The 2022 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final, the 135th final of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and the culmination of the 2022 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, was played at Croke Park in Dublin on 17 July 2022. This was the earliest in the year that the final had ever taken place. Some past finals had taken place at dates earlier in the year, but these were finals rescheduled from the years in which they were originally supposed to occur.
The match was televised live on RTÉ One as part of The Sunday Game, presented by Joanne Cantwell from the Croke Park studio with analysis by Anthony Daly, Dónal Óg Cusack and Liam Sheedy. Commentary on the game was provided by Marty Morrissey alongside Michael Duignan. The match was also live on Sky Sports, with analysis from Jamesie O'Connor, Ollie Canning and J. J. Delaney.
Defending champions Limerick won the game by 1-31 to 2-26 to claim their fourth title in five years and their first ever three-in-a-row. The game was the joint highest scoring final in history, equalling the total of 66 points scored in the 2021 final between Limerick and Cork, and had the most scores (60) in a final surpassing the 58 scores of the 2021 final. Kilkenny's score of 2-26 was the highest total for a losing team in a final. There were 25 different scorers in the game, 10 for Limerick and 15 for Kilkenny.
Audience share for television coverage of the game in Ireland was 72%.
Background
This was the first meeting of Kilkenny and Limerick in the final since 2007. They had met in nine previous finals, Kilkenny winning five (1911, 1933, 1935, 1974, 2007) and Limerick four (1897, 1936, 1940, 1973). Kilkenny had not won an All-Ireland since 2015; this final marked their seventh season in a row without a title, their worst streak since 1984–1991 (eight years in a row).
Paths to the final
Kilkenny
Kilkenny finished second in the Leinster round-robin and so advanced to the Leinster Final.
As Leinster champions, Kilkenny advanced to the All-Ireland semi-final.
Limerick
Limerick finished second in the Munster round-robin and so advanced to the Munster Final.
As Munster champions, Limerick advanced to the All-Ireland semi-final.
Pre-match
Officials
On 6 July, the GAA named Cork's Colm Lyons as the referee for the final; he was the first Cork referee in the final since Diarmuid Kirwan in 2009.
Pageantry
President Michael D. Higgins greeted the players along with the GAA President for the first time since the 2019 All-Ireland final due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the pre-match parade featuring the Artane Band made a return for a second year running. The Liam MacCarthy Cup was brought out onto the pitch by two Ukrainian children who had fled their country due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Build-up
The final was shown on a giant screen at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick where an all ticket crowd watched the match.
Jubilee teams
The Wexford team that won the 1996 All-Ireland Final along with the Clare teams that won the 1995 and 1997 All-Ireland Final's were presented to the crowd before the match. The first time teams were presented on the pitch since the 2019 All-Ireland Final.
Match
Summary
In dry and very warm conditions of due to a heat wave, Diarmaid Byrnes opened the scoring in the first minute. In front of a crowd of over 80,000 for the first time since the 2019 All-Ireland final due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gearóid Hegarty got the opening goal of the game after four minutes with a strike to the left corner of the net from out on the right to make it 1-1 to no score. Limerick were ahead by four points at half-time on a 1-17 to 0-16 scoreline. In the second half, goals from Billy Ryan with a low shot to the corner of the net and Martin Keoghan with a shot into the left corner form the right twice helped to briefly drag Kilkenny back on level terms, and every one of their subs scored – Richie Hogan hitting an equaliser in his first appearance of the season. In the end, Limerick won the game 1-31 to 2-26 to claim their fourth title in five years and their first ever three-in-a-row. Captain Declan Hannon lifted the Liam MacCarthy Cup alongside the injured Cian Lynch, whose absence with an ankle injury made the achievement all the more impressive.
Details
Trophy presentation
Limerick captain Declan Hannon, alongside Cian Lynch (who did not play in the final due to an injury), accepted the Liam MacCarthy Cup from GAA president Larry McCarthy in the Hogan Stand. In doing so, Hannon became the first captain to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup four times.