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 Christy Ring Cup and the National Hurling League.

Kerry

Sport:	Hurling
Irish:	Ciarraí
County board:	Kerry GAA
Home venue(s):	Austin Stack Park
Recent competitive record
Last championship title:	2015
First colours Second colours

Kerry's home ground is Austin Stack Park, Tralee. The team's manager is John Griffin.

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 multi-tier structure saw Kerry become more competitive. They first made the semi-finals of the (then 2nd tier) Christy Ring Cup 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 the opening round of 1995–96 NHL.^[3]

John "Tweek" Griffin managed Kerry into championship hurling's third tier for the first time, leading his team to relegation from the 2025 Joe McDonagh Cup in May 2025.^[4] Having competed in the Joe McDonagh Cup since the competition's inception, relegation brought Kerry back to the (third tier) Christy Ring Cup, which the team had not competed in since it was a second tier competition.^[5][6]

Panel

Team as per Kerry vs Meath in the Joe McDonagh Cup round 5, 25 May 2024^[7]

No. Player Position Club 1 Louis Dee Goalkeeper Liam Mellows 2 Eric Leen Right Corner Back St Brendan's, Ardfert 3 Daithí Griffin Full back St Brendan's, Ardfert 4 Flor McCarthy Left Corner Back Kilmoyley 5 Bill Keane Right half back Crotta O'Neill's 6 Evan Murphy Centre back Causeway 7 Kyle O'Connor Left half back Ballyduff 8 Ronan Walsh Midfield Kilmoyley 9 Colin Walsh Midfield Ballyheigue 10 Gavin Dooley Right half forward Causeway 11 Dan Goggin Centre forward Causeway 12 Killian Hayes Left half forward Kilmallock 13 Brandon Barrett Right corner forward Causeway 14 Fionán Mackessy (c) Full forward St Brendan's, Ardfert 15 Michael Leane Left corner forward Ballyheigue

No. Player Position Club 16 Diarmuid Quirke Substitute Dr Crokes 17 Dara Kearney Substitute Ballyheigue 18 Darragh Reen Substitute Tralee Parnells 19 Darragh Shanahan Substitute Lixnaw 20 David Woulfe Substitute Kilmallock 21 Feilim O'Sullivan Substitute Ballyheigue 22 Luke Crowley Substitute Rathmore 23 Niall Mulcahy Substitute Mungret 24 Rory O'Mahony Substitute Crotta O'Neill's 25 Tomás O'Connor Substitute Crotta O'Neill's 26 Tom Doyle Substitute Dr Crokes

^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.

Management team

Appointed in August 2024,^[8] with one addition noted.

• Manager: John Griffin
• Selectors: Aidan Healy, Seán Maunsell
• Lead physio: Donnchadh Walsh (from April 2021)^[9]

Managerial history

• Éamonn Kelly: 2013^{[clarification needed]}–15^[10]
• Ciarán Carey: 2015–16^[11][12][13]
• Fintan O'Connor: 2016–21^[14][15]
• Stephen Molumphy: 2021–24^[16]
• John Griffin: 2024–present

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
• Shane Nolan

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^[17][18]
  • 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^[19]
• 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 (10): 1998, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2018^[20]
• All Ireland Minor B Hurling Championship
  • Winners (10): 1997, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2013,^[21] 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