Joe_McDonagh_Cup

Joe McDonagh Cup

Joe McDonagh Cup

Irish inter-county hurling competition

The Joe McDonagh Cup is an annual 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-county championship hurling competition in Ireland. The last of the five tiers to be established, the competition was contested for the first time in 2018.[1][2][3]

Quick Facts Irish, Code ...

The cup is named in honour of Joe McDonagh, the former president of the GAA who died in 2016.

The title has been won by four different counties, two of whom have won the title more than once. The all-time record-holders are Antrim and Carlow, who have won the championship on two occasions. Carlow are the title holders, defeating Offaly by 2-29 to 1-31 in the 2023 final.

History

Creation

For the history of the second-tier competition that existed before 2018, see Christy Ring 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]

Development

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

Team changes

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.

Format history

2021

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

Joe McDonagh Cup moments

  • 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.

Format

Group stage

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.

Tie-breakers

In the event of teams finishing on equal points, the tie shall be decided by the following means (in the order specified):[6]

  • 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

Knockout stage

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[7] that this same-year link between the competitions may be severed in the future.

Promotion

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,[8] 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.

Relegation

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.[9]

More information Team, Qualification ...

Teams

2024 Cup

Six counties will compete in the 2024 Joe McDonagh Cup, with Westmeath relegated from the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship and Meath promoted from the Christy Ring Cup:

More information County, Location ...

Seasons in Joe McDonagh Cup

The number of years that each county has played in the Joe McDonagh Cup between 2018 and 2024. A total of 9 counties have competed in at least one season of the Joe McDonagh Cup. Kerry have participated in all 7 seasons. The counties in bold participate in the 2024 Joe McDonagh Cup.

More information Years, Counties ...

Debut of teams

More information Year, Debutants ...

Participation by province

More information Province, No. ...

List of Joe McDonagh Cup Counties

More information County, Total years ...

Qualification for subsequent competitions

Further information: All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

Qualification for the All-Ireland Championship

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.

All-Ireland record of Joe McDonagh Cup teams

More information Season, County ...

Venues

See also: List of Gaelic Athletic Association stadiums
Croke Park in Dublin, hosted the 2018 Joe McDonagh Cup final.

Group stage

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.

Final

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

2024 Venues

More information County, Location ...

Managers

Main article: Manager (Gaelic games)

Winning managers

More information #, Manager(s) ...

Current managers

More information Manager, County ...

Trophy and medals

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.[10]

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

List of finals

More information Year, Date ...

Roll of honour

Performance by county

More information County, Titles ...

Performance by province

More information Province, Titles ...

Team records and statistics

Main article: Joe McDonagh Cup records and statistics

Team results

Legend

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

More information Team, 2018 (6) ...

List of Joe McDonagh Cup counties

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

More information County, Total years ...

All time table

Legend

More information Colours ...

As of 2023 Cup. Includes Relegation Playoffs.

More information #, Team ...

By Semi-Final/Top 4 Appearances

More information Team, No. ...

By decade

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

Match records

  • Most matches played

Other records

Finishing positions

Unbeaten sides

Beaten sides

The group stage of the cup has resulted in 2 'back-door' Joe McDonagh Cup champions:

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

Final success rate

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

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

Consecutive participations

Kerry have the record number of consecutive participations in the Joe McDonagh Cup, taking part in the all 7 seasons.

Winning other trophies

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).

Biggest wins

Scoring Events

Successful defending

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

Gaps

Active gaps

Provinces

  • Only on 3 occasions has the Joe McDonagh Cup final involved two teams from the same province:
  • The province providing the highest number of different winning teams is Leinster, with three:
  • Province success rates
    • Leinster 25% (3 out of 12 counties)
    • Ulster 11% (1 out of 9 counties)
    • Connacht 0% (0 out of 5 counties)
    • Munster 0% (0 out of 6 counties)

Longest undefeated run

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

Miscellaneous

  • Best finish by a debuting team
  • Best finish by a debuting team (after 2018)
  • Highest winning record
    • 66.7%, Antrim (14 wins in 21 matches)
  • Lowest winning record
  • Most played match

Player records

Player of the year

More information Year, Player ...

Top scorers

All time

As of 7 May 2023
More information #, Name ...

By year

More information Year, Top scorer ...

In a single game

More information Year, Top scorer ...

In finals

More information Year, Top scorer ...

Captains

More information Winning captain(s), County ...

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Hurling changes will benefit Tier 2 counties, says Westmeath boss". RTÉ News. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  2. [2]
    Moran, Seán (30 September 2017). "GAA Congress approve round-robin provincial hurling championships". Irish Times. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  3. [3]
    "GAA 2018: How the new season will look". Irish Examiner. 1 November 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  4. [4]
    "GAA votes to change senior hurling championship". Irish Examiner. 30 September 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  5. [5]
    "Historic day at Croke Park as Congress votes in hurling structure changes". RTE Sport. 30 September 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  6. [6]
    "Official Guide - Part 1" (PDF). Gaelic Athletic Association. 23 March 2019.
  7. [7]
    "Joe McDonagh Cup link with All-Ireland series could be severed". The Independent. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  8. [8]
    "Kerry gain Munster entry". RTÉ. 18 February 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  9. [9]
    "New hurling competition to be named after Galway All-Ireland winner and ex-GAA President". The 42. 28 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  10. [10]
    "New hurling competition to be named after Galway All-Ireland winner and ex-GAA President". The 42. 29 November 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
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