The 2009 Nicky Rackard Cup is the 5th annual third-tier hurling competition organised by the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include t ...

. Seven

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

teams and one regional team participate in the competition. The teams are Fingal,

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Ireland. It also provides the name of its civil parish and barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7,678. The town is on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry and Lette ...

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

, Sligo, Meath,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Armagh and

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who buil ...

. The winners of the competition were promoted to the 2010 Christy Ring Cup. On 11 July, Meath won the cup with a 2-18 to 1-15 win over

at Croke Park.

Structure

The tournament has a

double elimination A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimina ...

format - each team will play at least two games before being knocked out. *The eight teams play four Round 1 matches. **The winners in Round 1 advance to Round 2A. **The losers in Round 1 go into Round 2B. *There are two Round 2A matches. **The winners in Round 2A advance to the semi-finals. **The losers in Round 2A go into the quarter-finals. *There are two Round 2B matches. **The winners in Round 2B advance to the quarter-finals. **The losers in Round 2B go into the relegation playoff. ***The losers of the relegation playoff are relegated to the Lory Meagher Cup 2010. *There are two quarter-final matches between the Round 2A losers and Round 2B winners. **The winners of the quarter-finals advance to the semi-finals. **The losers of the quarter-finals are eliminated. *There are two semi-final matches between the Round 2A winners and the quarter-final winners. **The winners of the semi-finals advance to the final. **The losers of the semi-finals are eliminated. *The winners of the final win the Nicky Rackard Cup for 2009.

Round 1

Round 2

Quarter-Finals

Semi-Finals

Final

Relegation play-off

were relegated to the Lory Meagher Cup 2010.

References

{{Nicky Rackard Cup, width=75%

Nicky Rackard Cup The Nicky Rackard Cup (; often referred to as the Rackard Cup) is the fourth tier of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Each year, the champion team in the Nicky Rackard Cup is promoted to the Christy Ring Cup, and the lowest finishing ...

Nicky Rackard Cup