# 2006 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

"none" is preferred when the title is already sufficiently detailed; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
The 2006 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 120th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county hurling tournament, since its establishment in 1887. The draw for the provincial fixtures took place on 12 November 2005. The championship began on 14 May 2006 and ended on 3 September 2006
Cork entered the championship as defending champions.
On 3 September 2006, Kilkenny won the championship after a 1–16 to 1–13 defeat of Cork in the All-Ireland final at Croke Park. This was their 29th All-Ireland title overall and their first title since 2003.
Kilkenny's Henry Shefflin was the championship's top scorer with 2-47.

## Team changes
### To Championship

Promoted from the Christy Ring Cup
* Westmeath

### From Championship

Relegated to the Christy Ring Cup
* Antrim

## Teams
### General information

Twelve counties will compete in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship: one team in the Connacht Senior Hurling Championship, six teams in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship and five teams in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship.
| County | Last provincial title | Last championship title | Position in 2005 Championship |
| Clare | 1998 | 1997 | Semi-finals |
| Cork | 2005 | 2005 | Champions |
| Dublin | 1961 | 1938 | Qualifier Group B |
| Galway | 1999 | 1988 | Runners-up |
| Kilkenny | 2005 | 2003 | Semi-finals |
| Laois | 1949 | 1915 | Qualifier Group A |
| Limerick | 1996 | 1973 | Quarter-finals |
| Offaly | 1995 | 1998 | Qualifier Group B |
| Tipperary | 2001 | 2001 | Quarter-finals |
| Waterford | 2004 | 1959 | Quarter-finals |
| Westmeath | — | — | Champions (Christy Ring Cup) |
| Wexford | 2004 | 1996 | Quarter-finals |

### Overview

Twelve teams participated in hurling's top tier in 2006.
For the first time since 1983, the Ulster champions were not represented in the wider All-Ireland series of games. Antrim, in spite of being Ulster champions in 2005, subsequently lost all of their All-Ireland qualifier games and were relegated to the Christy Ring Cup after being beaten by Offaly and Laois in the relegation play-offs.

### Personnel and general information

| Team | Manager(s) | Captain(s) | Sponsor |
| Clare | Anthony Daly | Seánie McMahon | Pat O'Donnell |
| Cork | John Allen | Pat Mulcahy | O2 |
| Dublin | Tommy Naughton | Philip Brennan | Arnotts |
| Galway | Liam Donoghue | Conor Hayes | Supermacs |
| Kilkenny | Brian Cody | Jackie Tyrrell | Avonmore |
| Laois | Dinny Cahill | Patrick Mullaney | The Heritage |
| Limerick | Joe McKenna Richie Bennis | T. J. Ryan Damien Reale | Sporting Limerick |
| Offaly | John McIntyre | Brendan Murphy | Carroll Cuisine |
| Tipperary | Babs Keating | Ger O'Grady | Enfer |
| Waterford | Justin McCarthy | Paul Flynn | Essence |
| Westmeath | Séamus Qualter | John Shaw | Greville Arms Hotel |
| Wexford | Séamus Murphy | Keith Rossiter | Wexford Cheddar |

## Provincial championships
### Leinster Senior Hurling Championship

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Leinster final | Leinster final |
| | | Wexford | 0-09 | | |
| Laois | 0-08 | Offaly | 0-08 | | |
| Offaly | 2-12 | | | Wexford | 2-12 |
| | | | | Kilkenny | 1-23 |
| | | Westmeath | 1-09 | | |
| Westmeath | 0-13 | Kilkenny | 1-23 | | |
| Dublin | 0-11 | | | | |

#### Final
### Munster Senior Hurling Championship

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Munster final | Munster final |
| | | Cork | 0-20 | | |
| | | Clare | 0-14 | | |
| | | | | Cork | 2-14 |
| | | | | Tipperary | 1-14 |
| | | Waterford | 1-12 | | |
| Tipperary | 0-22 | Tipperary | 3-14 | | |
| Limerick | 2-12 | | | | |

#### Final
### Ulster Senior Hurling Championship

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final |
| | | | New York | New York | 1-18 | | | |
| | | | Derry | Derry | 1-12 | | | |
| | | | | | | New York | New York | 1-14 |
| | | | | | | Antrim | Antrim | 2-20 |
| | | | Down | Down | 0-12 | | | |
| Antrim | Antrim | 2-16 | Antrim | Antrim | 2-23 | | | |
| London | London | 1-14 | | | | | | |

#### Final
## Cup competitions
### Christy Ring Cup
#### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | SF | SA | Diff | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Down | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8-76 | 2-43 | 51 | 8 | Advance to Knockout Stage |
| 2 | Antrim | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 15-70 | 2-48 | 61 | 6 | Advance to Knockout Stage |
| 3 | London | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7-45 | 4-59 | -5 | 4 | |
| 4 | Meath | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2-65 | 10-50 | -9 | 2 | |
| 5 | Roscommon | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2-35 | 16-91 | -98 | 0 | Advance to relegation playoff |

#### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | SF | SA | Diff | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Kildare | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9-62 | 7-43 | 25 | 8 | Advance to Knockout Stage |
| 2 | Carlow | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7-55 | 8-37 | 15 | 5 | Advance to Knockout Stage |
| 3 | Mayo | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4-34 | 7-48 | -23 | 4 | |
| 4 | Wicklow | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6-45 | 9-41 | -5 | 3 | |
| 5 | Kerry | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7-34 | 2-61 | -12 | 0 | Advance to relegation playoff |

#### Knockout stage

| Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Final | Final | Final |
| Kildare | Kildare | 0-06 | | | |
| Antrim | Antrim | 2-21 | | | |
| Antrim | Antrim | 2-21 | Antrim | Antrim | 5-13 |
| | | | Carlow | Carlow | 1-07 |
| Down | Down | 5-08 | Carlow | Carlow | 1-07 |
| Carlow | Carlow | 2-19 | | | |

### Nicky Rackard Cup
## All-Ireland qualifiers
### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Waterford | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6-64 | 4-47 | 23 | 6 | Advance to All-Ireland Quarter-Finals |
| 2 | Galway | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12-59 | 3-44 | 42 | 4 | Advance to All-Ireland Quarter-Finals |
| 3 | Laois | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5-41 | 11-44 | -21 | 2 | |
| 4 | Westmeath | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3-29 | 8-58 | -44 | 0 | Advance to Relegation Playoff |

#### Results
### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | Pts | Status |
| 1 | Clare | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8-57 | 2-35 | 40 | 6 | Advance to All-Ireland Quarter-Finals |
| 2 | Limerick | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4-55 | 5-53 | -1 | 4 | Advance to All-Ireland Quarter-Finals |
| 3 | Offaly | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4-45 | 4-61 | -16 | 2 | |
| 4 | Dublin | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2-46 | 7-54 | -23 | 0 | Advance to Relegation Playoff |

#### Results
### Relegation play-off
## All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| Cork | 0-19 | | | | |
| Limerick | 0-18 | | | | |
| Limerick | 0-18 | Cork | 1-16 | | |
| | | Waterford | 1-15 | | |
| Waterford | 1-22 | Waterford | 1-15 | | |
| Tipperary | 3-13 | | | | |
| Tipperary | 3-13 | | | Cork | 1-13 |
| | | | | Kilkenny | 1-16 |
| Kilkenny | 2-22 | | | | | Kilkenny | 1-16 |
| Galway | 3-14 | | | | |
| Galway | 3-14 | Kilkenny | 2-21 | | |
| | | Clare | 1-16 | | |
| Clare | 1-27 | Clare | 1-16 | | |
| Wexford | 1-15 | | | | |

### All-Ireland Final
## Championship statistics
### Top scorers
#### Overall

| Rank | Player | County | Tally | Total | Matches | Average |
| 1 | Henry Shefflin | Kilkenny | 2-47 | 53 | 5 | 10.60 |
| 2 | Eoin Kelly | Tipperary | 3-38 | 47 | 4 | 11.75 |
| 3 | James Young | Laois | 1-33 | 36 | 4 | 9.00 |
| 4 | Niall Gilligan | Clare | 3-26 | 35 | 6 | 5.83 |
| 5 | David Curtin | Dublin | 0-34 | 34 | 5 | 6.80 |
| 6 | Joe Deane | Cork | 0-32 | 32 | 5 | 6.40 |
| 7 | Andrew Mitchell | Westmeath | 0-30 | 30 | 6 | 5.00 |
| 8 | Dave Bennett | Waterford | 0-27 | 27 | 5 | 5.40 |
| 9 | Ger Farragher | Galway | 1-22 | 25 | 4 | 6.25 |
| 10 | Brian Carroll | Offaly | 0-24 | 24 | 5 | 4.80 |

#### In a single game

| Rank | Player | County | Tally | Total | Opposition |
| 1 | Henry Shefflin | Kilkenny | 1-13 | 16 | Clare |
| 1 | James Young | Laois | 1-13 | 16 | Westmeath |
| 2 | Eoin Kelly | Tipperary | 2-09 | 15 | Waterford |
| 3 | Alan Kerins | Galway | 4-02 | 14 | Laois |
| 3 | Eoin Kelly | Tipperary | 0-14 | 14 | Limerick |
| 4 | Niall Gilligan | Clare | 2-05 | 11 | Dublin |
| 4 | Henry Shefflin | Kilkenny | 0-11 | 11 | Galway |
| 5 | Derek Quinn | Clare | 1-07 | 10 | Offaly |
| 5 | Barry Foley | Limerick | 1-07 | 10 | Offaly |
| 5 | Henry Shefflin | Kilkenny | 1-07 | 10 | Wexford |

## Miscellaneous

* For the first time since 1983, the Ulster champions were not represented in the wider All-Ireland series of games.