Munster Hurling Betting 2022

Few major sporting tournaments can boast the longevity of the Munster GAA Hurling Championship, which started life 133 years ago in 1888. Organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), this provincial championship feeds into the prestigious All-Ireland Senior Championship, while it’s also home to two of the most successful hurling sides in history (namely Cork and Tipperary).

Considered by many to be the best provincial hurling championship in Ireland, the Munster tournament is also hugely popular among bettors from the Emerald Isle and the UK. We’ve created a detailed guide for the tournament, its rich history and best Munster Championship bets!

Munster Championships Odds and Prices

You can see the official Munster Championship odds information in the table below from our listed sportsbooks. It’s fair to suggest that these early ante-post prices are relatively long and likely to shorten as betting activity increases and the initial fixtures are drawn. So, if you’re an avid hurling fan and have a strong hunch about who will win the 2023 Championship, now may be the ideal time to place your wager.

Then, you can compare the best and most competitive odds in detail, before making an informed decision that affords you the optimal value for money.

Best Munster Hurling Betting Sites by Category

The Best Sportsbooks for Munster Championship Betting

Before we get into the detail of the guide, you should understand the best sportsbooks for placing Munster Championships bets. Here’s our shortlist of the leading betting operators.

Ladbrokes

GAA Hurling is one of the most popular sports in Ireland, so it should come as no surprise that Ladbrokes has several betting markets associated with the Munster Championship and similar tournaments. In fact, you can also bet simultaneously on competitions such as the Leinster and All-Ireland Senior Championships, helping you to coordinate your bankroll.

Ladbrokes’ current welcome offer is worth €20 in total, with this comprising four separate €5 wagers with maximum odds of 1.50. This offers excellent value, especially as there are no wagering requirements associated with the bonus.

William Hill

William Hill offers the second-largest number of sports betting markets next to Ladbrokes, with 31 available in total including significant coverage of the five primary GAA disciplines. This also includes coverage of the GAA Munster Championship, while you can also track the provincial teams that qualify to compete in the All-Ireland Senior Championship.

The current welcome offer at William Hill is worth €30, including two €15 free bets at maximum odds of 1.50. These individual wagers can unlock significant returns if they’re used wisely, while once again no wagering requirements are in play here.

888Sport

Next up is 888Sport, which despite featuring just 28 sports and betting markets, offers exceptional coverage of the Munster Championships and associated provincial tournaments. Interestingly, 888Sport is also renowned for offering competitive and enhanced odds, making it possible to eek out better value prices and ultimately get more bang for buck.

At 888Sport, you’ll qualify for up to €100 in bet credits when you credit your account with a minimum of €5. The amount that you deposit will dictate the credits your receive, while the total value of your cash and bonus balance will command wagering requirements of 5x.

BoyleSports

We close with BoyleSports, which is Ireland’s largest bookmaker and one that offer access to an impressive 40 sports betting markets online. This includes one of the largest selections of GAA markets across both Ireland and the UK, including match and outright betting on the Munster Championships and the subsequent All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.

What’s more, you can indulge your passion for GAA betting at BoyleSports while accessing a €20 free bet, so long as you initially credit your account with a minimum of €10. This wager must be placed on outcomes with minimum odds of 2.00, while any cashed out or other free bets won’t contribute towards meeting your wagering requirements.

The Munster Championship Format and Fixtures

The tournament usually starts in late April or early May and concludes in June, with five teams competing for the Mick Mackey Cup and qualification for the All-Ireland Senior Championships. Another change has seen the tournament switch from a round-robin format to a straight knockout competition, including a single quarterfinal, two semi-finals and a showpiece final to conclude the championship.

The two sides that reach the final will ultimately qualify automatically for the All-Ireland Championship, with the winners claiming a semi-final berth and the losers entering straight into the quarter-final.

The three other sides will join three similar placed teams from the Leinster Championship (alongside two other qualifying sides from each province) will be drawn into a first-round qualifier, with the winners entering a second round of fixtures that will determine the remaining spots in the All-Ireland Championship.

Whoever prevails at the end of these fixtures will do battle with the already-qualified quarter-finalists from Leinster and Munster, with the latter stages of the All-Ireland Championship renowned for producing high quality games and keenly-contested matches.

Munster Championships 2023 Schedule

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Final

📊 Munster Championship Predictions

Recommended - The Best Munster Championship Bets

In preparation for the 2023 Munster Championships, it’s worth considering some of the most popular betting markets and wager types associated with the tournament. So, here’s a breakdown of the three most popular bets, and a brief look at why they’re so widely used favoured by punters.

The Over/Under Market

Interestingly, the Munster Championship is home to a number of over/under markets, including those associated with points scored, fouls and total cards awarded during a game. In these markets, the sportsbook sets a fixed threshold, and you must decide whether the total amount of points, fouls or cards amassed is higher or lower than this value.

For example, a bookie may set a threshold of 3.5 disciplinary cards in a particular game, and you’ll wager on whether there will be over this amount (four or more) or under (no more than three) overall.

This is definitely a wager type that requires knowledge and insight, but it also makes for a highly popular in-play betting market.

Odd/Even Final Points Total

This is another relatively simple (albeit slightly unusual) betting market, and one that requires you to predict whether the full-time points total will be an odd or even number. As you can see, this wager is an even money bet, which affords you a 50% chance of winning and is ideal for either casual punters or those in the market for fun rather than tangible returns.

After all, there’s no quantifiable way of determining whether an odd or even number of points will be recorded, so this wager will introduce a tangible sense of chance and opportunism.

Handicap Betting

As you can imagine, not all hurling sides have been created equal, and even the relatively small Munster Championship can throw up some mismatches and uneven contests. This create an opportunity for handicap betting, where the sportsbooks affords a favoured side a virtual disadvantage (or an advantage for the underdog) that must be factored in to the final score. For example, if you back a short-price favourite to win with a handicap of –7, your selection must win by eight points for the wager to come in.

The key is to target matches where there’s a significant gap in quality between the two sides, as this way you can create handicaps that lengthen the odds significantly without necessary overly compromising your chances of winning. Of course, handicap betting is even more popular outside of inter-county games, but it can still provide excellent when used strategically on tournaments such as the Munster Championships.

The Top Munster Championship Betting Tips

When looking to target the aforementioned betting markets, you may also need some guidance on how to make the right selections. Here are some of our expert betting tips to keep in mind:

Prioritise Form and Recent Performance

Keep an eye on this section - we update it with odds and feedback on the various teams and provide our insight on their recent performance. this type of feedback can be telling on the team form.

Use Accumulators Wisely

You won’t always find significant variance in odds at the Munster Championship, with the five competing counties relatively evenly matched in terms of ability and performance. However, you can increase your potential returns by creating four or six-fold accumulators, which may also factor in simultaneous fixtures from the Leinster Provincial Championship.

This enables you to combine some relatively short-price selections into a single accumulator bet, with the individual odds multiplied to create a far longer cumulative price that can deliver increased returns.

Don’t Overlook Individual Player Markets

If you’re a hurling fan with a knowledge of the Munster Championship and its participating teams, you may also have an affinity with some of the best players. This affords you access to a far larger range of ante-post and in-play individual betting markets, including the first points scorer in a particular game or the eventual ‘Munster Hurler of the Year’ (this honour has been won by leading performers such as Cork’s Seamus Harnedy).

These markets can definitely offer value and extended odds, but you can use your passion and knowledge to navigate them successfully and achieve significant returns.

Interesting Facts and Stats About the 2021 Munster Championship

The 2021 Munster Championship was a thrilling tournament and one that was lit up by the dominance of eventual champions Limerick. Here’s some of the interesting facts and stats to emerge from the competition:

• Limerick won a Munster Senior Hurling Championship for a third consecutive time, which was the first time they’d achieved this feat since prevailing in 1934, 1935 and 1936.
• During the All-Ireland Championship, Limerick prevailed by overcoming all Munster province opposition, including Tipperary, Waterford and Cork (twice).
• Limerick player Cian Lynch was honoured as the Munster ‘Hurler of the Year’ for 2020, earmarking him as the best hurler in the province.
• The 2021 final was the first Munster hurling showpiece game held at the Pairc Ui Chaoimh since it reopened in 2017 after a period of development.

Then and Now - A Brief History of the Munster Championships

Following the foundation of the GAA in 1884, formal rules were drawn up for Gaelic Football and Hurling. Within two years, country committees were established nationwide, with the inaugural All-Ireland Senior Championship commissioned in 1887.

The following year, the championship received nine entrants from across the length and breadth of Ireland, compelling the GAA to create provincial tournaments in Munster and Leinster to reduce travelling costs for participating sides. And so, the Munster Championship was born, with the first match played on Sunday, 27th May 1888.

While Kerry enjoyed early success in the Championship, the county’s growing love of Gaelic Football saw it experience a sharp decline in the field of hurling. Subsequently, Cork and Tipperary have emerged as the sport’s dominant forces, winning a combined total of 96 of the 131 tournaments contested since 1890.

This included a run that saw the two sides share 18 titles between 1890 and 1909, and while Limerick also enjoyed two periods of dominance between 1910 and 1940, it was Tipperary that produced arguably the sport’s greatest ever and most successful side between the years of 1948 and 1971.

During this time, ‘The Premier County’ won nine championships and produced some of the most consistent sequences of results in history.

Interestingly, the 1990s and early noughties saw a more equitable period in terms of performance, as every competing Munster side managed to qualify for a final and teams including Clare and Waterford managed to lift the Mick Mackey Cup.

Currently, Limerick is the Munster team in ascension, having won three consecutive titles since 2019 and produced a supremely dominant performance to beat rivals Tipperary at the Pairc Ui Chaoimh in Cork City in the 2021 final.

FAQs - Your Questions Answered