Limerick will play Kilkenny in the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final on Sunday, 17th July, at 3:30 pm in Croke Park.

Thirteen weeks and 33 games later, the 2022 GAA hurling All-Ireland championship has reached the final where Kilkenny take on Limerick in Croke Park, with Colm Lyons (Cork) as referee in what will be his first time taking charge of the biggest game of the year.

Kilkenny are bidding for their 37th All-Ireland title while Limerick are seeking their 11th and their first three-in-a-row. Limerick are unbeaten in their six championship games to date (five wins and a draw), while Kilkenny have won five and lost two of their seven games. The defeats were against Galway and Wexford in the Leinster ‘round robin.

Hurling is believed to be the world’s oldest field game. The Celts arrived in Ireland as early as 500BC and they brought with them a unique culture, their own language, music, script and unique pastimes. One of these pastimes was a game now called hurling. It features in Irish folklore to illustrate the deeds of heroic mystical figures and it is chronicled as a distinct Irish pastime for at least 2,000 years.

The stick, or “hurley” (called camán in Irish) is curved outwards at the end, to provide the striking surface. The ball or “sliotar” is similar in size to a hockey ball but has raised ridges.

Hurling is played on a pitch that can be up to 145m long and 90m long. The goalposts are similar to those used on a rugby pitch, with the crossbar lower than in rugby and slightly higher than a soccer one.

You may strike the ball on the ground, or in the air. Unlike hockey, you may pick up the ball with your hurley and carry it for not more than four steps in the hand. After those steps you may bounce the ball on the hurley and back to the hand, but you are forbidden to catch the ball more than twice. To get around this, one of the skills is running with the ball balanced on the hurley. To score, you put the ball over the crossbar with the hurley or under the crossbar and into the net by the hurley for a goal, the latter being the equivalent of three points.

Each team is made up of 15 players with match officials and scoring values the same as in Gaelic Football. Seventy minutes, plus injury time.

‘The Hurler’s Prayer’
(Seamus Redmond)

Grant me o’Lord a hurler’s skill
With strength of arm and speed of limb
Unerring eye for the flying ball
And courage to match them whatever befall
May my stroke be steady and my aim be true
My actions manly and my misses few
No matter what way the game may go
May I rest in friendship with every foe
When the final whistle for me has blown
And I stand at last at God’s Judgement Throne
May the great Referee when he calls my name
Say …
You hurled like a man
You played the game…