Galway–Kilkenny hurling rivalry explained

Galway-Kilkenny
Team1:	Galway
Team2:	Kilkenny
City Or Region:	County Galway County Kilkenny
First Contested:	Kilk. 3-4 - 0-4 Galway 1897 All-Ireland semi-final (30 October 1898)
Teams Involved:	Galway Kilkenny
Most Player Appearances:	Henry Shefflin (12)
Top Scorer:	Henry Shefflin (5-101)
Mostrecent:	Galway 2-23 - 0-29 Kilk. 2024 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship (28 April 2024)
Nextmeeting:	TBD
Total:	51
Largestvictory:	Kilkenny 5-28 - 3-7 Galway 1972 All-Ireland semi-final (6 August 1972)

The Galway-Kilkenny rivalry is a hurling rivalry between Irish county teams Galway and Kilkenny, who first played each other in 1898. Recently it has become one of the biggest rivalries in Gaelic games.^[1] ^[2] ^[3] Kilkenny's home ground is Nowlan Park and Galway's home ground is Pearse Stadium, however, all of their championship meetings have been held at neutral venues.

While Kilkenny have the highest number of All-Ireland and Leinster titles, Galway were the standard bearers in Connacht before joining the Leinster championship in 2009, however, All-Ireland success for them has been sporadic. Between them the two teams have won 41 All-Ireland championships.

History

While Kilkenny is classed as one of the "Big Three", Galway is considered an in-between county, meaning it has some good years and some bad years. Galway have always had the capability to stop the Kilkenny forces.

Statistics

Up to date as of 2023 season

Team	All-Ireland	Provincial	National League	Total
		36	75	19	130
Galway	5	28	11	44
Combined	41	103	30	174

Notable Matches

Galway 5-18 : 4-18 Kilkenny (August 2005 Croke Park) - Lauded as the greatest game of the modern era, Galway went in as underdogs but managed to stun the hurling world by enialating Kilkenny in the opening 30 minutes leading 2-11:1-04 after 30 minutes. Kilkenny came back into it and trailed only by 2 points at the break 2-11:3-05. But 3 second-half goals by Niall Healy helped Galway to stay in front and bring them to a shocking win by 5-18:4-18.^[4]
Kilkenny 1-19 : 1-12 Galway (July 2010 at Croke Park) - Galways first Leinster final pitted them against the mighty Kilkenny who were going for an infamous 5-In-A-Row All Irelands. Despite a strong start with Galway jumping to a 1-03:0-00 lead, Kilkenny soon got to grips and rallied to lead 0-14:1-05 at half time. Galway were unlucky not to win the second half (K 1-05:0-07 G), but never gave up and battled until the end.^[5]
Galway 2-21 : 2-11 Kilkenny (July 2012 at Croke Park) - Kilkenny had become the Kings of hurling and were seen as unbeatable, that is until Anthony Cunninghams men took them on in the Leinster Final of 2012. Galway held Kilkeeny scoreless for 20 minutes and led at half time by 2-12:0-04. Kilkenny fought back in the second half, but it was never going to be enough as Galway finished strongly to win their first Leinster title by 2-21:2-11.^[6]
Kilkenny 0-19 : 2-13 Galway (September 2012 at Croke Park) - The sides second meeting in the 2012 Trilogy was the All-Ireland final.^[7] Again Galway jumped into a lead 1-04:0-02 and held on to lead by 5 at the break 1-09:0-07, but sloppy defending meant they conceded 10 second half frees all converted by Henry Shefflin. Galway finished with a last-gasp free from Joe Canning to force a replay, final score Galway 2-13, Kilkenny 0-19.^[8]
Kilkenny 3-22: 3-11 Galway (September 2012 #2 at Croke Park) - For the third match in 2012 Galway jumped into a 2-02:0-02 lead but that was the last we heard of Galway until the dying moments as Kilkenny dominated the rest of the match scoring 3-22 to win by eleven points.^[9]
Galway 5-16 : 3-22 Kilkenny (June 2014 at O'Connor Park) - Galway came back from 10 points down with six minutes to play to force a draw. Joe Canning scored the last point of the game with the last play from out on the left near the touch-line to level the game after Henry Shefflin appeared to have won it for Kilkenny with a similar point at the other end. Kilkenny went on to win the replay the week after.^[10]

Recent results

Legend

	Galway win
	Kilkenny win
	Drawn match

Senior championship

width=1		width=5	No.	width=120	Date	width=100	Winners	width=70	Score	width=100	Runners-up	width=120	Venue	width=150	Stage
	1.	30 October 1898	Kilkenny (1)	3-4 - 0-4	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	2.	13 May 1906	Kilkenny (2)	2-8 - 1-7	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	3.	29 September 1912	Kilkenny (3)	8-3 - 2-2	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	4.	18 May 1924	Galway (1)	5-4 - 2-0	Kilkenny		All-Ireland semi-final
	5.	9 August 1925	Galway (2)	9-4 - 6-0	Kilkenny		All-Ireland semi-final
	6.	29 August 1926	Kilkenny (4)	6-2 - 5-1	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	7.	11 August 1929	Galway (3)	7-7 - 7-1	Kilkenny		All-Ireland semi-final
	8.	16 August 1931	Kilkenny (5)	7-2 - 3-1	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	9.	13 August 1933	Kilkenny (5)	5-10 - 3-8	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	10.	4 August 1935	Kilkenny (6)	6-10 - 1-8	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	11.	8 August 1937	Kilkenny (7)	0-8 - 0-6	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	12.	6 August 1939	Kilkenny (8)	1-16 - 3-1	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	13.	29 July 1945	Kilkenny (9)	5-3 - 2-11	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	14.	27 July 1947	Kilkenny (10)	2-9 - 1-11	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	15.	16 August 1953	Galway (4)	3-5 - 1-10	Kilkenny		All-Ireland semi-final
	16.	6 August 1972	Kilkenny (11)	5-28 - 3-7	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	17.	4 August 1974	Kilkenny (13)	2-32 - 3-17	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	18.	7 September 1975	Kilkenny (14)	2-22 - 2-10	Galway		All-Ireland final
	19.	6 August 1978	Kilkenny (15)	4-20 - 4-13	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	20.	2 September 1979	Kilkenny (16)	2-12 - 1-8	Galway		All-Ireland final
	21.	8 August 1982	Kilkenny (17)	2-20 - 2-10	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	22.	10 August 1986	Galway (5)	4-12 - 0-13	Kilkenny		All-Ireland semi-final
	23.	6 September 1987	Galway (6)	1-12 - 0-9	Kilkenny		All-Ireland final
	24.	9 August 1992	Kilkenny (18)	2-13 - 1-12	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	25.	5 September 1993	Kilkenny (19)	2-17 - 1-15	Galway		All-Ireland final
	26.	27 July 1997	Kilkenny (20)	4-15 - 3-16	Galway		All-Ireland quarter-final
	27.	13 August 2000	Kilkenny (21)	2-19 - 0-17	Galway		All-Ireland semi-final
	28.	19 August 2001	Galway (7)	2-15 - 1-13	Kilkenny		All-Ireland semi-final
	29.	10 July 2004	Kilkenny (22)	4-20 - 1-10	Galway		All-Ireland qualifier
	30.	21 August 2005	Galway (8)	5-18 - 4-18	Kilkenny		All-Ireland semi-final
	31.	22 July 2006	Kilkenny (23)	2-22 - 3-14	Galway		All-Ireland quarter-final
	32.	28 July 2007	Kilkenny (24)	3-22 - 1-18	Galway		All-Ireland quarter-final
	33.	20 June 2009	Kilkenny (25)	2-20 - 3-13	Galway		Leinster semi-final
	34.	4 July 2010	Kilkenny (26)	1-19 - 1-12	Galway		Leinster final
	35.	8 July 2012	Galway (9)	2-21 - 2-11	Kilkenny		Leinster final
	36.	9 September 2012	Galway	2-13 - 0-19	Kilkenny		All-Ireland final
	37.	30 September 2012	Kilkenny (27)	3-22 - 3-11	Galway		All-Ireland final replay
	38.	22 June 2014	Kilkenny	3-22 - 5-16	Galway		Leinster semi-final
	39.	28 June 2014	Kilkenny (28)	3-19 - 1-17	Galway		Leinster semi-final replay
	40.	5 July 2015	Kilkenny (29)	1-25 - 2-15	Galway		Leinster final
	41.	6 September 2015	Kilkenny (30)	1-22 - 1-18	Galway		All-Ireland final
	42.	3 July 2016	Kilkenny (31)	1-26 - 0-22	Galway		Leinster final
	43.	27 May 2018	Galway (10)	1-22 - 2-11	Kilkenny		Leinster Round Robin
	44.	1 July 2018	Galway	0-18 - 0-18	Kilkenny		Leinster final
	45.	8 July 2018	Galway (11)	1-28 - 3-15	Kilkenny		Leinster final replay
	46.	9 June 2019	Galway (12)	2-22 - 3-20	Kilkenny		Leinster Round Robin
	47.	14 November 2020	Kilkenny (32)	2-20 - 0-24	Galway		Leinster Final
	48.	1 May 2022	Galway (13)	1-24 - 3-17	Kilkenny		Leinster Round Robin
	49.	30 April 2023	Kilkenny	0-28 - 1-25	Galway		Leinster Round Robin
	50.	11 June 2023	Kilkenny (33)	4-21 - 2-26	Galway		Leinster Final
	51.	28 April 2024^[11]	Galway	2-23 - 0-29	Kilkenny		Leinster Round Robin

National League

width=1	width=5	No.	width=120	Date	width=100	Winners	width=70	Score	width=100	Runners-up	width=120	Venue	width=150	Stage
	28 March 2010	Galway	2-21 - 1-23	Kilkenny		Round 5
	13 March 2011	Galway	4-14 - 3-11	Kilkenny		Round 4
	1 April 2012	Kilkenny	3-26 - 0-10	Galway		Round 5
	24 February 2013	Galway	3-11 - 0-17	Kilkenny		Round 1
	21 April 2013	Kilkenny	1-24 - 1-17	Galway		League semi-final
	9 March 2014	Kilkenny	2-16 - 1-16	Galway		Round 3
	20 April 2014	Kilkenny	1-16 - 0-15	Galway		League semi-final
	8 March 2015	Galway	0-20 - 0-18	Kilkenny		Round 3
	6 March 2016	Kilkenny	0-21 - 1-14	Kilkenny		Round 3

Records

Scorelines

Biggest championship win:
- For Galway:
  - Galway 5-4 - 2-0 Kilkenny, All-Ireland semi-final, Croke Park, 18 May 1924
  - Galway 9-4 - 6-0 Kilkenny, All-Ireland semi-final, Croke Park, 9 August 1925
- For Kilkenny: Kilkenny 5-28 - 3-7 Galway, All-Ireland semi-final, Croke Park, 6 August 1972
Highest aggregate:
- Kilkenny 2-32 - 3-17 Galway, All-Ireland semi-final, St. Brendan's Park, 4 August 1974

Top scorers

Team	Player	Score	Total
Galway	Joe Canning	6-56	74
Kilkenny	Henry Shefflin	5-110	125

Top scorer in a single game:
- For Kilkenny:
  - 2-11 - Henry Shefflin, Kilkenny 4-20 - 1-10 Galway, All-Ireland qualifier, Semple Stadium, 11 July 2004
  - 0-17 - Eddie Keher, Kilkenny 5-28 - 3-7 Galway, All-Ireland semi-final, Croke Park, 6 August 1972
- For Galway:
  - 2-9 - Ger Farragher, Galway 5-18 - 4-18 Kilkenny, All-Ireland semi-final, Croke Park, 21 August 2005
  - 2-9 - Joe Canning, Galway 3-13 - 2-20 Kilkenny, All-Ireland semi-final, O'Connor Park, 20 June 2009

External links

Kilkenny v Galway head-to-head championship record

Notes and References

Web site: Kilkenny wary of history against erratic Tribesmen. Irish Independent. 19 June 2014. 24 June 2014. Martin. Breheny.
Web site: The itch Cody can’t scratch. Irish Examiner. 21 June 2014. 24 June 2014. Enda. McEvoy.
Web site: Galway the stone in his shoe Brian Cody can’t get rid of. Irish Examiner. 24 June 2014. 24 June 2014. Enda. McEvoy.
Web site: Galway turn Cats' milk sour. 14 June 2007. RTE Sport. 2 September 2015.
Web site: Kilkenny 1-19 Galway 1-12. 4 June 2010. RTE Sport. 2 September 2015.
Web site: Galway 2-21 Kilkenny 2-11. 8 July 2012. RTE Sport. 2 September 2015.
Web site: Analysis: How good was Henry Shefflin’s iconic display in the 2012 All-Ireland hurling final?. 1 September 2015. The 42. 2 September 2015.
Web site: Kilkenny 0-19 Galway 2-13. 11 September 2012. RTE Sport. 2 September 2015.
Web site: Kilkenny 3-22 Galway 3-11. 1 October 2012. RTE Sport. 2 September 2015.
Web site: Galway 5-16 Kilkenny 3-22. 23 June 2014. RTE Sport. 2 September 2015.
Web site: Conor Whelan snatches point for Galway against Kilkenny . Irish Times . 28 April 2024.