Editing Hurling (section)

==History==
{{Further|History of hurling}}

=== Early history ===
Forms of stick-and-ball games have been played in Ireland since at least the Early Middle Ages. References to ''iomáin'' and ''báire'' are found across early Irish law tracts, annals and poetry. The word 'hurling' appears first as 'horlinge' in the 1366 Statute of Kilkenny, which prohibited Gaelic Irish cultural practices in the English colony.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rouse |first=Paul |title=The Hurlers |publisher=Penguin Ireland |year=2018 |location=Dublin |publication-date=2018 |pages=16–18 |language=en}}</ref>

The eighteenth century is frequently referred to as "The Golden Age of Hurling". This was when members of the [[Anglo-Irish]] landed gentry kept teams of players on their estates and challenged each other's teams to matches for the amusement of their tenants.

=== First rules ===
The earliest effort to codify the rules was not made until the late nineteenth century, by which time the traditional forms of hurling had all but died out throughout most of country. [[File:Gallowglass gravestone.png|thumb|A hurling stick and ball feature on this [[gallowglass]]' gravestone, circa 15–16th century]]

=== Gaelic Athletic Association ===
The founding of the [[Gaelic Athletic Association]] (GAA) in 1884 in Hayes Hotel, Thurles, County Tipperary, ended decline by organising the game around a common set of written rules. In 1888, Tipperary represented by Thurles Blues beat Meelick of Galway to win the first All-Ireland Championship. However, the twentieth century saw [[Cork GAA|Cork]], [[Kilkenny GAA|Kilkenny]]<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/kilkenny-hurling/ | newspaper=The Irish Times | title=Kilkenny Hurling | first=Tom | last=Humphries | access-date=20 February 2020 | archive-date=24 October 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024101727/http://www.irishtimes.com/kilkenny-hurling/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> as well as [[Tipperary GAA|Tipperary]] dominate hurling with each of these counties winning more than 20 All-Ireland titles each. [[Wexford GAA|Wexford]], [[Waterford GAA|Waterford]], [[Clare GAA|Clare]], [[Limerick GAA|Limerick]], [[Offaly GAA|Offaly]], [[Antrim GAA|Antrim]], [[Dublin GAA|Dublin]], and [[Galway GAA|Galway]] were also strong hurling counties during the twentieth century.

{{multiple image
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|image1 = Hurling scoring to 2023a.png
|caption1 = Hurling scoring in All-Ireland championships 1910 to 2023
|image2 = Points to Goals to 2023.png
|caption2 = Ratio of points to goals in Hurling & Football inter-county championships 1910 to 2023
|footer = 
}}An extended qualifier system resulted in a longer [[All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship]]. Pay-for-play remains controversial and the [[Gaelic Players Association]] continues to grow in strength. The inauguration of the [[Christy Ring Cup]] and [[Nicky Rackard Cup]] gave new championships and an opportunity to play in [[Croke Park]] to the weaker county teams. Further dissemination of the championship structure was completed in 2009 with the addition of the [[Lory Meagher Cup]] to make it a four tier championship.