The 2018 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 131st staging of the

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship, known simply as the All-Ireland Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurling competition i ...

since its establishment by the

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

in 1887. It is the first tier of senior inter-county championship hurling. The championship began on 12 May 2018 and ended on 19 August 2018. The draw for the championship round-robin fixtures was held off camera on 19 October 2017 and announced on the championship draw broadcast on

RTÉ2 RTÉ2 is an Television in the Republic of Ireland, Irish free-to-air television channel operated by public service broadcaster RTÉ. It was launched in 1978 as the Republic of Ireland's second television channel. History In the 1970s, the Iri ...

. The Championship was won by

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, who were crowned champions after overcoming

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

by a score line of 3–16 to 2-18. Limerick's victory was their eighth All-Ireland title and first since

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

. The 2018 Championship has been described by many as one of the best ever. The 2018 championship saw the biggest change in format since the introduction of the qualifiers in 2002.

New format

A new provincial hurling championship featuring five-team round-robin groups in both Leinster and Munster and the new Joe McDonagh Cup was introduced in 2018 for an initial three-year period. The proposal was carried by a narrow margin with 62% voting in favour (a majority of at least 60% was required) at the GAA's Special Congress on 30 September 2017. The top two teams in each provincial group would contest the provincial final, with the provincial winners advancing to the All-Ireland semi-finals and the losing provincial finalists advancing to the two quarter-finals. An amendment to the motion from

Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medie ...

Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

and Meath was carried by 87%. The third-placed teams in Leinster and Munster would compete in All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals against the two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists, with the Joe McDonagh Cup teams having home advantage. If a non-Munster team were to win the Joe McDonagh Cup, the bottom team in the Leinster championship would be relegated to the following year's Joe McDonagh Cup and would be replaced in the following year's Leinster championship by the Joe McDonagh Cup winners. If a Munster team were to win the Joe McDonagh Cup, they would play off against the team who finished bottom in the Munster championship for the right to play in the following year's Munster championship, thereby ensuring that only Munster teams compete in the Munster championship. The restructure of hurling involved the reduction of the Leinster championship from nine teams to five while the Munster championship continued with the previous five Munster teams (Kerry previously competed in the qualifier group of the Leinster championship). A six-team

Joe McDonagh Cup The Joe McDonagh Cup is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It forms the second tier of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and is the second highest level of inter- ...

was created, consisting of all four teams from the 2017 Leinster qualifier group plus Antrim and Carlow, the 2017 Christy Ring Cup finalists.

Teams

A total of twelve teams competed in the championship – five in the Leinster championship, five in the Munster championship, and the top two teams from the Joe McDonagh Cup who entered at the preliminary quarter-final stage.

Teams and venues

Each team has a nominal home stadium for the round-robin series of the provincial championships. However,

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

will not play their "home" games at

Walsh Park Walsh Park ( ga, Páirc Breathnach) is a GAA stadium in Waterford, Ireland named after Willie Walsh, a well-known referee and long time campaigner for Gaelic games in Waterford. It is one of the two homes of the Waterford Gaelic football and hu ...

, instead playing in neutral venues for these fixtures, namely

Gaelic Grounds The Gaelic Grounds, know for sponsorshop reasons as the TUS Gaelic Grounds, is the principal GAA stadium in the Irish city of Limerick, home to the Limerick hurling and football teams. It has a capacity of 44,023. History 9 October 1926 saw f ...

and

Semple Stadium The Semple Stadium is the home of hurling and Gaelic football for Tipperary GAA and for the province of Munster. Located in Thurles, County Tipperary, it is the second largest GAA stadium in Ireland (after Croke Park), with a capacity of 45,690. ...

Thurles Thurles (; ''Durlas Éile'') is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of the same name in the barony of Eliogarty and in the ecclesiastical parish of Thurles (Roman Catholic parish), Thurles. The cathedral ch ...

. In the knockout stage, teams from the provincial round-robin series will not have home advantage, if avoidable. The only teams to play knockout games at home are the two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists, who had home advantage in the preliminary quarter-finals. The Munster final was held at a neutral venue which was decided based on the qualifying teams, while the locations of the two quarter-finals were decided based on similar considerations. The Leinster final, and the semi-finals and final of the All-Ireland series are held in the 82,300-capacity

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, headquarters of the GAA.

Personnel and colours

Summary

Championships

Provincial Championships

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship

Munster Senior Hurling Championship

Joe McDonagh Cup

The inaugural

, the second tier of senior inter-county championship hurling, was contested by Antrim,

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2016 census, it had a combined urban and rural population of 24,272. The River Barrow flows through the town and forms the historic bounda ...

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in Count ...

, Meath and

Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

. Each team played all the other teams once in a round-robin format, with the top two teams progressing to the Joe McDonagh Cup final and also advancing to the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals, where they played the teams that finished third in the Leinster and Munster championships. Westmeath confirmed their place in the Joe McDonagh Cup final on 2 June 2018 after winning their first four matches, with Carlow confirming their place on 9 June after beating Westmeath. : ;Final The top two teams at the end of the round-robin,

and

, faced each other in the final on 1 July 2018. The game, which took place in

, saw Carlow emerge victorious by a margin of five points to claim the inaugural Joe McDonagh Cup title. As a Leinster county, Carlow were automatically promoted to the Leinster championship for 2019, taking the place of Offaly.

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

Bracket

All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals

The preliminary quarter-finals saw the third-placed teams from the two provincial round-robins play the two teams who competed in the Joe McDonagh Cup Final, with the two finalists having home advantage. Joe McDonagh champions

faced third-placed Munster team

Dr Cullen Park Dr Cullen Park, known for sponsorship reasons as Netwatch Cullen Park, is a GAA stadium in Carlow, County Carlow, Ireland. It is the home of the Carlow Gaelic football and hurling teams. It has a capacity of 21,000. History The ground's establ ...

, while runners-up

met

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 N ...

, the third-place finished from Leinster, in

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, with a population of 20,928 in the 2016 census. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 proclaimed Westmeat ...

's Cusack Park.

All-Ireland quarter-finals

The two quarter-finals saw the losing provincial finalists play the winners of the two preliminary quarter-finals. As both third-place finishers from the provincial series won in the previous round, they were kept apart from the teams they had already met in the round-robin phase to prevent a repeat fixture. Munster runners-up Clare met

, with beaten Leinster finalists

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

facing

the following day. Both games were held at neutral venues.

All-Ireland semi-finals

The semi-finals took place in

across the last weekend of July, with the Leinster (

) and Munster champions (

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

) playing the winners of the two quarter-finals — Clare and

respectively.

All-Ireland final

Championship statistics

Top scorers overall

Top scorers in a single game

Scoring Events

*Widest winning margin: 24 points **

2-9 – 5-24

(Leinster round-robin) **

0-13 – 5-22

(All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final) *Most goals in a match: 7 **

2-9 – 5-24

(Leinster round-robin) **

2-15 – 5-18

(Leinster round-robin) *Most points in a match: 63 **

2-31 – 3-32

(All-Ireland semi-final, after extra time) *Most goals by one team in a match: 5 **

2-9 – 5-24

(Leinster round-robin) **

2-15 – 5-18

(Leinster round-robin) **

0-13 – 5-22

(All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final) *Most goals by a losing team: 3 **

3-16 – 1-24

(Leinster round-robin) **

2-24 – 3-19 Clare ( Munster final) **

3-15 – 1-28

( Leinster final, replay) * Highest aggregate score: 78 points (new all-time record) **

2-31 – 3-32

(All-Ireland semi-final, after extra time) *Lowest aggregate score: 36 points **

0-18 – 0-18

( Leinster final, drawn match)

Miscellaneous

* The Munster round-robin game between Clare and Waterford was the first Munster Championship game to take place at Cusack Park in

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

since

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

. * The Leinster round-robin game between Galway and Kilkenny at

Pearse Stadium Pearse Stadium ( ga, Páirc an Phiarsaigh) is the principal GAA stadium in Galway, Ireland. The Galway GAA Gaelic football and hurling teams use the stadium for their home games. The stadium, amongst others in the province of Connacht, is also ...

Salthill Salthill () is a seaside area in the City of Galway in the west of Ireland. Lying within the townland of Lenaboy (''an Léana Buí''), it attracts many tourists all year round. There is a 2 km long promenade, locally known as ''the Pro ...

was Galway's first home Leinster Championship match. It was the first provincial championship game (excluding the

Connacht championship The Connacht Senior Hurling Championship, known simply as the Connacht Championship, was an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Connacht Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It was the highest inter-county hurl ...

) to take place in County Galway since

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

. *Clare's defeat of Tipperary in the Munster round-robin game was their first victory over the team since

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. It is also their first defeat of Tipperary in

since

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...

. * Michael "Brick" Walsh of

set a new record when he made his 74th championship appearance against

on 17 June 2018. *Cork won back-to-back Munster titles for the first time since

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

/ 06. *The Leinster final ended in a draw for the first time since

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. *The Leinster final was played outside Leinster for the first time. * For only the second year in a row, no county from

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

reached the All-Ireland semi-final stage, with the four spots going to Clare, Cork, Galway and Limerick. (

currently play in the Leinster Championship but are geographically in

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

.) * Limerick defeated Kilkenny in the championship for the first time since

. * Kilkenny failed to win the All-Ireland for the third consecutive year. This is their longest titleless streak since

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

–

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, when they went six years without an All-Ireland. * Limerick achieve victory in the All-Ireland final for the first time since

. * Limerick defeated Galway in the All-Ireland final for the very first time.

Live Hurling on TV

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

, the national broadcaster in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, provided the majority of the live television coverage of the hurling championship in the second year of a five-year deal running from 2017 until 2021.

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

also broadcast a number of matches and had exclusive rights to some games.

Awards

;Sunday Game Team of the Year ''

The Sunday Game ''The Sunday Game'' is RTÉ's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ2 every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ2's longest-running shows, having been on air since 197 ...

'' team of the year was picked on 19 August, which was the night of the final. The panel consisting of Brendan Cummins,

Jackie Tyrrell Jackie Tyrrell (born 19 June 1982) is an Irish hurler whose league and championship career with the Kilkenny senior team spanned fourteen seasons from 2003 to 2016. Born in Kilkenny, Tyrrell was raised in a hurling household. His father, Dermo ...

, Anthony Daly,

Eddie Brennan Edward Joseph Brennan (born 2 October 1978) is an Irish hurling manager and former player. His league and championship career with the Kilkenny senior team lasted twelve seasons from 2000 until 2011. Brennan was the manager of the Laois seni ...

Dónal O'Grady Dónal O'Grady (born 31 December 1953) is an Irish former hurler and manager. O'Grady had a successful playing career as a full-back at senior level with the Cork county team throughout the early 1980s. In a brief career he won one All-Irelan ...

Ken McGrath Ken McGrath (born 20 February 1978) is an Irish hurler and hurling selector who played as a centre-back for the Waterford senior team. He joined the team in 1996 and was a regular member of the starting fifteen until his retirement in 2011. ...

and

Cyril Farrell Cyril Farrell (born 1 August 1950) is an Irish former hurling manager, selector, trainer and coach. He was the manager of the senior Galway county team on three separate occasions, during which time he became the county's longest-serving mana ...

unanimously selected Galway's

Pádraic Mannion Pádraic Mannion (born 6 March 1993) is an Irish Hurling, hurler, he also plays as a right wing-back for club side Ahascragh-Fohenagh GAA, Ahascragh-Fohenagh and at inter-county level with the Galway senior hurling team. His brother, Cathal Mann ...

as the Sunday game player of the year. * 1. Eoin Murphy (Kilkenny) * 2. Sean Finn (Limerick) * 3. Daithi Burke (Galway) * 4. Richie English (Limerick) * 5. Diarmaid Byrnes (Limerick) * 6. Declan Hannon (Limerick) * 7. Padraic Mannion (Galway) * 8. Darragh Fitzgibbon (Cork) * 9. Cian Lynch (Limerick) * 10. Peter Duggan (Clare) * 11. Joe Canning (Galway) * 12. Tom Morrissey (Limerick) * 13. Graeme Mulcahy (Limerick) * 14. John Conlon (Clare) * 15. Seamus Harnedy (Cork) ;All Star Team of the Year On 2 November, the 2018 '' PwC All-Stars'' winners were announced and presented at Dublin's Convention Centre.

Cian Lynch Cian Lynch (born 3 January 1996) is an Irish hurler who plays as a center forward for Limerick Championship club Patrickswell, where he has held the role of captain, and the Limerick senior team. Recognised for his exceptional skill level but ...

was named as the

All Stars Hurler of the Year The GAA–GPA All-Star Hurler of the Year is a hurling award presented to the player voted as best in the country by all the players from around Ireland. It began in 1995 and honours the achievements of a hurler of outstanding excellence. ...

with Kyle Hayes named the

All Stars Young Hurler of the Year The Gaelic Athletic Association/Gaelic Players Association Young Hurler of the Year (known for sponsorship reasons as the PwC GAA/GPA Young Hurler of the Year, or simply the Young Hurler of the Year) is an annual award given to the player aged 21 ...

Footnotes

References

{{GAA 2018 , state=expanded 2018 in hurling