1978 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

The 1978 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 92nd staging of the All-Ireland hurling championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1887. The championship began on 30 April 1978 and ended on 3 September 1978.

Cork entered the championship as defending champions.

On 3 September 1978, Cork won the championship following a 1–15 to 2–8 defeat of Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. This was their 24th All-Ireland title, their third championship in succession.

Kilkenny's Liam "Chunky" O'Brien was the championship's top scorer with 1-23. Cork's John Horgan was the choice for Hurler of the Year.

Team summaries

Team	Colours	Most recent success
		All-Ireland	Provincial	League
Antrim	Saffron and white		1946
Clare	Saffron and blue	1914	1932	1977-78
Cork	Red and white	1977	1977	1973-74
Dublin	Navy and blue	1938	1961	1938-39
Galway	Maroon and white	1923	1922	1974-75
Kerry	Green and gold	1891	1891
Kildare	White
Kilkenny	Black and amber	1975	1975	1975-76
Laois	Blue and white	1915	1915
Limerick	Green and white	1973	1974	1970-71
Offaly	Green, white and gold
Tipperary	Blue and gold	1971	1971	1967-68
Waterford	Blue and white	1959	1963	1962-63
Westmeath	Maroon and white
Wexford	Purple and gold	1968	1977	1972-73

Provincial championships

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship

First round

Quarter-final

Semi-finals

Final

Munster Senior Hurling Championship

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Top scorers

Overall

Rank	Player	County	Tally	Total	Matches	Average
1	Liam O'Brien	Kilkenny	1-23	26	4	6.50
2	Ned Buggy	Wexford	1-15	18	2	9.00
3	Billy Fitzpatrick	Kilkenny	2-10	16	4	4.0
4	Colm Honan	Clare	0-15	15	2	7.50
5	Charlie McCarthy	Cork	0-14	14	3	4.66
6	Willie Fitzmaurice	Limerick	4-0	12	2	6.00
	Joe Connolly	Galway	3-3	12	2	6.00
8	Seánie Kinsella	Wexford	3-2	11	2	5.50

Single game

Rank	Player	County	Tally	Total	Opposition
1	Liam O'Brien	Kilkenny	0-11	11	Offaly
2	Joe Connolly	Galway	3-1	10	Antrim
	Randall McDonnell	Antrim	3-1	10	Galway
	Seánie Kinsella	Wexford	3-1	10	Dublin
	Ned Buggy	Wexford	1-7	10	Kilkenny
	Frank Keenan	Laois	1-7	10	Dublin
7	Willie Fitzmaurice	Limerick	3-0	9	Clare
	Colm Honan	Clare	0-9	9	Limerick
9	Ned Buggy	Wexford	0-8	8	Dublin
10	Mick Ryan	Westmeath	2-1	7	Laois
	Matt Ruth	Kilkenny	2-1	7	Galway
	Mossie Walsh	Waterford	0-7	7	Kerry
	Charlie McCarthy	Cork	0-7	7	Kilkenny

Championship statistics

Miscellaneous

• Cork retain the All-Ireland title for a third successive season. It is the fourth time in their history that they have achieved this feat and the first time since Cork in 1954 that a team has won three championships in succession.
• Kerry return to the Munster Senior Hurling Championship for the first time since 1958.

Broadcasting

The following matches were broadcast live on television in Ireland on RTÉ.

Round	RTÉ
All-Ireland semi-final	Kilkenny vs Galway
All-Ireland final	Cork vs Kilkenny

Sources

• Corry, Eoghan, The GAA Book of Lists (Hodder Headline Ireland, 2005).
• Donegan, Des, The Complete Handbook of Gaelic Games (DBA Publications Limited, 2005).
• Nolan, Pat, Flashbacks: A Half Century of Cork Hurling (The Collins Press, 2000).