Leinster Junior B Club Hurling Championship

The Leinster Junior B Club Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by Killeedy GAA Club in Limerick since 2006 for the champion junior B hurling teams in the province of Leinster in Ireland. The Antrim and Galway champions are also represented in the competition.

Leinster Junior B Club Hurling Championship
Current season or competition: 2022 Leinster Junior B Club Hurling Championship
Irish	Craobh Iomána Sóisear B Laighean
Code	Hurling
Founded	2006; 17 years ago (2006)
Region	Leinster (GAA)
Trophy	Alfie Hickey Memorial Cup
No. of teams	8
Title holders	Sarsfields (1st title)
Sponsors	Killeedy GAA Club

The series of games are played during the winter months with the Leinster final currently being played in January. The prize for the winning team is the Alfie Hickey Memorial Cup. The championship has always been played on a straight knockout basis whereby once a team loses they are eliminated from the championship.

The Leinster Championship is an integral part of the wider All-Ireland Junior B Club Hurling Championship. The winners and runners-up of the Leinster final join the winners and runners-up of the Munster final in the semi-final stages of the All-Ireland Championship.

Sarsfields are the title-holders after defeating St. Martin's by 1–14 to 1–05 in the 2022 Leinster final.^[1]

History

Provincial club championships for respective junior B champions was the idea of the Killeedy GAA Club who, after winning the Limerick JBHC title in 2005, realised there were no provincial competitions in that grade of hurling.^[2] A senior championship had been running in Leinster since 1970, while intermediate and junior competitions had been recently introduced by GAA President Seán Kelly.^[3] Members of the Killeedy club approached a supportive Kelly, however, their proposal was rejected by Central Council.^[4] In spite of this setback, Killeedy organised their own unofficial Munster Championship for Junior B championship winners in 2005. A corresponding Leinster Championship was first organised in 2006 and received the official support of the Leinster Council.^[5]

The championship

Overview

The Leinster Championship is a single elimination tournament. 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.

Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is a period of extra time, however, if both sides are still level there are penalties. Only the final, if both teams are still level after a period of extra time, goes to a replay.

Competition format

Quarter-finals: Eight teams contest this round. The four winning teams advance directly to the semi-final stage. The four 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.

Trophy

At the end of the Leinster final, the winning team is presented with a trophy. The cup, named the Alfie Hickey Memorial Cup in honour of Alfie Hickey, a St. Lachtain's hurler and Kilkenny captain, is held by the winning team until the following year's final.^[6] 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 lift the cup.

Roll of honour

#	County	Winners	Runners-up	Total	Winning years	Runner-up years
1	Kilkenny	7	5	12	2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017	2006, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2022
	Galway	7	5	12	2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022	2011, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018
3	Wexford	2	4	6	2006, 2018	2007, 2008, 2016, 2021
4	Dublin	0	1	1		2019

List of finals

Year	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Score
2006	Tara Rocks	0-16	Mullinavat	1-05	^[7]
2007	Emeralds	3-10	Oylegate-Glenbrien	2-10
2008	Piltown	4-18	Shamrocks	0-05
2009	St. Martin's	w/o
2010	Ballinderreen	0-12	Lisdowney	1-08
2011	Conahy Shamrocks	1-11	Mícheál Breathnach	1-10
2012	Ardrahan	0-11	Kilmacow	0-06
2013	St. Patrick's	2-07	St. Thomas's	0-11
2014	O'Loughlin Gaels	1-11	Clarinbridge	1-09
2015	Tynagh-Abbey/Duniry	1-13	Barrow Rangers	0-13
2016	Kinvara	2-13	Craanford Fr. O'Regan's	0-08
2017	John Locke's	0-14	Kilnadeema–Leitrim	0-13	^[8]
2018	Oylegate-Glenbrien	2-09	Ballinderreen	0-08	^[9]
2019	Loughrea	1-14	St. Vincent's	0-15
2020	No championship
2021	Cappataggle	0-19	Blackwater	0-10	^[10]
2022	Sarsfields	1-14	St. Martin's	1-05

Notes:

• 2019 - The first match ended in a draw.

References

1. "Bruff look for All-Ireland Junior B Hurling Championship final spot". Sporting Limerick. 10 February 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
2. O'Sullivan, Donn (12 January 2019). "Killeedy GAA ready to host Cappamore's quest for Munster hurling glory". Limerick Leader. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
3. Fogarty, John (14 January 2023). "Sean Kelly: Playing field needs to be levelled in lower grade championships". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
4. McNamara, Peter (20 November 2015). "Killeedy's All-Ireland Club Junior B Hurling Championship continues to thrive". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
5. "The All-Ireland junior B hurling championship: giving real GAA people what they deserve". Sportsjoe website. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
6. Lawrence, Brendan (18 November 2022). "Aughrim hurlers to represent Wicklow in Junior B All-Ireland tournament in Limerick". Wicklow People. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
7. "Leinster Junior 'B' hurling championship final Rocks rule roost". Enniscorthy Guardian. 22 February 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
8. "GALWAY GAA: (Preview) – KILNADEEMA/LEITRIM vs THURLES SARSFIELDS (Sunday, 2pm Raheenagh)". Galway Daily. 17 February 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
9. "Leinster 'B' win for Oylegate-Glenbrien". Wexford People. 19 January 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
10. "Blackwater's Leinster final loss". Wexford People. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.