| Event | 2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Date | 8 July 2012 | ||||||
| Venue | Croke Park,Dublin | ||||||
| Referee | J. McGrath (Westmeath) | ||||||
| Attendance | 22,171[1] | ||||||
| Weather | Dry | ||||||
←2011 2013 → | |||||||
The2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship final, the deciding game of the 2012Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, was ahurling match played on 8 July 2012 atCroke Park,Dublin. Contested byGalway andKilkenny, most experts gave the former little chance against the latter.
Galway were 11/2 outsiders going into this game.[2] On the day of the game RTÉ delivered a verdict favouring Kilkenny, saying "Kilkenny's vice-like grip on the Leinster title is set to remain as tight as ever, unless Galway can produce something extraordinary at Croke Park today".[3]
Galway secured a historic first ever Leinster title, after unexpectedly defeating the 2011 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions, Kilkenny.[4] In doing so they held Kilkenny scoreless for the first twenty minutes, had 1-6 to 0-0 lead after 18 minutes, and led at half-time by 2-12 to 0-4, the full-time score of was 2-21 to 2-11.[5] The result sent the Bob O'Keeffe Cup across theShannon for the first time in the GAA's 128-year history.[6]
| Galway | 2–21 – 2–11 | Kilkenny |
|---|---|---|
| J Canning (1-10, 7fs), C Donnellan (0-05), D Burke (1-02), N Burke (0-02), D Collins (0-01), D Hayes (0-01). | Report | H Shefflin (1-08, 7fs), R Hogan (1-00), R Power (0-02), M Rice (0-01). |
     Galway |    Kilkenny |
Kilkenny managerBrian Cody said afterwards that his team were "wiped out" by Galway.[7] TheIrish Examiner reported on "a historic day in Croke Park [...] a day that may also go down in history for another reason, however, the day an empire began to crumble".[8]Martin Breheny, writing in theIrish Independent, called it "one of the most remarkable shut-outs of modern-day hurling" and reported that Galway had moved to the top of the selection of teams to have beaten the Cats "after subjecting Kilkenny to a systematic beating which nobody thought remotely possible".[2]
The teams would meet again in the2012 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final to decide the destination of theLiam MacCarthy Cup, with Kilkenny winning that game after a replay.
A 2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship winners' medal was later sold oneBay for €570.[9]
