1953 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

The 1953 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 67th staging of the All-Ireland hurling championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1887. The championship began on 3 May 1953 and ended on 7 September 1953.

Cork were the defending champions, and retained their All-Ireland crown following a 3-3 to 0-8 defeat of Galway in the final.

Teams

Team summaries

Team	Colours	Most recent success
		All-Ireland	Provincial	League
Clare	Saffron and blue	1914	1932	1945-46
Cork	Red and white	1952	1952	1952-53
Dublin	Navy and blue	1938	1952	1938-39
Galway	Maroon and white	1923	1922	1950-51
Kilkenny	Black and amber	1947	1950	1932-33
Laois	Blue and white	1915	1949
Limerick	Green and white	1940	1940	1946-47
Meath	Green and gold
Offaly	Green, white and gold
Tipperary	Blue and gold	1951	1951	1951-52
Waterford	Blue and white	1948	1948
Westmeath	Maroon and white
Wexford	Purple and gold	1910	1951

Provincial championships

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship

First round

Second round

Semi-finals

Final

Munster Senior Hurling Championship

First round

Semi-finals

Final

Championship statistics

Top scorers

Top scorers overall

Rank	Player	Club	Tally	Total	Matches	Average
1	Jimmy Smyth	Clare	7-05	26	2	13.00
	Jim Langton	Kilkenny	1-23	26	5	5.20
2	Christy Ring	Cork	2-14	20	3	6.66
3	Patrick Greene	Clare	5-01	16	2	8.00
	Harry Gray	Laois	3-07	16	2	8.00
	Shem Downey	Kilkenny	3-07	16	5	3.20
4	Josie Hartnett	Cork	4-02	14	3	4.66
	Tim Flood	Wexford	2-08	14	2	7.00
5	Nicky Rackard	Wexford	3-03	12	2	6.00
6	Willie Rispin	Meath	3-01	10	2	5.00
	John Kiely	Waterford	1-07	10	1	10.00

Top scorers in a single game

Rank	Player	Club	Tally	Total	Opposition
1	Jimmy Smyth	Clare	6-04	22	Limerick
2	Tim Flood	Wexford	2-06	12	Laois
3	Christy Ring	Cork	1-08	11	Tipperary
4	Patrick Greene	Clare	3-01	10	Cork
	John Kiely	Waterford	1-07	10	Tipperary
5	Nicky Rackard	Wexford	2-03	9	Kilkenny
	Jim Langton	Kilkenny	1-06	9	Dublin
6	Harry Gray	Laois	2-02	8	Wexford
	Jim Prior	Dublin	2-02	8	Kilkenny
	Harry Gray	Laois	1-05	8	Offaly

Scoring

• Widest winning margin: 34 points
  • Clare 10-8 - 1-1 Limerick (Munster quarter-final, 14 June 1953)
• Most goals in a match: 11
  • Clare 10-8 - 1-1 Limerick (Munster quarter-final, 14 June 1953)
• Most points in a match: 21
  • Cork 3-10 - 1-11 Tipperary (Munster final, 26 July 1953)
• Most goals by one team in a match: 10
  • Clare 10-8 - 1-1 Limerick (Munster quarter-final, 14 June 1953)
• Most goals scored by a losing team: 4
  • Clare 4-2 - 2-11 Cork (Munster semi-final, 28 June 1953)
• Most points scored by a losing team: 11
  • Tipperary 1-11 - 3-10 Cork (Munster final, 26 July 1953)

Miscellaneous

• Clare's 10-8 to 1-1 defeat of Limerick in the Munster quarter-final was a record-breaking game. It was Clare's first championship defeat of their near rivals since 1914. The 34-point winning margin remains a record between these two teams. Jimmy Smyth of Clare scored a Munster championship record of 6-4 against Limerick.

Sources

• Corry, Eoghan, The GAA Book of Lists (Hodder Headline Ireland, 2005).
• Donegan, Des, The Complete Handbook of Gaelic Games (DBA Publications Limited, 2005).
• Horgan, Tim, Christy Ring: Hurling's Greatest (The Collins Press, 2007).
• Nolan, Pat, Flashbacks: A Half Century of Cork Hurling (The Collins Press, 2000).
• Sweeney, Éamonn, Munster Hurling Legends (The O'Brien Press, 2002).

External links

• 1953 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship results