Joe McDonagh Cup

Joe McDonagh Cup
Current season or competition: 2024 Joe McDonagh Cup
Irish	Corn Sheosaimh Mhic Dhonnacha
Code	Hurling
Founded	2018;6 years ago (2018)
Region	Ireland (GAA)
Trophy	Joe McDonagh Cup
No. of teams	6
Title holders	Carlow (2nd title)
Most titles	Antrim, Carlow (2 titles)
Sponsors	Bord Gáis Energy, Centra, Littlewoods Ireland
TV partner(s)	RTÉ2
Motto	Be there. All the way
Official website	Official website

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]}

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]

Team	Qualification
1st in Group	Advance to Joe McDonagh Cup Final and All-Ireland Preliminary Quarter-Finals
2nd in Group
3rd in Group
4th in Group
5th in Group
6th in Group	Relegated to Christy Ring Cup

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:

County	Location	Stadium	Province	Position in 2023 championship	First year in Championship	In Championship Since	Championship Titles	Last Championship Title
Down	Newry	Páirc Esler	Ulster	5th	2021	2021	0	—
Kerry	Tralee	Austin Stack Park	Munster	4th	2018	2018	0	—
Laois	Portlaoise	O'Moore Park	Leinster	3rd	2018	2023	1	2019
Meath	Navan	Páirc Tailteann	Leinster	Champions (Christy Ring Cup)	2018	2024	0	—
Offaly	Tullamore	O'Connor Park	Leinster	Runners-up	2019	2022	0	—
Westmeath	Mullingar	Cusack Park	Leinster	6th (Leinster Senior Hurling Championship)	2018	2024	1	2021

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.

Years	Counties
7	Kerry
5	Carlow, Meath, Westmeath
4	Antrim, Down , Laois , Offaly
2	Kildare

Debut of teams

Year	Debutants	Total
2018	Antrim, Carlow, Kerry, Laois, Meath, Westmeath	6
2019	Offaly	1
2020	None	0
2021	Down, Kildare	2
2022	None	0
2023	None	0
Total		9

Participation by province

Province	No.	County	No.	Years
Leinster	6	Carlow	5	2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
		Westmeath	5	2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024
		Meath	5	2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024
		Laois	4	2018, 2019, 2023, 2024
		Offaly	4	2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
		Kildare	2	2021, 2023
Ulster	2	Antrim	4	2018, 2019, 2020, 2022
		Down	4	2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Munster	1	Kerry	7	2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

List of Joe McDonagh Cup Counties

County	Total years	Total spells	Longest spell	Most recent promotion	Most recent relegation	Total years absent	Seasons	2022 championship finish	Best Joe McDonagh finish	Current Status (2024)	Lvl
Antrim	4	2	3	2022	Never relegated	3	2018-2020 2022	1st (promoted)	1st	Leinster Senior Hurling Championship	1
Carlow	5	2	4	2023	Never relegated	2	2018 2020 -2023	3rd	1st	Leinster Senior Hurling Championship	1
Down	4	1	4	Never promoted	Never relegated	3	2021 -	5th	3rd	Joe McDonagh Cup	2
Kerry	7	1	7	Never promoted	Never relegated	0	2018 -	2nd	2nd	Joe McDonagh Cup	2
Kildare	2	2	1	Never promoted	2023	5	2021 2023	Christy Ring Cup 1st (promoted)	6th	Christy Ring Cup	3
Laois	4	2	2	2019	Never relegated	3	2018-2019 2023-	Leinster Senior Hurling Championship 6th (relegated)	1st	Joe McDonagh Cup	2
Meath	5	3	3	Never promoted	2022	2	2018 2020-2022 2024-	6th (relegated)	5th	Joe McDonagh Cup	2
Offaly	4	2	3	Never promoted	2019	3	2019 2021 -	4th	2nd	Joe McDonagh Cup	2
Westmeath	5	2	4	2021	Never relegated	2	2018-2021 2024-	Leinster Senior Hurling Championship 5th	1st	Joe McDonagh Cup	2

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

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	Joe McDonagh Cup winners	Preliminary QF	3rd Munster
	Joe McDonagh Cup runners-up		3rd Leinster

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.

Managers

Main article: Manager (Gaelic games)

Winning managers

#	Manager(s)	Winning team(s)	Titles(s)	Winning years
1	Darren Gleeson	Antrim	2	2020, 2022
2	Colm Bonnar	Carlow	1	2018
	Eddie Brennan	Laois	1	2019
	Shane O'Brien	Westmeath	1	2021
	Tom Mullally	Carlow	1	2023

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

Year	Date	Winners		Runners-up		Venue	Winning captain(s)	Winning margin	Referee
		County	Score	County	Score
2023	27 May	Carlow	2-29 (35)	Offaly	1-31 (34)	Croke Park	Paul Doyle	1	Thomas Walsh (Waterford)
2022	4 June	Antrim	5-22 (37)	Kerry	4-24 (36)	Croke Park	Conor McCann	1	Sean Stack (Dublin)
2021	17 July	Westmeath	2-28 (34)	Kerry	1-24 (27)	Croke Park	Cormac Boyle	7	Sean Cleere (Kilkenny)
2020	13 December	Antrim	0-22 (22)	Kerry	1-17 (20)	Croke Park	Conor McCann	2	Liam Gordon (Galway)
2019	30 June	Laois	3-26 (35)	Westmeath	1-21 (24)	Croke Park	Patrick Purcell	11	Colum Cunning (Antrim)
2018	1 July	Carlow	2-26 (32)	Westmeath	1-24 (27)	Croke Park	Richard Coady and Diarmuid Byrne	5	Cathal McAllister (Cork)

Roll of honour

Performance by county

County	Titles	Runners-up	Years won	Years runner-up
Antrim	2	0	2020, 2022	—
Carlow	2	0	2018, 2023	—
Westmeath	1	2	2021	2018, 2019
Laois	1	0	2019	—
Kerry	0	3	—	2020, 2021, 2022
Offaly	0	1	—	2023

Performance by province

Province	Titles	Runners-up	Total
Leinster	4	3	7
Ulster	2	0	2
Munster	0	3	3

Team records and statistics

Main article: Joe McDonagh Cup records and statistics

Team results

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)	Years
Antrim	5th	3rd	1st	L	1st	L	L	4
Carlow	1st	L	4th	4th	3rd	1st	L	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		5
Offaly	L	5th	CR	CR	4th	2nd		4
Westmeath	2nd	2nd	3rd	1st	L	L		5

List of Joe McDonagh Cup counties

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

County	Total years	First year in Championship	Most recent year in Championship	Championship titles	Last Championship title	2023 championship finish	Best Joe McDonagh Cup finish	Current Championship	Lvl
Antrim	4	2018	2022	2	2022	5th (Leinster Senior Hurling Championship)	1st	Leinster Senior Hurling Championship	1
Carlow	5	2018	2023	2	2023	Champions	1st	Leinster Senior Hurling Championship	1
Down	4	2021	2024	0	—	5th	3rd	Joe McDonagh Cup	2
Kerry	7	2018	2024	0	—	4th	2nd	Joe McDonagh Cup	2
Kildare	2	2021	2023	0	—	6th	6th	Christy Ring Cup	3
Laois	4	2018	2024	1	2019	3rd	1st	Joe McDonagh Cup	2
Meath	5	2018	2024	0	—	Champions (Christy Ring Cup)	5th	Joe McDonagh Cup	2
Offaly	4	2019	2024	0	—	Runners-up	2nd	Joe McDonagh Cup	2
Westmeath	5	2018	2024	1	2021	6th (Leinster Senior Hurling Championship)	1st	Joe McDonagh Cup	2

All time table

Legend

Colours
Currently competing in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
Currently competing in the Joe McDonagh Cup
Currently competing in the Christy Ring Cup

As of 2023 Cup. Includes Relegation Playoffs.

#	Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	Points
1	Carlow	5	23	14	3	6	31
2	Antrim	4	21	14	1	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	15	7	0	8	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

By Semi-Final/Top 4 Appearances

Team	No.	Years
Kerry	6	2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Carlow	5	2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Westmeath	4	2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Antrim	3	2019, 2020, 2022
Laois	3	2018, 2019, 2023
Offaly	2	2022, 2023
Down	1	2021

By decade

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)

Match records

• Most matches played
  • 28, Kerry

• Most wins
  • 14, Antrim
  • 14, Carlow
  • 14, Kerry

• Most losses
  • 15 Meath

• Most draws
  • 3, Carlow

Other records

Finishing positions

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

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

• Most third-place finishes
  • 1, Kerry (2018)
  • 1, Antrim (2019)
  • 1, Westmeath (2020)
  • 1, Down (2021)
  • 1, Carlow (2022)
  • 1, Laois (2023)

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

• Most fifth-place finishes
  • 2, Meath (2020, 2021)
  • 2, Down (2022, 2023)

• Most sixth-place finishes
  • 2, Meath (2018, 2022)
  • 2, Kildare (2021, 2023)

Unbeaten sides

• 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.

Beaten sides

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

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

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.

Final success rate

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)

Consecutive participations

• 7, Kerry (2018–2024)

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

• 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

Scoring Events

• 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 points – 2022: Meath 3-13 - 7-29 Antrim
  • 7 points – 2023: Laois 7-24 - 0-14 Down
• Most points by one team in a match:
  • 30 points – 2022: Meath 0-17 - 4-30 Carlow
• Highest aggregate score:
  • 73 points – 2022: Antrim 5-22 - 4-24 Kerry
• Lowest aggregate score:
  • 33 points – 2018: Kerry 0-15 - 2-12 Westmeath

Successful defending

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 1 (2019)

Gaps

• 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)
  • 2 years: Westmeath (2019–2021)
  • 2 years: Antrim (2020–2022)
  • 1 year: Kerry (2020–2021)
  • 1 year: Kerry (2021–2022)
• Longest gap between successive championship appearances
  • 4 years: Laois (2019–2023)

Active gaps

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

Provinces

• Only on 3 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)
• The province providing the highest number of different winning teams is Leinster, with three:
  • Carlow
  • Laois
  • Westmeath
• 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
  • 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))

Player records

Player of the year

Year	Player	County
2023	Martin Kavanagh	Carlow
No Joe McDonagh Cup POTY award
2021	Tommy Doyle	Westmeath
2020	Conor McCann	Antrim
2019	Paddy Purcell	Laois
No Joe McDonagh Cup POTY award

Top scorers

All time

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

By year

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

In a single game

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

In finals

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

Captains

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

See also

• 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)

References

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