster Club Hurling title". BBC Sport. 23 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.

[4] "Sands the man as Portaferry sink Cushendall". www.rte.ie. 2 November 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.

[5] "Ulster club SHC final: Portaferry shock 'Dall". Hogan Stand. 2 November 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.

[6] "Loughgiel secure title". Irish Examiner. 28 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.

[7] "McCloskey keeps Loughgiel on track". Irish Independent. 29 October 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.

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v t All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championships
Seasons	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22
Finals	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Connacht Championship Leinster Championship Munster Championship Ulster Championship

Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship
Current season or competition: 2019 Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship
Irish	Craobh Iomána Uladh
Code	Hurling
Founded	1970; 52 years ago (1970)
Region	Ulster (GAA)
Trophy	Four Seasons Cup
No. of teams	4
Title holders	Slaughtneil (4th title)
Most titles	Ruairí Óg, Cushendall (11 titles)
Sponsors	Allied Irish Banks
TV partner(s)	TG4
Motto	The toughest of them all
Official website	Ulster GAA