G R E AT M O M E N T S IN
HURLING from SPORTSFILE
This updated edition first published 2026 by The O’Brien Press Ltd, 12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, D06 HD27, Ireland Tel: +353 1 4923333; E-mail: books@obrien.ie; Website: obrien.ie First published in 2017 by The O’Brien Press Ltd, Revised 2023. The O’Brien Press is a member of Publishing Ireland. ISBN: 978-1-78849-698-8 Copyright for photographs and text © Sportsfile The moral rights of the author have been asserted. Copyright for typesetting, layout, design © The O’Brien Press Ltd. Main cover image: 19 July 2026 – Darragh Neary of Galway in action against William O’Donoghue of Limerick during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Galway and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including for text and data mining, training artificial intelligence systems, photocopying, recording or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. 87654321 30 29 28 27 26 To the best of our knowledge, this book complies in full with the requirements of the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR). For further information and help with any safety queries, please contact us at productsafety@obrien.ie. Cover and internal design by Emma Byrne. Printed by EDELVIVES, Spain. The paper in this book is produced using pulp from managed forests. Published in
CONTENTS Introduction 7 1950s - 1960s 9 1970s 25 1980s 35 1990s 65 2000s 111 2010s 163
2020s 209
INTRODUCTION There’s nothing to beat an All-Ireland hurling final, and I’ve been privileged to have seen some truly great battles, like the 2010 final, when Tipperary beat Kilkenny to end their dream of ‘five in a row’. Tipp played an intense, hard-hitting game, and had a hero in the hat-trick-scoring Lar Corbett. When the final whistle went, the substitutes and the backroom team raced from the sidelines to greet their teammates. It is days like these that have everything from skillful play to scenes of high emotion that we at Sportsfile take pride in capturing. I started Sportsfile to combine my love of sport and photography, and since the early days, in the 1980s, my team and I have been pitch side, in every kind of weather, capturing the highs and lows of Gaelic sports – I’ve been at every All-Ireland final since 1980 and hope to be at many more. Even after a lifetime of sports photography you still never know for sure when you’ll get that great photo – you might have an eye for the game, and develop feel for how it might unfold, but sometimes you don’t realise just what you’ve captured until you see the final photo – and the feeling of capturing the perfect shot is another thing that keeps me coming back, year after year. The excitement never fades, and I’m proud to work with a team of skilled and sports-mad photographers who feel the same way. Ray McManus 2017 7
G R E AT M O M E N T S I N H U R L I N G
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1950s-1
1950s-1960s
1950s The great Christy Ring in action. The legendary Cork hurler and winner of eight All-Ireland medals is widely regarded as one of the greatest hurlers of all time. Connolly Collection / SPORTSFILE
-1960s
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G R E AT M O M E N T S I N H U R L I N G
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1950s-1960s
1958 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Final, Kilkenny v Wexford, Croke Park, Dublin. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Leinster Senior Hurling trophy went back and forth between Wexford and Kilkenny, with only Dublin getting a look-in in 1952 and 1961. On 27 July 1958, Kilkenny were victorious. In the background, we see Croke Park under construction; the then new Hogan Stand would be completed the next summer. Connolly Collection / SPORTSFILE
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G R E AT M O M E N T S I N H U R L I N G
1958 Tipperary’s Theo English won his first provincial medal when his team trounced reigning champions Waterford at the Munster Hurling Final in 1958. Tipp would go on to beat Leinster champions Kilkenny in the AllIreland Semi-Final and Galway in the Final. Connolly Collection / SPORTSFILE
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1950s-1960s
1960 The legendary 1960 Wexford team, pictured here beating Kilkenny in the Leinster final. The Yellow-bellies would go on to record a famous 2-15 to 0-11 victory over Munster champions Tipperary in the All-Ireland Final. Connolly Collection / SPORTSFILE
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G R E AT M O M E N T S I N H U R L I N G
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1950s-1960s
Left: 1961
Above: 1961
An aerial view of Croke Park and
Dublin’s Lar Foley, right, his
surrounds. The first All-Ireland Hurling
captain Noel Drumgoole
Final to be played on Jones’ Road was in
and selector Joe Drumgoole
1895 between great rivals Kilkenny and
argue with referee Gerry
Tipperary. Since 1912, all finals apart from
Fitzgerald after Foley was
the 1937, which was played in Fitzgerald
sent off in the 45th minute of
Stadium in Killarney and 1984, which was
the All-Ireland Hurling Final.
played in Semple Stadium in Thurles, have
The Dubs, without their star
been played on the famous ground. The
player, would lose the final to
new Hogan Stand, left in this picture, was
Tipperary by a point.
named after Tipperary footballer Michael
Connolly Collection / SPORTSFILE
Hogan who was shot on Bloody Sunday 1920, and was completed in 1959. Connolly Collection / SPORTSFILE
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G R E AT M O M E N T S I N H U R L I N G
3 September 1961 Dublin and Tipperary clash in the All-Ireland Hurling Final, Croke Park, Dublin. This final marks the last time that the Dublin hurlers appeared in an All-Ireland Final, and 1938 was the last time that the Liam MacCarthy Cup stayed in the capital. Connolly Collection / SPORTSFILE
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1950s-1960s
1 September 1963 Kilkenny goalkeeper Ollie Walsh at the All-Ireland Hurling Final, Kilkenny v Waterford, Croke Park, Dublin. The Thomastown net-minder is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers to have ever played the game. Over a sixteenyear career, he won four All-Irelands as Kilkenny’s number one. Connolly Collection / SPORTSFILE
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