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The Leinster Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1888 for the top hurling teams in the province of Leinster in Ireland. The series of games are played during the summer months with the Leinster final currently being played on the first Sunday in July. The prize for the winning team is the Bob O'Keeffe Cup. The championship has always been played on a straight knockout basis whereby once a team loses they are eliminated from the series. The Leinster Championship is an integral part of the wider All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. The winners of the Leinster final, like their counterparts in the Munster Championship, are rewarded by advancing directly to the semi-final stage of the All-Ireland series of games. The losers of the Leinster final, again like their Munster counterparts, enter the All-Ireland series at the quarter-final stage. Ten teams currently participate in the Leinster Championship, including Galway from Connacht and Antrim from Ulster. The most successful team in hurling, namely Kilkenny, play their provincial hurling in the Leinster Championship. They have won the provincial title on 70 occasions during their history while also claiming 35 All-Ireland titles; both of these are all-time records. The title has been won at least once by six of the Leinster counties, all but one of which (Galway) have won the title more than once. Kilkenny are the current champions. ==Format== The Leinster Championship is a knockout tournament with pairings drawn at random – there are no seeds, and the draw is usually made in October of the previous year. The competition has become more competitive since the emergence of Dublin as a hurling power. Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is a replay. Drawn replays are now settled with extra time, however, if both sides are still level at the end of extra time a second replay takes place and so on until a winner is found. If the quarter-finals end in draws, extra time is played immediately as replays are only permitted for provincial semi-finals and finals. The format has remained virtually the same since the very first Leinster Championship in 1888. The biggest change to the championship format took place in 2009. Firstly, Galway have had no opposition in the Connacht Championship since 2004. Due to this it has been decided at a special meeting of the GAA's congress for Galway to join the Leinster Championship for a three-year trial period, starting with the 2009 championship. Antrim GAA, being the only Tier 1 team in the Ulster Championship, will also participate in the Leinster Championship on a three-year trial period. Antrim, however, will also still compete in the Ulster Championship which will be run as a separate tournament to the All-Ireland Hurling Championship. From 2014 on, the five weak counties in the Leinster championship will first play in a group stage before the main championship. Ten counties currently participate in the Leinster Championship. These teams are: Antrim, Carlow, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Laois, London, Offaly, Westmeath and Wexford. ;Round Robin Stage The five weak counties in the championship will play a round robin group stage. Every team plays the other four teams once each. The top 2 teams from this group advance to the quarter finals of the championship. The bottom team is automatically relegated, and the 2nd last team is entered into a promotion/relegation playoff against the winner of that years Christy Ring cup. ;Quarter-finals An draw shall be made to determine the pairings for the Leinster quarter-finals. Six teams – whichever four of Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Offaly and Wexford who haven't won the title the previous year, and the two round robin winners– will be included in this draw. The winners of these three games shall advance to the Leinster semi-final stages. The three defeated teams are eliminated from the provincial championship. ;Semi-finals An open draw shall also be made to determine the pairings for the two Leinster semi-finals. The current title holders shall receive a bye to one of these semi-finals. They will be joined by the three winners from the quarter-final stages. The winners of these two semi-finals shall advance to the Leinster final. The two defeated teams are eliminated from the provincial championship. The Leinster Championship has wider implications for the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship. The teams that are defeated in the quarter-finals advance to phase one of the All-Ireland qualifiers. The two teams that are defeated in the Leinster semi-finals advance to phase two of the All-Ireland qualifiers. The winners of the Leinster final automatically qualify for the semi-final stages of the All-Ireland series of games while the runners-up qualify for the quarter-final stages. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Leinster Senior Hurling Championship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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