2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

The 2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 133rd staging of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county hurling tournament, since its establishment in 1887. The 2020 fixtures were announced in October 2019. Games were initially scheduled to begin on 9 May 2020. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games, the competition was delayed before beginning on 24 October 2020 and ending on 13 December 2020.

Laois returned to the Leinster Championship for the first time since 2017, replacing Carlow who were relegated in 2019. Tipperary entered the championship as the defending champions and were attempting to retain the title for the first time since 1965. They were knocked out at the All-Ireland quarter final stage following a defeat by Galway.

On 13 December 2020, Limerick won the championship after a 0-30 to 0-19 win over Waterford in the All-Ireland final at Croke Park. It was their ninth championship title overall and their first title since 2018.

Waterford's Stephen Bennett was the championship's top scorer with 1-54.

Format
Initially, the 2020 All-Ireland hurling championship format was to feature five-team groups in both Leinster and Munster and the two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists in the format introduced in 2018 for an initial three-year period. At the GAA Congress on 29 February 2019 it was decided to expand the Leinster Hurling Championship from five to six teams, beginning in 2021. This meant there would be no relegation from the Leinster Hurling Championship in 2020 and that the winners of the Joe McDonagh Cup would be promoted.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland, some changes were announced on 26 June 2020. The format reverted to knockout provincial championships, along with qualifiers, similar to the 2017 format. The two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists did not compete in the senior championship.

The draws for the Munster and Leinster Senior Hurling Championships took place live on RTÉ's Six One news on Friday 26 June.

Leinster Championship
Participating counties (5): Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Laois, Wexford

Quarter-finals (1 match): This are one match between the first two teams drawn - the other three teams receive a bye. One team is eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the semi-finals.

Semi-finals (2 matches): The winners of the quarter-final join the other three teams to make up the semi-final pairings. Two teams are eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the final.

Final (1 match): The winners of the two semi-finals contest this game. The Leinster champions advance to the All-Ireland semi-finals and the Leinster runners-up advance to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

Munster Championship
Participating counties (5): Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford

Quarter-finals (1 match): This are one match between the first two teams drawn - the other three teams receive a bye. One team is eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the semi-finals.

Semi-finals (2 matches): The winners of the quarter-final join the other three teams to make up the semi-final pairings. Two teams are eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the final.

Final (1 match): The winners of the two semi-finals contest this game. The Munster champions advance to the All-Ireland semi-finals and the Munster runners-up advance to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

All-Ireland Championship
Qualifiers round 1 (2 matches): The six teams who failed to reach a provincial final enter this round. These are two matches between the first four teams drawn - the other two teams receive a bye. Two teams are eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the qualifiers round 2.

Qualifiers round 2 (2 matches): The winners of the qualifiers round 1 join the other two teams to make up the qualifiers round 2 pairings. Two teams are eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the quarter-finals.

Quarter-finals (2 matches): The winners of the preliminary quarter-finals join the Leinster and Munster runners-up to make up the quarter-final pairings. Teams who may have already met in the provincial championships are kept apart in separate quarter-finals. Two teams are eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the semi-finals.

Semi-finals (2 matches): The winners of the quarter-finals join the Leinster and Munster champions to make up the semi-final pairings. Teams who may have met in the provincial finals are kept apart in separate semi-finals where possible. Two teams are eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the final.

Final (1 match): The two winners of the semi-finals contest this game.

From Championship
Relegated to the Christy Ring Cup


 * Offaly

Excluded from the Championship


 * Antrim
 * Carlow
 * Kerry
 * Meath
 * Westmeath

General information
Ten counties will compete in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship: five teams in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship and five teams in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship.

Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Five of the six Munster counties participate. Kerry compete in the Joe McDonagh Cup. The competition is entirely knock-out.

All-Ireland Qualifiers
Of the six teams who don’t reach their provincial final (three from the Leinster championship and three from the Munster championship) four are drawn, two from Leinster versus two from Munster, to play in round one of the qualifiers, subject to the requirement that the two beaten provincial quarter-finalists play in round one. The two teams given byes play the round one winners in round two.

The winners of round two compete in the two All-Ireland quarter-finals against the beaten Leinster and Munster finalists.

All-Ireland semi-finals
The Leinster and Munster champions play the winners of the two quarter-finals.

Top scorers

 * Overall


 * In a single game

Miscellaneous

 * Clare and Limerick qualified for the 2020 National Hurling League Division 1 final. The single match between Clare and Limerick played on 25 October 2020 was both the National Hurling League Final and the Munster Hurling Championship Quarter-final.
 * Limerick retained the Munster Championship for the first time since 1981.
 * It was the first Munster final between Limerick and Waterford since 2007.
 * It was the first ever All-Ireland final between Limerick and Waterford.
 * It was only the third All-Ireland final that ended goalless, the others being the 2004 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final and the 1999 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final.

Live televised games
RTÉ, the national broadcaster in Ireland provided the majority of the live television coverage of the hurling championship in the fourth year of a five-year deal running from 2017 until 2021. Sky Sports also broadcast a number of matches and have exclusive rights to some games. Sky Sports televised all of its live Championship games as part of its basic package on Sky Sports Mix.

Awards
The Sunday Game team of the year was picked on 13 December the night of the final. The panel consisting of Donal Óg Cusack, Jackie Tyrell, Ursula Jacob, and Shane Dowling picked Gearóid Hegarty as the Sunday game player of the year.
 * Sunday Game Team of the Year
 * 1. Nickie Quaid (Limerick)
 * 2. Sean Finn (Limerick)
 * 3. Dan Morrissey (Limerick)
 * 4. Daithi Burke (Galway)
 * 5. Diarmuid Byrnes (Limerick)
 * 6. Tadhg de Búrca (Waterford)
 * 7. Kyle Hayes (Limerick)
 * 8. Cian Lynch (Limerick)
 * 9. Jamie Barron (Waterford)
 * 10. Tom Morrissey (Limerick)
 * 11. TJ Reid (Kilkenny)
 * 12. Gearóid Hegarty (Limerick)
 * 13. Stephen Bennett (Waterford)
 * 14. Aaron Gillane (Limerick)
 * 15. Tony Kelly (Clare)

In February 2021, the 2020 PwC All-Stars winners were presented at Dublin's Convention Centre. Gearóid Hegarty was named as the All Stars Hurler of the Year with Eoin Cody named the All Stars Young Hurler of the Year.
 * All Star Team of the Year