All-Ireland Rugby League Championship

All-Ireland Rugby League Championship

Founded	1997
Country	Republic of Ireland + Northern Ireland
Number of teams	6
Level on pyramid	1
Promotion to	none
Relegation to	none
Current champions	Banbridge Broncos (1 title)
Most championships	Treaty City Titans (8 titles)

The All-Ireland Rugby League Championship was first played for in 1997 under the title All-Ireland Challenge Cup. Since then it has also been known as the All-Ireland League, Elite League and the All-Ireland Championship. It is a rugby league competition involving teams from Ireland. At one point it was called the McGettigans All-Ireland League for sponsorship reasons

History

The first domestic rugby league club in Ireland were the Dublin Blues. They were a club founded in 1989 by Brian Corrigan

Following the formation of the Ireland national side in 1995 a league competition was mooted to aid further development. So in 1997 the first Rugby League tournament began in Ireland. Under the title All-Ireland Challenge Cup eight clubs, Belfast Buccaneers , Tallaght Tigers , Churchtown Warriors, East Coast Panthers from Bray, Bangor Vikings , Dublin Blues , Northside Saints and Cork Bulls chased the first ever title. Fittingly the oldest club Dublin Blues lifted the trophy.

Northside Saints from Dublin won the following season before Dublin Blues won the title for the second time. 2000 brought victory for another Dublin club in Churchtown Warriors before Cork Bulls briefly ended the Dubliners dominance. Dublin City Exiles won the first of two consecutive titles, both against Dublin Blues in 2002.

Clontarf Bulls were a surprise winner in 2004, the next campaign saw the emergence of Treaty City Titans from Limerick as a truly dominant force they would go on and win six of the next seven championships, many of which saw them go undefeated. In the season they didn't win they were runner-up to Carlow Crusaders in 2008 a side they had beaten in the previous two finals.

During this time as the sport grew the league changed from regional leagues Leinster and Munster into a top division Elite League underpinned by local leagues.

By 2010 regional leagues were brought back followed by a series of play-offs. On the field Country Cowboys won their first title in 2012, it was back to the norm in 2013 as Treaty City Titans lifted their 7th title.

The Titans had to settle for runners-up the next season as Barnhall Butchers won for the first time. Treaty City Titans after an indifferent campaign won again in 2015 and in 2016 we were guaranteed a new name on the trophy as debutant finalists Galway Tribesmen overcame 2012 runners-up Ballynahinch Rabbitohs

Current Season (2024)

Six teams are contesting the RLI Premiership

Club	City/County	Country
Dublin City Exiles	Dublin	Republic of Ireland
Banbridge Broncos	Banbridge	Northern Ireland
Galway Tribesmen	Galway	Republic of Ireland
Longhorns RL	Dublin	Republic of Ireland
Cork Bulls	Cork City	Republic of Ireland

Three teams are contesting the RLI Womens' Premiership

Club	City	Country
Galway Tribeswomen	Galway	Republic of Ireland
Dublin City Exiles	Dublin	Republic of Ireland
Banbridge Broncos	Banbridge	Northern Ireland

Men's finals

List of finals

Year	Winning team	Score	Losing team	Ref.
1997	Dublin Blues	–	Tallaght Tigers
1998	Northside Saints	48–24	Dublin Blues
1999	Dublin Blues	24–18	Cork Bulls
2000	Churchtown Warriors	–
2001	Cork Bulls	16–12	Dublin City Exiles
2002	Dublin City Exiles	26–18	Dublin Blues
2003	Dublin City Exiles	28–26	Dublin Blues
2004	Clontarf Bulls	32–30	Dublin Blues
2005	Treaty City Titans	36–30	Kildare Dragons
2006	Treaty City Titans	24–10	Carlow Crusaders
2007	Treaty City Titans	38–22	Carlow Crusaders
2008	Carlow Crusaders	24–80	Treaty City Titans
2009	Treaty City Titans	33–26	Carlow Crusaders
2010	Treaty City Titans	52–24	Dublin City Exiles
2011	Treaty City Titans	w/o	Carlow Crusaders
2012	Country Cowboys	28–24	Ballynahinch Rabbitohs
2013	Treaty City Titans	36–16	Dublin City Exiles
2014	Barnhill Butchers	25–24	Treaty City Titans
2015	Treaty City Titans	28–18	Longhorns RL
2016	Galway Tribesmen	36–34	Ballynahinch Rabbitohs
2017	Longhorns RL	46–60	Belfast Met Scholars
2018	Longhorns RL	w/o	Belfast Stags
2019	Longhorns RL	–
2020	Longhorns RL	24–10	Galway Tribesmen
2021	Galway Tribesmen	–
2022	Dublin City Exiles	–
2023	Banbridge Broncos	–

Men's winners

#	Club	No.	Year(s)
1	Treaty City Titans	8	2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015
2	Longhorns RL	4	2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
3	Dublin City Exiles	3	2002, 2003, 2022
4	Dublin Blues	2	1997, 1999
	Galway Tribesmen		2016, 2021
6	Banbridge Broncos	1	2023
	Barnhill Butchers		2014
	Carlow Crusaders		2008
	Churchtown Warriors		2000
	Clontarf Bulls		2004
	Cork Bulls		2001
	Country Cowboys		2012
	Northside Saints		1998

Women's competition

Winners:

• 2021 - Dublin City Exiles
• 2022 - Dublin City Exiles
• 2023 - Dublin City Exiles

See also

• Rugby league in Ireland
• List of rugby league competitions

External links

• Official website