Kerry county hurling team

The Kerry county hurling team represents Kerry in hurling and is governed by Kerry GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the Joe McDonagh Cup and the National Hurling League.

Kerry's home ground is Austin Stack Park, Tralee. The team's manager is Stephen Molumphy.

The team last won the Munster Senior Championship in 1891, the All-Ireland Senior Championship in 1891 and has never won the National League.

History

For many years the senior team played in the Junior and Intermediate Championships and had some success. They won All-Ireland titles at Junior level in 1961 and 1972, and won a Munster Championship at junior level in 1956. At Intermediate level they won Munster titles in 1970 and 1973.^{[citation needed]}

Kerry have played in just one Munster Minor Hurling Championship Final, in 1938, when they lost to a Cork team that included the great Christy Ring. They have, however, won and played in a number of All-Ireland B Finals.

In 2003, team made it to the fourth round of the qualifiers only to go down to Limerick 1–14 to 0–24 in Austin Stack Park in Tralee. Along the way they beat Westmeath, Carlow and beaten Ulster finalists Derry. The wins over Westmeath and Carlow represented the first time a Kerry team strung two consecutive Championship victories together. It also marked the first occasion that the Kerry hurling team played more championship games then the Kerry football team.

Kerry have never won the Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship, their most notable achievement in the championship came in 2004 when they ran Limerick to three points at Austin Stack Park. They have, however, won and played in a number of All-Ireland U21 B Championship Finals.^{[citation needed]}

The advent of the Christy Ring Cup has seen Kerry become very competitive. They first made the semi-finals in 2009 where they lost out to Carlow after a replay. They went a step more in 2010 making the final but losing out to Westmeath. In 2011 they again made the final, but this time won the title with victory over Wicklow. From 2013 to 2015 they made the final each year, losing to Down in 2013 and Kildare in 2014 before finally getting over the line thanks to victory over Derry.

Kerry won the Division 2A final of the 2015 National Hurling League and advanced to the relegation/promotion match with favourites Antrim, a late point by substitute John Egan saw Kerry advance to Division 1B.^[1]

In 2016, Kerry played in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship round robin along with Carlow, Westmeath and Offaly. During the 2018 Munster Senior Hurling League Kerry recorded their first ever senior victory over Cork beating them 1-23 to 1-13 at Austin Stack Park.^[2]

On 8 January 2022 Kerry recorded their first victory over Tipperary 0-17 to 0-14 in the Munster Hurling Cup quarter-final.^[3] At the time it was deemed Kerry's greatest hurling success in Austin Stack Park since they beat All-Ireland champions Clare by 3-7 to 1-8 in opening round of 1995-96 NHL.^[3]

Current panel

Team as per Kerry vs Antrim in the NHL 1B relegation play-off, 11 April 2015

No. Player Position Club 1 Stephen Murphy Goalkeeper Causeway 2 Dougie Fitzell Right Corner Back Kilmoyley 3 Paud Costello Full Back Ballyduff 4 Bryan Murphy Left Corner Back Causeway 5 Seán Weir Right Half Back Crotta O'Neill's 6 Darren Dinneen Centre Back St Brendan's, Ardfert 7 Daniel Collins Left Half Back Kilmoyley 8 John Griffin (c) Midfield Lixnaw 9 Patrick Kelly Midfield Clarecastle 10 Michael O'Leary Right Half Forward Abbeydorney 11 Shane Nolan Centre Forward Crotta O'Neill's 12 Colm Harty Left Half Forward Causeway 13 Mikey Boyle Right Corner Forward Ballyduff 14 Pádraig Boyle Full Forward Ballyduff 15 Keith Carmody Left Corner Forward Causeway

No. Player Position Club 16 James Logue Substitute Ballingarry 17 Tommy Casey Substitute Causeway 18 John Egan Substitute St Brendan's, Ardfert 19 James Flaherty Substitute Lixnaw 20 Rory Horgan Substitute St Brendan's, Ardfert 21 Philip Lucid Substitute Ballyheigue 22 Giles O'Grady Substitute Ballyduff 23 Brendan O'Leary Substitute Abbeydorney 24 Adrian Royle Substitute Kilmoyley 25 Darragh Shanahan Substitute Lixnaw 26 David Butler Substitute Knockavilla-Donaskeigh

^INJ Player has had an injury which has affected recent involvement with the county team.
^RET Player has since retired from the county team.
^WD Player has since withdrawn from the county team due to a non-injury issue.

Current management team

Appointed in December 2016, with one addition noted.

• Manager: Fintan O'Connor
• Lead physio: Donnchadh Walsh (from April 2021)^[4]

Managerial history

• Éamonn Kelly: 2013^{[clarification needed]}-15^[5]
• Ciarán Carey: 2015–16^[6][7][8]
• Fintan O'Connor: 2016–21^[9][10]
• Stephen Molumphy: 2021–

Players

Notable players

For individual player details, see Category:Kerry inter-county hurlers.

• Michael "Boxer" Slattery
• Shane Brick
• Brendan O'Sullivan
• John Mike Dooley
• John Healy
• John Mahony
• Tom Collins
• Maurice Leahy
• Christy Walsh

Honours

National

• All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
  •   Winners (1): 1891
• All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship
  •   Winners (3): 1976, 1983, 1986
• Joe McDonagh Cup
  •   Runners-up (3): 2020, 2021, 2022
• Christy Ring Cup
  •   Winners (2): 2011, 2015^[11][12]
  •   Runners-up (3): 2010, 2013, 2014
• All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship
  •   Winners (2): 1961, 1972
  •   Runners-up (2): 1968, 1969
• National Hurling League Division 2
  •   Winners (7): 1956–57, 1961–62, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1978–79, 1998, 2001
• National Hurling League Division 2A
  •   Winners (2): 2014, 2015^[13]
• National Hurling League Division 3
  •   Winners (1): 1989–90
• National Hurling League Division 3A
  •   Winners (1): 2010
• All-Ireland Under-21 B Hurling Championship
  •   Winners (9): 2001, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2018^[14]
• All Ireland Minor B Hurling Championship
  •   Winners (10): 1997, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2013,^[15] 2014, 2015, 2016

Provincial

• Munster Senior Hurling Championship
  •   Winners (1): 1891
  •   Runners-up (5): 1889, 1890, 1892, 1900, 1908
• Munster Intermediate Hurling Championship
  •   Winners (2): 1970, 1973
  •   Runners-up (1): 1972
• Munster Junior Hurling Championship
  •   Winners (1): 1956
  •   Runners-up (2): 1959, 1960
• Leinster Minor B Hurling Championship
  •   Winners (2): 1987, 1988

References

1. "Latest Hurling News, Results & Fixtures". RTÉ Sport.
2. "Chips fall for Kerry hurling in historic win over Cork". RTE. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
3. "Kerry Record First Ever Senior Hurling Victory Over Tipperary". Balls. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
4. "Donnchadh Walsh returns to Kerry fold – as senior hurling physio". Irish Independent. 21 April 2021.
5. "Eamonn Kelly steps down as Kerry hurling boss". RTÉ. 22 July 2015.
6. "Sauce for Kerry goose but not Galway gander". Irish Independent. 21 October 2015.
7. "Ciaran Carey is new Kerry hurling boss". RTÉ. 19 October 2015.
8. "Carey quits as Kerry hurling boss". Irish Independent. 5 December 2016.
9. "O'Connor is new Kerry hurling manager". Hogan Stand. 17 December 2016.
10. "Kerry on the hunt for new hurling manager as O'Connor steps down after five-year term". The42.ie. 5 August 2021.
11. Kingdom secure Christy Ring crown RTÉ Sport
12. Derry hurlers beaten by Kerry in Christy Ring Cup final BBC Sport
13. Kerry Hurlers Retain Division 2A Hurling League Title In Style Tralee Today
14. "Boyle's late goal swings it Kerry's way". Irish Examiner. 16 September 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
15. "All-Ireland MHC 'B' final: Kingdom rule the Royals". Hogan Stand. 7 September 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.