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The Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is one of the most prestigious hurling tournaments in Ireland and the most prestigious inter-county hurling competition in Munster. The championship has been awarded every year since 1889. The final, usually held on the second Sunday in July, serves as the culmination of a series of games played during the early summer months, and the results determine which county's team receives the Munster Cup. The championship has always been played on a straight knockout basis whereby once a team loses they are eliminated from the championship. The Munster Championship is an integral part of the wider GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship. The winners of the Munster final, like their counterparts in the Leinster Championship, are rewarded by advancing directly to the semi-final stage of the All-Ireland series of games. The losers of the Munster final enter the All-Ireland series at the quarter-final stage. Five teams currently participate in the Munster Championship. Two of the most successful teams in hurling, namely Cork and Tipperary, play their provincial hurling in the Munster Championship. Between them, these teams have won the provincial title on 92 occasions during its history while they have also claimed 56 All-Ireland titles. The title has been won at least once by all six of the Munster counties, five of which have won the title more than once. The all-time record-holders Cork, who have won the competition 51 times. Tipperary are the current champions. Hurling is the more prominent of the two Gaelic games in Munster. As such the Munster Championship is regarded as the most skillful and exciting of all the provincial hurling championships. The Munster final, particularly when played in Semple Stadium in Thurles, is considered one of the biggest and best sporting occasions in Ireland. ==Format== The Munster 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. 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 lone quarter-final is a draw, 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 Munster Championship in 1888. For years Cork and Tipperary, recognised as the 'big two' in the province, were drawn at opposite sides of the championship. This was viewed, however, as a mean of penalising the other teams. While it might be possible to beat one of these teams it was deemed near impossible to beat both in a single championship season. This practice was abolished and now an open draw is made in which three of the five teams automatically qualify for the semi-final stage of the competition. Two other teams play in a lone quarter-final with the winner joining the other three teams at the semi-final stage. Once a team is defeated they are eliminated from the championship. The Munster Championship has wider implications for the GAA All-Ireland Hurling Senior Championship. The team that is defeated in the lone quarter-final advances to phase one of the All-Ireland qualifiers. The two teams that are defeated in the Munster semi-finals advance to phase two of the All-Ireland qualifiers. The winners of the Munster 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. Five of the six counties of Munster - Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford - participate in the championship. Kerry, the sixth county in the province, contested the Munster Championship until 2004, however, they currently participate in the Christy Ring Cup, a competition for the second-level teams. 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「Munster Senior Hurling Championship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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