The 2018 Walsh Cup was an inter-county hurling competition based mainly in the Irish province of

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 ...

. It took place between December 2017 and January 2018. For the first time, no third-level college teams took part. 10 Leinster counties, plus Antrim, competed. Longford and Louth entered the second-ranked

Kehoe Cup The Kehoe Cup ( ; ga, Corn Mhic Eochaidh) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association ( GAA) since 1977 for second- and third-tier inter-county teams in the province of Leinster in Irel ...

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 ...

were the 2018 champions, beating Kilkenny 3–2 in a free-taking competition after the final ended level on 1-24 each after extra time. This was the first inter-county hurling game to be decided by the taking of frees.

Format

There are 11 teams, in three groups of 3 teams and one group of 2 teams. In the three-team groups, each team plays the other teams once. In the two-team group, the teams play each other twice. Two points are awarded for a win and one for a draw. The four group winners advance to the semi-finals.

Format

Group stage

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Knock-out stage

Semi-finals

Final

References