The 2018 Joe McDonagh Cup was the inaugural staging of the

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- ...

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 ...

. The fixtures were announced on 13 April 2018. The competition began on 5 May 2018. On 1 July 2018,

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 ...

won the title following a 2-26 to 1-24 defeat of

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 ...

in the final. This was their second successive promotion within the various tiers of hurling, as they were also the

2017 Christy Ring Cup The 2017 Christy Ring Cup was the 13th staging of the Christy Ring Cup hurling championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2005. The competition began on 22 April 2017 and ended on 10 June 2017. Meath were the 2 ...

champions. Meath were relegated from the Joe McDonagh Cup after losing all of their group stage games. Antrim's

Neil McManus Neil McManus (born 1988) is an Irish hurler who plays as a centre-forward for the Antrim senior team. Born in Cushendall, County Antrim, McManus first played competitive hurling during his school days at St MacNissi's College. He arrived on t ...

was the competition's top scorer with 3-67.

Teams

A total of six teams compete in the Joe McDonagh Cup, with representatives 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 ...

(4),

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

(1) and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

(1). As 2018 was the inaugural year, four of the teams ( Kerry, Laois, Meath and Westmeath) previously played in the qualifier group of the 2017 Leinster Championship (tier 1) and two teams (Antrim and Carlow) were the finalists in the 2017 Christy Ring Cup (then tier 2, re-classified as tier 3 for 2018).

General Information

Personnel and kits

Format

All six teams compete in an initial round-robin of five rounds where teams play each other once. The top two teams after the round robin stage play the third-placed teams in the Leinster and Munster championships in the two All-Ireland preliminary quarter finals with the Joe McDonagh Cup teams having home advantage. The top two teams also compete in the Joe McDonagh Cup final. If the winner is a non-

team, they are automatically promoted to the following year's Leinster Championship. If the winner is a Munster team, in effect Kerry, they must win a play-off with the bottom-placed team in the

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

to gain promotion to the following year's Munster Championship. In order to reduce the number of teams in the Joe McDonagh Cup to five in 2019, the bottom-placed team in the Joe McDonagh Cup are automatically relegated to the following year's

Christy Ring Cup The Christy Ring Cup () is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. Originally introduced as a second-tier competition, it is currently the third tier overall in the inter-county hurling championship system. Eac ...

and will not be replaced. The team that finishes second last in the 2018 Joe McDonagh Cup plays off against the 2018 Christy Ring Cup champions. The winner of that game plays in the Joe McDonagh Cup in 2019 and the losing team plays in the 2019 Christy Ring Cup.

Group stage

Table

Rounds 1 to 5

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Final

are promoted to the

2019 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship The 2019 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 132nd staging of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county hurling tournament, since its establishment in 1887. The draw for the ...

Relegation/promotion playoff

The bottom team after the round robin games, Meath, were relegated to the 2019 Christy Ring Cup. The second-last team in the Joe McDonagh Cup (tier 2), Antrim, defeated

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional cen ...

, the winners of the 2018 Christy Ring Cup final (tier 3) and thereby retained their place in the

for the

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

edition.

Stadia and locations

Statistics

Top scorers

;Overall ;In a single game

Scoring Events

* Widest winning margin: 16 points ** Meath 2-18 - 5-25 Antrim (Round 1) * Most goals in a match: 7 ** Meath 2-18 - 5-25 Antrim (Round 1) * Most points in a match: 50 **

1-24 - 2-26

(Final) * Most goals by one team in a match: 5 ** Meath 2-18 - 5-25 Antrim (Round 1) * Most points by one team in a match: 26 **

1-24 - 2-26

(Final) * Highest aggregate score: 64 points ** Meath 2-18 - 5-25 Antrim (Round 1) * Lowest aggregate score: 33 points **

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 County ...

0-15 - 2-12

(Round 3)

Miscellaneous

become the first county to win the

. *

won their 2nd championship in a row after winning the

. *

's round 1 victory over

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 ...

was their first win against the O'Moore county in championship hurling since 1968.

References

{{GAA 2018

Joe McDonagh Cup