2017 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship Explained

The 2017 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship was the 127th staging of the Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Tipperary County Board in 1887. The draw for the group stage placings took place on 23 January 2017.^[1] The championship began on 28 April 2017 and ended on 8 October 2017.

Thurles Sarsfields were the defending champions and entered the championship in search of a fourth successive title.^[2] Ballina and Burgess were relegated after finishing bottom of the relegation group.

The final was played on 8 October 2017 at Semple Stadium in Thurles, between Thurles Sarsfields and Borris-Ileigh, in their first meeting in a final in 62 years. Thurles Sarsfields won the match by 1–24 to 0–11 to claim their 36th championship title overall and a fourth title in succession.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Thurles Sarsfields' Pa Bourke was the championship's top scorer with 3-43.

Results

Group stage

Group 1 table

Team	Matches				Score			Pts
width=20	Pld	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=45	For	width=45	Against	width=30	Diff
Loughmore-Castleiney	3	2	1	0	5-54	3-48	12	5
Borris-Ileigh	3	1	1	1	6-46	2-51	7	3
Upperchurch-Drombane	3	1	0	2	0-48	7-45	-18	2
Kiladangan	3	1	0	2	4-43	3-47	-1	2

Group 2 table

Team	Matches				Score			Pts
width=20	Pld	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=45	For	width=45	Against	width=30	Diff
Clonoulty-Rossmore	3	2	1	0			9	5
Drom-Inch	3	2	0	1			15	4
Portroe	3	0	2	1			-14	2
Ballina	3	0	1	2			-10	1

Group 3 table

Team	Matches				Score			Pts
width=20	Pld	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=45	For	width=45	Against	width=30	Diff
Thurles Sarsfields	3	3	0	0			63	6
Kilruane MacDonaghs	3	2	0	1			14	4
Nenagh Éire Óg	3	1	0	2			6	2
Carrick Swans	3	0	0	3			-83	0

Group 4 table

Team	Matches				Score			Pts
width=20	Pld	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=45	For	width=45	Against	width=30	Diff
Éire Óg Annacarty	3	2	0	1			9	4
Mullinahone	3	2	0	1			2	4
Killenaule	3	2	0	1			-1	4
Burgess	3	0	0	3			-10	0

Group 4 results

Relegation playoffs

Relegation section

Team	Matches				Score			Pts
width=20	Pld	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=45	For	width=45	Against	width=30	Diff
Kiladangan	2	2	0	0	3-40	3-18	22	4
Burgess	2	1	0	1	4-28	4-30	-2	2
Ballina	2	0	0	2	3-20	3-40	-20	0

Relegation playoffs

Knock-out stage

Final

Championship statistics

Top scorers

Overall

Rank	Player	Club	Tally	Total	Matches	Average
1	Pa Bourke	Thurles Sarsfields	3-43	52	6	8.66
2	Brendan Maher	Borris-Ileigh	1-44	47	7	6.71
3	John McGrath	Loughmore-Castleiney	5-30	45	4	11.25
4	Michael Breen	Ballina	3-34	43	5	8.60
5	Séamus Callanan	Drom-Inch	4-26	38	4	9.50
6	Cian Darcy	Kilruane MacDonaghs	3-28	37	4	9.25
7	Stephen Murray	Burgess	2-29	35	4	8.75
8	Aidan McCormack	Thurles Sarsfields	1-30	33	6	5.50
	Seán Curran	Mullinahone	0-33	33	4	8.25
10	Darragh Egan	Kiladangan	2-25	31	5	6.20
	Michael Heffernan	Nenagh Éire Óg	1-28	31	4	8.75
	Paul Ryan	Upperchurch-Drombane	0-31	31	3	10.33

In a single game

Rank	Player	Club	Tally	Total	Opposition
1	Michael Heffernan	Nenagh Éire Óg	1-14	17	Carrick Swans
2	John McGrath	Loughmore-Castleiney	2-10	16	Upperchurch-Drombane
3	Jake Morris	Nenagh Éire Óg	3-04	13	Carrick Swans
	Darragh Egan	Kiladangan	1-10	13	Borris-Ileigh
	John O'Neill	Clonoulty-Rossmore	0-13	13	Portroe
	Pa Bourke	Thurles Sarsfields	0-13	13	Carrick Swans
	Stephen Murray	Burgess	0-13	13	Mullinahone
8	Michael O'Brien	Thurles Sarsfields	3-03	12	Carrick Swans
	Séamus Callanan	Drom-Inch	2-06	12	Clonoulty-Rossmore
	Séamus Callanan	Drom-Inch	1-09	12	Clonoulty-Rossmore
	Timmy Hammersley	Clonoulty-Rossmore	0-12	12	Drom-Inch

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tipperary Water County Championship Draws 2017. Tipperary GAA website. 23 January 2017. 13 August 2021.
2. Web site: No fairytale for Kiladangan as Thurles Sars clinch Tipperary hurling three-in-a-row. The 42. 16 October 2016. 13 August 2021.
3. Web site: Pádraic Maher hails 'lunatic' Thurles Sarsfields team-mates. 11 October 2016. Irish Examiner. 12 October 2016.
4. Web site: Padraic Maher leads powerful Thurles Sarsfields to four in a row. 9 October 2017. Irish Examiner. 9 October 2017.
5. Web site: Maher: We can go all the way. 10 October 2017. Irish Independent. 10 October 2017.