2026 Tipperary county hurling team season

The National Hurling League started in late January with Tipperary's opening game was against Galway, managed by Micheál Donoghue on Saturday 24 January at Semple Stadium.^[17] The match was shown live on RTÉ2 in front of a crowd of 7,762.^[18][19] Manager Liam Cahill named his team for the match on 23 January, with 10 players that started the 2025 All-Ireland Hurling final named to start.^[20][21] In wet conditions, Tipperary won the game on a 1-21 to 1-16 scoreline after the teams were level on 0-9 each at half-time and also level on 11 occasions.^[22] The Tipperary goal came in the 64th minute from Darragh Stakelum with a low shot to the net from the right, putting Tipperary into a three point lead. Jake Morris was named as the man of the match.^[23][24]

On 15 March in the fifth round of the league, Tipperary travelled to Walsh Park to play Waterford, managed by Peter Queally in the re-arranged fixture after the initial match was postponed due to bereavement.^[25] The match was shown live on the TG4 app and Waterford had a 1-17 to 1-7 going into first-half stoppage time, before Tipperary scored two points to reduce the gap to eight points at half-time, the Tipperary goal came from John McGrath in his first start of 2026 in the 22nd minute.^[26] In the second half Tipperary came back and got a second goal from Gearóid O’Connor in the 58th minute and went on to win by four points on a 2-24 to 1-23 final score, a result that relegated Waterford to Division 1B for 2027.^[27][28][29]

The Munster Senior hurling championship started on 19 April 2026.^[30] Ticket prices for terrace were €30 and stand tickets were €35, the same as in 2025.^[31]

On Sunday 19 April, Tipperary played Cork, managed by Ben O'Connor in their first match of the Munster Championship at Semple Stadium. The match was played in dry sunny conditions in front of a sell-out crowd of 44,348 and was televised live on RTÉ 2 as part of the Sunday Game presented by Joanne Cantwell with on site analysis by Liam Sheedy, Joe Canning and Dónal Óg Cusack. Tickets for the game cost €35 for the stand and €30 for the terrace. Commentary on the game was provided by Marty Morrissey alongside Michael Duignan.

Stefan Tobin started for Tipperary to make his Chanmpionship debut, with Oisín O’Donoghue named to start for the first time in the half-back line, but eventually played in the half-forward line.^[32] The teams were level at half-time on 0-13 to 0-13. In the second half, Cork pulled away and prevented Tipperary from scoring from play in the second half until the 64th minute. Cork outscored Tipperary by 0-11 to 0-01 between the 44th and 59th minutes of the game. As the game went into added time, susbstitute Alan Tynan scored a goal for Tipperary with a low shot to the left corner of the net at the town end to make it 0-28 to 1-21.^[33][34] Substitute Darragh McCarthy then scored with a free to reduce the Cork lead to three points, before Cork went on to win by four on a 0-29 to 1-22 scoreline. The win was the fifth successive championship win for Cork against Tipperary in Thurles.^[35][36] Tipperary’s home record in the current Munster Championship round-robin format is 3 wins from 13 games.^[37]

On Sunday 26 April, Tipperary travelled to Walsh Park to play Waterford, managed by Peter Queally in their second match of the Munster Championship at Walsh Park. The match was played in dry conditions in front of a sell-out crowd of 11,982, and was televised live on GAA+. Seamus Kennedy, Alan Tynan, Sam O’Farrell and Darragh McCarthy came into the team instead of Craig Morgan, Conor Stakelum, Stefan Tobin and Jason Forde from the named starting line-up.^[38] At half-time, Tipperary had an eleven point lead on a 1-18 to 1-07 scoreline, the Tipperary goal coming from Andrew Ormond in the 23rd minute when he got past the goalkeeper on the right to shoot to the net, putting ten points between the sides on a 1-11 to 0-4 scoreline. Early in the second half Tipperary missed a penalty when Darragh McCarthy's low shot was saved by Waterford goalkeeper Billy Nolan. Waterford came back and got a goal from Stephen Bennett and then went on to go two points in front. Tipperary responded and got level before points from Stefan Tobin, Jason Forde, and Ronan Maher gave them a three point lead deep into stoppage time. With the last chance of the game, Waterford scored a third goal, a shot from Kevin Mahony to the right of the net to level the match with the teams finishing level. Oisín O'Donoghue was named as the man of the match. ^[39]