2019 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

The current All-Ireland hurling championship format featuring five-team groups in both Leinster and Munster and the two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists was introduced in 2018 for an initial three-year period.

All-Ireland championship

In the Leinster and Munster provincial championships, five teams compete in single round-robin matches, home or away. The top two teams in each provincial group contest the provincial final, with the provincial winners advancing to the two All-Ireland semi-finals and the losing provincial finalists advancing to the two quarter-finals.

The third-placed teams in Leinster and Munster compete in All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals against the two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists with the Joe McDonagh Cup teams having home advantage.

Promotion and relegation in Leinster or Munster championships

If a non-Munster team wins the Joe McDonagh Cup, the bottom team in the Leinster championship is relegated to next year's Joe McDonagh Cup and is replaced in next year's Leinster championship by the Joe McDonagh Cup winners. This arrangement allows teams from Connacht and Ulster to gain promotion to the tier 1 championship.

If a Munster team wins the Joe McDonagh Cup, they playoff against the team that finished bottom in the Munster championship for the right to play in next year's Munster championship, thereby ensuring that only Munster teams compete in the Munster hurling championship.

A total of twelve teams compete in the championship – five in the Leinster championship, five in the Munster championship, and the two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists who enter at the preliminary quarter-final stage.

Teams and venues

Each team has a nominal home stadium for the round-robin series of the provincial championships.

In the knockout stage, teams from the provincial round-robin series will not have home advantage, if avoidable. The only teams to play knockout games at home are the two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists, who have 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 are held in the 82,300-capacity Croke Park in Dublin, headquarters of the GAA.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
From the Leinster Championship
Carlow	Carlow	Netwatch Cullen Park	21,000
Dublin	Dublin	Parnell Park	13,499
Galway	Galway	Pearse Stadium	26,197
Kilkenny	Kilkenny	Nowlan Park	27,800
Wexford	Wexford	Innovate Wexford Park	25,000
From the Munster Championship
Clare	Ennis	Cusack Park, Ennis	19,000
Cork	Cork	Páirc Uí Chaoimh	45,000
Limerick	Limerick	Gaelic Grounds	49,886
Tipperary	Thurles	Semple Stadium	53,000
Waterford	Waterford	Walsh Park	11,046
From the Joe McDonagh Cup
Laois	Laois	O'Moore Park	18,000
Westmeath	Westmeath	Cusack Park, Mullingar	11,000

Personnel and colours

Team	Colours	Captain(s)	Manager(s)	Most recent success			Main Sponsor
All-Ireland	Provincial	League
Carlow		Diarmuid Byrne Richard Coady	Colm Bonnar				IT Carlow
Clare		Patrick O'Connor	Donal Moloney Gerry O'Connor	2013	1998	2016	Pat O'Donnell
Cork		Séamus Harnedy	John Meyler	2005	2018	1998	Chill Insurance
Dublin		Seán Moran	Mattie Kenny	1938	2013	2011	AIG
Galway		David Burke	Micheál Donoghue	2017	2018	2017	Supermac's
Kilkenny		T. J. Reid	Brian Cody	2015	2016	2018	Glanbia
Laois		Patrick Purcell	Eddie Brennan	1915	1949		MW Hire Group
Limerick		Declan Hannon	John Kiely	2018	2013	2019	J. P. McManus
Tipperary		Séamus Callanan	Liam Sheedy	2016	2016	2008	Teneo
Waterford		Noel Connors	Páraic Fanning	1959	2010	2015	TQS Integration
Westmeath		Aonghus Clarke	Joe Quaid				Renault
Wexford		Lee Chin Matthew O'Hanlon	Davy Fitzgerald	1996	2004	1972–73	Gain

The second ever Joe McDonagh Cup, the second tier of senior inter-county championship hurling, was contested by Antrim, Kerry, Laois, Offaly and Westmeath in 2019. Each team plays the other four teams once in a round-robin format. The top two teams compete in the Joe McDonagh Cup final and also advance to the two All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals, where they play the teams that finish third in the Leinster and Munster championships.

Promotion to the All-Ireland senior hurling championship

• If the Joe McDonagh champions from Connacht, Leinster or Ulster they are promoted directly to the Leinster Championship for 2020.
• If the Joe McDonagh champions are from Munster they compete in a relegation-promotion playoff against the bottom team in the Munster Championship.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	SF	SA	Diff	Pts
1	Laois (Q)	4	3	1	0	12-85	6-83	+20	7
2	Westmeath (Q)	4	2	1	1	6-85	2-78	+19	5
3	Antrim	4	2	0	2	7-82	6-85	0	4
4	Kerry	4	2	0	2	3-74	11-68	-18	4
5	Offaly (R)	4	0	0	4	8-69	11-81	-21	0

Laois defeated fellow Leinster county Westmeath in the 2019 Joe McDonagh Cup final. Laois were promoted to the 2020 Leinster Championship, while both teams advanced to the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals.

• The Leinster Championship meeting between Carlow and Kilkenny was their first championship meeting since 20 June 1993.
• On 19 May, Patrick Horgan of Cork became only the fifth player ever to record a cumulative total of 400 points in the championship.
• Galway's Micheál Donoghue became the first manager to secure three victories over Brian Cody's Kilkenny in the championship.
• Kilkenny suffered their first home championship defeat at Nowlan Park since 1949.
• The Munster final between Limerick and Tipperary was their first meeting at this stage of the championship since 2001.
• Wexford won their first Leinster championship since 2004, and reached the All-Ireland semi-finals for the first time since 2007.
• The All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final was the first ever championship meeting between Cork and Westmeath.[6]
• Laois reached the All-Ireland quarter-finals for the first time since 1979.[7]
• Cork scored forty points in the preliminary quarter-final against Westmeath, a record (they won 1-40 to 0-20). The previous record was 35, scored by Waterford against Offaly in 2017.[8]
• Patrick Horgan scored a hat-trick for Cork against Kilkenny, but ended on the losing side. The last time this happened was Seamus Callanan in 2015, who scored a hat-trick for Tipperary as they lost to Galway.[9]
• This is the very first time two teams beaten in their respective provincial finals meet at the Final stage.
• Tipperary become the first team to win two All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championships by qualifying back into the All-Ireland series through the back door system. The first time they achieved this feat was in 2010.

RTÉ, the national broadcaster in Ireland, will provide the majority of the live television coverage of the hurling championship in the third year of a five-year deal running from 2017 until 2021.[10] Sky Sports will also broadcast a number of matches and will have exclusive rights to some games.

Sunday Game Team of the Year

The Sunday Game team of the year was picked on 18 August, which was the night of the final. The panel consisting of Brendan Cummins, Cyril Farrell, Jackie Tyrell, Ursula Jacob, Graeme Mulcahy, Derek McGrath and Enda Rowland picked Noel McGrath as the Sunday game player of the year while Kilkenny’s Adrian Mullen was selected as Young Hurler of the Year.[11]

• 1. Eoin Murphy (Kilkenny)
• 2. Sean Finn (Limerick)
• 3. Ronan Maher (Tipperary)
• 4. Cathal Barrett (Tipperary)
• 5. Brendan Maher (Tipperary)
• 6. Padraig Walsh (Kilkenny)
• 7. Padraic Maher (Tipperary)
• 8. Diarmuid O’Keeffe (Wexford)
• 9. Noel McGrath (Tipperary)
• 10. Lee Chin (Wexford)
• 11. TJ Reid (Kilkenny)
• 12. Colin Fennelly (Kilkenny)
• 13. Aaron Gillane (Limerick)
• 14. Seamus Callanan (Tipperary)
• 15. Patrick Horgan (Cork)

All Star Team of the Year

On 1 November, the 2019 PwC All-Stars winners were presented at Dublin's Convention Centre. Séamus Callanan was named as the All Stars Hurler of the Year with Adrian Mullen named the All Stars Young Hurler of the Year.[12][13][14]

Pos.	Player	Team	Appearances
GK	Brian Hogan	Tipperary	1
RCB	Seán Finn	Limerick	2
FB	Ronan Maher	Tipperary	2
LCB	Cathal Barrett	Tipperary	2
RWB	Brendan Maher	Tipperary	3
CB	Pádraig Walsh	Kilkenny	2
LWB	Pádraic Maher	Tipperary	6
MD	Noel McGrath	Tipperary	3
MD	Diarmuid O'Keeffe	Wexford	1
RWF	Lee Chin	Wexford	1
CF	T. J. Reid	Kilkenny	4
LWF	Colin Fennelly	Kilkenny	2
RCF	Aaron Gillane	Limerick	1
FF	Séamus CallananHOTY	Tipperary	4
LCF	Patrick Horgan	Cork	4