The 2018 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 131st staging of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1887. It is the first tier of senior inter-county championship hurling.[1]
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.[2][3]
The Championship was won by Limerick, who were crowned champions after overcoming Galway in the final by a score line of 3–16 to 2-18.[4] Limerick's victory was their eighth All-Ireland title and first since 1973.[4][5]
The 2018 Championship has been described by many as one of the best ever.[6][7][8][9]
The 2018 championship saw the biggest change in format since the introduction of the qualifiers in 2002.[10]
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.[11]
An amendment to the motion from Laois, Offaly 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.[12]
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 was created, consisting of all four teams from the 2017 Leinster qualifier group plus Antrim and Carlow, the 2017 Christy Ring Cup finalists.
Participating counties (5): Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Offaly, Wexford
Group stage (10 matches): Each team plays each other once. The 1st and 2nd placed teams advance to the Leinster final and the 3rd placed team advances to the all-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals. All other teams are eliminated from the championship and the bottom placed team may face relegation to next years Joe McDonagh Cup.
Final (1 match): The top 2 teams in the group stage contest this game. The Leinster champions advance to the All-Ireland semi-finals and the Leinster runners-up advance to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Participating counties (5): Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford
Group stage (10 matches): Each team plays each other once. The 1st and 2nd placed teams advance to the Munster final and the 3rd placed team advances to the all-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals. All other teams are eliminated from the championship and the bottom placed team may face relegation to next years Joe McDonagh Cup.
Final (1 match): The top 2 teams in the group stage contest this game. The Munster champions advance to the All-Ireland semi-finals and the Munster runners-up advance to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Participating counties (6): Antrim, Carlow, Kerry, Laois, Meath, Westmeath
Group stage (15 matches): Each team plays each other once. The 1st and 2nd placed teams advance to the Joe McDonagh Cup final. All other teams are eliminated from the championship and the bottom placed team are relegated to next years Christy Ring Cup.
Final (1 match): The top 2 teams in the group stage contest this game. The Joe McDonagh Cup champions and runners-up advance to the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals.
Preliminary quarter-finals (2 matches): The 3rd placed teams from the 2018 Leinster and Munster championships played the Joe McDonagh Cup champions and runners-up. Two teams were eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the quarter-finals.
Quarter-finals (2 matches): The winners of the preliminary quarter-finals join the Leinster and Munster runners-up to make up the quarter-final pairings. Teams who may have already met in the provincial championships are kept apart in separate quarter-finals. Two teams are eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the semi-finals.
Semi-finals (2 matches): The winners of the quarter-finals join the Leinster and Munster champions to make up the semi-final pairings. Teams who may have already met in the provincial championships are kept apart in separate semi-finals where possible. Two teams are eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the final.
Final (1 match): The two winners of the semi-finals contest this game.
Promoted from the Christy Ring Cup
Relegated to the Christy Ring Cup
Sixteen counties competed in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship: five teams in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, five teams in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship and six teams in the Joe McDonagh Cup.
The inaugural Joe McDonagh Cup, the second tier of senior inter-county championship hurling, was contested by Antrim, Carlow, Kerry, Laois, Meath and Westmeath. 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.
The top two teams at the end of the round-robin, Westmeath and Carlow, faced each other in the final on 1 July 2018. The game, which took place in Croke Park, saw Carlow emerge victorious by a margin of five points to claim the inaugural Joe McDonagh Cup title.
Carlow were automatically promoted to the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship for 2019, replacing Offaly.
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 Carlow faced third-placed Munster team Limerick in Dr Cullen Park, while runners-up Westmeath met Wexford, the third-place finished from Leinster, in Mullingar's Cusack Park.
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 Wexford, with beaten Leinster finalists Kilkenny facing Limerick the following day. Both games were held at neutral venues.[13]
The semi-finals took place in Croke Park across the last weekend of July, with the Leinster (Galway) and Munster champions (Cork) playing the winners of the two quarter-finals — Clare and Limerick respectively.
Each team had a nominal home stadium for the round-robin series of the provincial championships. However, Waterford did not play their "home" games at Walsh Park, instead playing in neutral venues for these fixtures, namely Limerick's Gaelic Grounds and Semple Stadium in Thurles.
In the knockout stage, teams from the provincial round-robin series did not have home advantage, if avoidable. The only teams that played knockout games at home were 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 were held in the 82,300-capacity Croke Park in Dublin, headquarters of the GAA.
RTÉ, the national broadcaster in Ireland, 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 also broadcast a number of matches and had exclusive rights to some games.
The Sunday Game team of the year was picked on 19 August, which was the night of the final.[24]The panel consisting of Brendan Cummins, Jackie Tyrrell, Anthony Daly, Eddie Brennan, Dónal O'Grady, Ken McGrath and Cyril Farrell unanimously selected Galway's Pádraic Mannion as the Sunday game player of the year.[25][26]
On 2 November, the 2018 PwC All-Stars winners were announced and presented at Dublin's Convention Centre. Cian Lynch was named as the All Stars Hurler of the Year with Kyle Hayes named the All Stars Young Hurler of the Year.[27][28]
