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
Region	Ulster (GAA)
Trophy	Four Seasons Cup
No. of teams	4
Title holders	Slaughtneil (3rd 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

Finals Listed 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
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	3	Slaughtneil (2019)

By Club

Rank	Team	Wins	Years won	Last Losing Final
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	3	2016, 2017, 2019	2015,
7	St John's	1	1973	N/A
	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

In finals

References