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).^[5]

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.^[6]

The competition has reduced and increased its participants between 5 and 6 teams throughout its history.

9 county teams have participated in at least one edition of the McDonagh Cup. Kerry have been ever-presents, never being promoted or relegated, while Offaly hold the dubious distinction of being the only team to fall from the tier-one Leinster championship into the Joe McDonagh and immediately into the hurling's third-tier, the Christy Ring Cup, in successive seasons — in 2018 and 2019.

In 2021, teams were divided into 2 groups to lessen the fixtures due to impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games.

• Carlow 2-26 - 1-24 Westmeath (1 July 2018): Carlow won the inaugural Joe McDonagh Cup, defeating Westmeath in Croke Park.
• Kerry 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.
• Down 3-16 - 6-22 Antrim (24 April 2022): This was the first championship meeting between the counties since the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship was suspended. The 2015 Ulster final was their last meeting, Antrim also being victorious on that day.
• Offaly 2-23 - 0-26 Laois (8 June 2024): Offaly won their first ever Joe McDonagh Cup in what was a historical week for the county as they also won the 2024 All-Ireland Under-20 Hurling Championship against Tipperary with many dual players.

Group stage: There are six teams in the Cup. During the course of a season (from May to June) each team plays the others once (a single round-robin system) for a total of five games. Teams receive two points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points. The top two teams in the group contest the Joe McDonagh Cup final. The third, fourth and fifth-placed team are eliminated from the championship and the 6th-placed team is relegated to the Christy Ring Cup.

In the event of teams finishing on equal points, the tie shall be decided by the following means (in the order specified):^[7]

• Where two teams only are involved – the outcome of the meeting of the two teams
• Score difference – subtracting the total "Scores Against" from the total "Scores For"
• Highest Total "Score For"
• Highest Total "Goals For"
• A Play-Off

Final: The top two teams in the group stage contest the final. The winning team are declared champions.

The Joe McDonagh Cup is unique among the four lower-tier hurling competitions in that it also currently provides a direct entry route for the top two teams to compete in that year's All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship; the two top-placed teams, in addition to contesting the Joe McDonagh Cup final, are rewarded with immediate entry into the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship at the preliminary quarter-final stage. There are reports^[8] that this same-year link between the competitions may be severed in the future.

At the end of the championship, the winning team is promoted to the provincial championship for the following season. Which provincial championship 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.
• From 2023 onwards,^[9] 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 previous format only allowed Kerry access to the Munster Championship via a playoff if they won the Joe McDonagh Cup.

The bottom team in the Joe McDonagh 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.^[10]

Six counties will compete in the 2025 Joe McDonagh Cup, with Carlow relegated from the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship and Kildare promoted from the Christy Ring Cup:

County	Location	Stadium	Province	Position in 2024 championship	First year in Championship	In Championship Since	Championship Titles	Last Championship Title
Carlow	Carlow	Dr Cullen Park	Leinster	6th (Leinster Senior Hurling Championship)	2018	2025	2	2023
Down	Newry	Páirc Esler	Ulster	5th	2021	2021	0	—
Kerry	Tralee	Austin Stack Park	Munster	3rd	2018	2018	0	—
Kildare	Newbridge	St Conleth's Park	Leinster	Champions (Christy Ring Cup)	2021	2025	0	—
Laois	Portlaoise	O'Moore Park	Leinster	Runners-up	2018	2023	1	2019
Westmeath	Mullingar	Cusack Park	Leinster	4th	2018	2024	1	2021

The number of years that each county has played in the Joe McDonagh Cup between 2018 and 2025. A total of 9 counties have competed in at least one season of the Joe McDonagh Cup. Kerry have participated in all 8 seasons. The counties in bold participate in the 2025 Joe McDonagh Cup.

Year	Debutants	Total
2018	Antrim, Carlow, Kerry, Laois, Meath, Westmeath	6
2019	Offaly	1
2020	None	0
2021	Down, Kildare	2
2022–present	None	0
Total		9

Province	No.	County	No.	Years
Leinster	6	Carlow	6	2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025
		Westmeath	6	2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024, 2025
		Meath	5	2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024
		Laois	5	2018, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025
		Offaly	4	2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
		Kildare	3	2021, 2023, 2025
Ulster	2	Down	5	2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
		Antrim	4	2018, 2019, 2020, 2022
Munster	1	Kerry	8	2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

The Joe McDonagh Cup winners and runners-up qualify for the subsequent All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship at the preliminary quarter-final stage. The teams plays the third-placed teams in the Leinster and Munster championships.

Season	County	Round	Opponent	Score
2018	Carlow	Preliminary QF	Limerick	5-22 - 0-13
	Westmeath		Wexford	2-21 - 0-16
2019	Laois	Preliminary QF	Dublin	0-23 - 1-22
		Quarter-Finals	Tipperary	2-25 - 1-18
	Westmeath	Preliminary QF	Cork	1-40 - 0-20
2020	No All-Ireland path for Joe McDonagh Cup finalists
2021	No All-Ireland path for Joe McDonagh Cup finalists
2022	Antrim	Preliminary QF	Cork	2-19 - 3-27
	Kerry		Wexford	0-18 - 3-30
2023	Carlow	Preliminary QF	Dublin	0-21 - 2-25
	Offaly		Tipperary	3-18 - 7-38
2024	Offaly	Preliminary QF	Cork
	Laois		Wexford

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.

At the end of the cup final, the winning team are presented with a trophy. The Joe McDonagh Cup is held by the winning team until the following year's final. The presentation is made at a special rostrum in the Ard Chomairle section of the Hogan Stand where GAA and political dignitaries and special guests view the match.

The cup is decorated with ribbons in the colours of the winning team. During the game the cup has both teams' sets of ribbons attached and the runners-up ribbons are removed before the presentation. The winning captain accepts the cup on behalf of his team before giving a short speech. Individual members of the winning team then have an opportunity to come to the rostrum to lift the cup.

The cup is named after Joe McDonagh. He was an All-Ireland medal winner with Galway in 1980 before later serving as President of the Gaelic Athletic Association. McDonagh, who died in May 2016, was one of the most respected figures within the GAA.^[11]

The winning team is presented with a set of gold medals.

Legend

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

For year, the number of teams (in brackets) are shown.

Team	2018 (6)	2019 (5)	2020 (5)	2021 (6)	2022 (6)	2023 (6)	2024 (6)	2025 (6)	Years
Antrim	5th	3rd	1st	L	1st	L	L	L	4
Carlow	1st	L	4th	4th	3rd	1st	L		6
Down	CR	CR	CR	3rd	5th	5th	5th		5
Kerry	3rd	4th	2nd	2nd	2nd	4th	3rd		8
Kildare	CR	CR	CR	6th	CR	6th	CR		3
Laois	4th	1st	L	L	L	3rd	2nd		5
Meath	6th	CR	5th	5th	6th	CR	6th	CR	5
Offaly	L	5th	CR	CR	4th	2nd	1st	L	4
Westmeath	2nd	2nd	3rd	1st	L	L	4th		6

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

Legend

As of 2024 Cup. Includes Relegation Playoffs.

#	Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	Points
1	Kerry	7	33	17	1	15	35
2	Carlow	5	23	14	3	6	31
3	Antrim	4	21	14	1	6	29
4	Laois	4	21	13	2	6	28
5	Westmeath	5	23	13	2	8	28
6	Offaly	4	21	12	0	9	24
7	Down	4	17	5	1	11	11
8	Meath	5	22	2	0	20	4
9	Kildare	2	9	0	0	9	0

Team	No.	Years
Kerry	7	2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Carlow	5	2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Westmeath	5	2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024
Laois	4	2018, 2019, 2023, 2024
Antrim	3	2019, 2020, 2022
Offaly	3	2022, 2023, 2024
Down	1	2021

The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of Joe McDonagh Cup titles, is as follows:

• 2010s: 1 each for Carlow (2018) and Laois (2019)
• 2020s: 2 for Antrim (2020, 2022)

• Most matches played
  • 33, Kerry

• Most wins
  • 17, Kerry

• Most losses
  • 20, Meath

• Most draws
  • 3, Carlow

• Most championships
  • 2, Antrim (2020, 2022)
  • 2, Carlow (2018, 2023)

• Most second-place finishes
  • 3, Kerry (2020, 2021, 2022)

• Most third-place finishes
  • 2, Kerry (2018, 2024)

• Most fourth-place finishes
  • 2, Carlow (2020, 2021)
  • 2, Kerry (2019, 2023)

• Most fifth-place finishes
  • 3, Down (2022, 2023, 2024)

• Most sixth-place finishes
  • 3, Meath (2018, 2022, 2024)

• Four teams have won the Joe McDonagh Cup unbeaten:
  • Laois had 4 wins and 1 draw in 2019.
  • Antrim had 4 wins and 1 draw in 2020.
  • Westmeath had 3 wins in 2021.
  • Carlow had 4 wins and 2 draws in 2023.

The group stage of the cup has resulted in 3 'back-door' Joe McDonagh Cup champions:

• Carlow (2018) were beaten by Antrim in round 2.
• Antrim (2022) were beaten by Kerry in round 5.
• Offaly (2024) were beaten by Laois in round 1.

On one occasion a team was defeated twice but have remained in the championship:

• Kerry (2022) were beaten by Down and Offaly but still qualified for the final.

Only two counties have appeared in the final more than once, being victorious on all occasions:

• Antrim (2020, 2022)
• Carlow (2018, 2023)

On the opposite end of the scale, only one county has appeared in the final more than once, losing on each occasion:

• Kerry (2020, 2021, 2022)

• 8, Kerry (2018–2025)

Kerry have the record number of consecutive participations in the Joe McDonagh Cup, taking part in the all 8 seasons.

Although not an officially recognised achievement, a number of teams have achieved the distinction of winning the Joe McDonagh Cup and their respective Division in the National Hurling League:

• Carlow in 2018 (Division 2A).
• Antrim in 2020 (Division 2A).

• The most one sided finals:
  • 11 points – 2019: Laois 3-26 - 1-21 Westmeath
• The most one sided group matches:
  • 31 points – 2023: Laois 7-24 - 0-14 Down

• Most goals in a match:
  • 10 – 2022: Meath 3-13 - 7-29 Antrim
• Most points in a match:
  • 51 points – 2022: Kerry 2-28 - 4-23 Offaly
  • 51 points – 2023: Down 0-28 - 6-23 Carlow
• Most goals by one team in a match:
  • 7 – 2022: Meath 3-13 - 7-29 Antrim
  • 7 – 2023: Laois 7-24 - 0-14 Down
  • 7 – 2024: Meath 1-16 - 7-29 Laois
• Most points by one team in a match:
  • 31 points – 2024: Meath 3-16 - 5-31 Offaly
  • 31 points – 2024: Laois 4-31 - 0-17 Down
• Highest aggregate score:
  • 73 points – 2022: Antrim 5-22 - 4-24 Kerry
• Lowest aggregate score:
  • 33 points – 2018: Kerry 0-15 - 2-12 Westmeath

Defending champions are promoted and a number of teams survived the first year of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship. These are:

• Laois on 1 attempts out of 1 (2020)
• Westmeath on 1 attempts out of 1 (2022)
• Antrim on 1 attempts out of 2 (2021, 2023)
• Carlow on 0 attempts out of 2 (2019, 2024)

• Longest gaps between successive cup titles:
  • 5 years: Carlow (2018–2023)
  • 2 years: Antrim (2020–2022)
• Longest gaps between successive Joe McDonagh Cup final appearances:
  • 5 years: Carlow (2018–2023)
  • 5 years: Laois (2019–2024)
  • 2 years: Westmeath (2019–2021)
  • 2 years: Antrim (2020–2022)
  • 1 year: Kerry (2020–2021)
  • 1 year: Kerry (2021–2022)
  • 1 year: Offaly (2023–2024)
• Longest gap between successive championship appearances
  • 4 years: Laois (2019–2023)

• Longest active gaps between since last title:
  • 5 years: Laois (2019–)
  • 3 years: Westmeath (2021–)
  • 2 years: Antrim (2022–)
  • 1 year: Carlow (2023–)
• Longest active gaps since last cup final appearance:
  • 3 years: Westmeath (2021–)
  • 2 years: Antrim (2022–)
  • 2 years: Kerry (2022–)
  • 1 year: Carlow (2023–)
• Longest active gap since last cup appearance
  • 2 years: Antrim (2022–)

• Only on 4 occasions has the Joe McDonagh Cup final involved two teams from the same province:
  • Carlow vs Westmeath (2018)
  • Laois vs Westmeath (2019)
  • Carlow vs Offaly (2023)
  • Laois vs Offaly (2024)
• The province providing the highest number of different winning teams is Leinster, with four:
  • Carlow
  • Laois
  • Offaly
  • Westmeath
• Province success rates
  • Leinster 33% (4 out of 12 counties)
  • Ulster 11% (1 out of 9 counties)
  • Britain 0% (0 out of 3 counties)
  • Connacht 0% (0 out of 5 counties)
  • Munster 0% (0 out of 6 counties)

The record for the longest unbeaten run stands at 9 games held by Antrim (2020–2022).

• 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 9 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	6	151	169
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

Year	Top scorer	County	Score	Total
2018	Neil McManus	Antrim	3-67	76
2019	Killian Doyle	Westmeath	3-61	70
2020	Ciarán Clarke	Antrim	4-47	59
2021	Jack Regan	Meath	1-36	39
2022	Pádraig Boyle	Kerry	3-64	73
2023	Martin Kavanagh	Carlow	3-71	80

Year	Top scorer	County	Score	Total
2018	Neil McManus	Antrim	0-17	17
2019	Killian Doyle	Westmeath	0-17	17
2020	Martin Kavanagh	Carlow	1-13	16
2021	Jack Regan	Meath	0-17	17
2022	Pádraig Boyle	Kerry	2-11	17
2023	Eoghan Cahill	Offaly	2-11	17

Year	Top scorer	County	Score	Total
2018	Denis Murphy	Carlow	0-10	10
2019	Killian Doyle	Westmeath	1-11	14
2020	Ciarán Clarke	Antrim	0-11	11
2021	Niall Mitchell	Westmeath	0-07	7
	Pádraig Boyle	Kerry	1-04
2022	Pádraig Boyle	Kerry	2-11	17
2023	Martin Kavanagh	Carlow	1-08	11

Winning captain(s)	County	Title(s)	Year(s)
Diarmuid Byrne and Richard Coady	Carlow	1	2018
Patrick Purcell	Laois	1	2019
Conor McCann	Antrim	1	2020
Cormac Boyle	Westmeath	1	2021
Conor McCann	Antrim	1	2022
Paul Doyle	Carlow	1	2023

• Joe McDonagh Cup records and statistics
• All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (Tier 1)
• Christy Ring Cup (Tier 3)
• Nicky Rackard Cup (Tier 4)
• Lory Meagher Cup (Tier 5)