Joe McDonagh Cup

At the GAA’s Special Congress on 30 September 2017, a new provincial hurling championship system featuring five-team round-robin groups in both Leinster and Munster was accepted. This restructure necessitated the removal of four counties from the Leinster Championship. These four teams joined the 2017 Christy Ring Cup finalists - Antrim and Carlow - in creating the new Tier 2 Championship. The proposal was carried by a narrow margin with 62% voting in favour (a majority of at least 60% was required).[4]

An amendment to the motion from Laois, Offaly and Meath was carried by 87%. This would see the two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists participating in preliminary All-Ireland quarter-finals against the third-placed team in both Leinster and Munster with the Joe McDonagh Cup teams having home advantage.[5]

9 county teams have participated in at least one edition of the McDonagh Cup. Kerry have been ever-presents in the first five editions. Down and Kildarehave qualified for the 2021 edition so teams participated in the Joe McDonagh Cup will increase to 9. Offaly hold the dubious distinction of being the only team to be relegated to hurling's third-tier, having previously been relegated from the tier-one Leinster championship, in successive seasons.

• Carlow 2-26 - 1-24 Westmeath (1 July 2018): Carlow won the inaugural Joe McDonagh Cup, defeating Westmeath in Croke Park.
• Kery 1-18 - 1-16 Offaly (15 June 2019): Kerry relegated Offaly in round 5 of the group stage. This was Offaly's second relegation in a row, previously being relegated from the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship.

The McDonagh Cup employs a round-robin system, contested within a single group of 6 county teams. At the completion of the round-robin, the top two teams proceed to contest the Joe McDonagh Cup final.

Aside from the trophy itself, the reward for victory in the competition depends on the provincial allegiance of the winner; if the winners are from Connacht, Leinster or Ulster, they are automatically promoted to the following year's Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, with their place in the following year's Joe McDonagh Cup taken by the bottom-placed team in that year's Leinster Championship. If the winners are from Munster, they are automatically promoted to the following year's Munster Senior Hurling Championship, with their place in the following year's Joe McDonagh Cup taken by the bottom-placed team in the provincial championship that contains six teams.

The Joe McDonagh Cup is unique among the four lower-tier hurling competitions in that it also provides a direct entry route for the top two teams to compete in that year's All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. The top two-placed teams after the group stage, in addition to contesting the Cup final and a possible Munster Championship promotion playoff for the winner, are both rewarded with entry into the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship at the preliminary quarter-final stage.

The bottom team in the group stage is relegated to the third-tier Christy Ring Cup for the following year, being replaced by the champions of the Christy Ring Cup for that year. Since 2018 there has been no promotion/relegation playoff between tiers two and three.[6]

Six counties will compete in the 2023 Joe McDonagh Cup, with Laois relegated from the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship and Kildare promoted from the Christy Ring Cup:

County	Location	Stadium	Province	Position in 2022 Championship	First year in Championship	In Championship Since	Championship Titles	Last Championship Title
Carlow	Carlow	Dr Cullen Park	Leinster	3rd	2018	2020	1	2018
Down	Newry	Páirc Esler	Ulster	5th	2021	2021	0	-
Kildare	Newbridge	St Conleth's Park	Leinster	Champions (Christy Ring Cup)	2021	2023	0	-
Kerry	Tralee	Austin Stack Park	Munster	Runners-up	2018	2018	0	-
Laois	Portlaoise	O'Moore Park	Leinster	6th (Leinster Senior Hurling Championship)	2018	2023	1	2019
Offaly	Tullamore	O'Connor Park	Leinster	4th	2019	2022	0	-

The number of years that each county has played in the Joe McDonagh Cup between 2018 and 2023. A total of 9 counties have competed in at least one season of the Joe McDonagh Cup. Kerry have participated in all 6 seasons. The counties in bold participate in the 2023 Joe McDonagh Cup.

Fixtures in the five group stage rounds of the cup are played at the home ground of one of the two teams. Each team is guaranteed at least two home games. During the inaugural staging of the competition some teams had three home games.

The Joe McDonagh Cup final is played at Croke Park as the curtain-raiser to the Leinster final on the first Sunday in July.

Legend

• 1st – Champions
• 2nd – Runners-up
• 3rd/4th/5th – Group Stage
• 5th/6th – Relegated
• L – Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
• CR – Christy Ring Cup

For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

Team	2018 (6)	2019 (5)	2020 (5)	2021 (6)	2022 (6)	2023 (6)	2024 (6)	Years
Antrim	5th	3rd	1st	L	1st	L	TBD	4
Carlow	1st	L	4th	4th	3rd		TBD	5
Down	CR	CR	CR	3rd	5th	5th		4
Kerry	3rd	4th	2nd	2nd	2nd	4th		7
Kildare	CR	CR	CR	6th	CR	6th	CR	2
Laois	4th	1st	L	L	L	3rd		4
Meath	6th	CR	5th	5th	6th	CR	TBD	4
Offaly	L	5th	CR	CR	4th		TBD	3
Westmeath	2nd	2nd	3rd	1st	L	L	TBD	4

The following teams have competed in the McDonagh Cup for at least one season.

Legend

As of 13 May 2023 19:39. Includes Relegation Playoffs.

#	Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	Points
1	Antrim	4	21	14	1	6	29
2	Carlow	5	22	13	3	6	29
3	Kerry	6	28	14	1	13	29
4	Westmeath	4	18	11	1	6	23
5	Laois	3	15	9	2	4	20
6	Offaly	3	14	7	0	7	14
7	Down	3	12	4	0	8	8
8	Meath	4	17	2	0	15	4
9	Kildare	2	9	0	0	9	0

• Widest winning margin: 31 points
  • Laois 7-24 - 0-14 Down (2023)
• Most goals in a match: 10
  • Meath 3-13 - 7-29 Antrim (2022)
• Most points in a match: 51
  • Kerry 2-28 - 4-23 Offaly (2022)
• Most goals by one team in a match: 7
  • Meath 3-13 - 7-29 Antrim (2022)
  • Laois 7-24 - 0-14 Down (2023)
• Most points by one team in a match: 30
  • Meath 0-17 - 4-30 Carlow (2022)
• Highest aggregate score: 73 points
  • Antrim 5-22 - 4-24 Kerry (2022)
• Lowest aggregate score: 33 points
  • Kerry 0-15 - 2-12 Westmeath (2018)

Most championships

2, Antrim (2020, 2022)

Most finishes in the top two

3, Kerry (2020, 2021, 2022), Westmeath (2018, 2019, 2021)

Most finishes in the top four

5, Kerry (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)

Most second-place finishes

3, Kerry (2020, 2021, 2022)

Most third-place finishes

1, Kerry (2018), Antrim (2019), Westmeath (2020), Down (2021), Carlow (2022)

Most fourth-place finishes

2, Carlow (2020, 2021)

Most fifth-place finishes

2, Meath (2020, 2021)

Most sixth-place finishes

2, Meath (2018, 2022)

Most consecutive championship appearances

6, Kerry (2018–2023)

Longest gap between successive titles

2 years, Antrim (2020–2022)

Longest gap between successive championship appearances

4 years, Laois (2019–2023)

Best finish by a debuting team

Champions, Carlow (2018)

Best finish by a debuting team (after 2018)

3rd, Down (2021)

Highest winning record

66.7%, Antrim (14 wins in 21 matches)

Lowest winning record

0%, Kildare (0 wins in 7 matches)

Most played match

6, Antrim v Kerry (2018, 2019, 2020 (2x), 2022 (2x))

As of 7 May 2023

#	Name	County	Goals	Points	Total
1	Shane Conway	Kerry	6	188	206
2	Marty Kavanagh	Carlow	5	130	145
3	Jack Regan	Meath	5	109	124
4	Neil McManus	Antrim	6	105	123
5	Pádraig Boyle	Kerry	5	107	122
6	Eoghan Cahill	Offaly	4	108	120
7	Ciarán Clarke	Antrim	11	61	94
8	Chris Nolan	Carlow	5	75	90
9	Killian Doyle	Westmeath	3	61	70
10	Stephen Maher	Laois	1	63	66
11	Conal Cunning	Antrim	2	56	62
	Ross King	Laois	2	56	62