The 2017 Nicky Rackard Cup was the 13th staging of the Nicky Rackard Cup hurling championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2005. It is the third tier of senior inter-county championship hurling.Hurling tiers - 1. All-Ireland (Liam McCarthy) 2. Christy Ring 3. Nicky Rackard 4. Lory Meagher
Mayo, the 2016 champions, were promoted to the 2017 Christy Ring Cup after defeating Derry in the promotion/relegation playoff 1–21 to 1–14.
Format
The 2017 Nicky Rackard Cup is played in a double-elimination format. For clarity, the match-ups are explained in each round below.
The seven teams competing in 2017 were Armagh, Derry, Donegal, Longford, Louth, Monaghan, and Tyrone. Fingal were scheduled to compete but withdrew for 2017.
Round 1
Six of the seven teams play in Round 1. The seventh team receives a bye.
Round 2
Round 2A
Contested by the three winners of Round 1 and the team that received a bye.
Round 2B
One match contested by two of the three losers of Round 1. The other losing team from Round 1 receives a bye.
Quarter-finals
The two losers of round 2A played the winner of round 2B and Monaghan, who had received a bye from that round. These two matches are referred to as quarter-finals.
Semi-finals
The winners of round 2A play the winners of the two quarter-finals.
Final
The winners of the Nicky Rackard Cup (tier 3) are automatically promoted to next year's Christy Ring Cup (tier 2).
Bracket
Relegation play-off (cancelled)
Normally contested by the two losers from round 2B as both these teams lost their first two matches. In 2017, no team was relegated as Fingal withdrew, thereby creating a vacant place in the normal eight-team Nicky Rackard Cup which was taken up by Warwickshire, the winners of the 2017 Lory Meagher Cup.
Scoring statistics
Top scorers overall
Rank Player Team Tally Total1David CarvillArmagh2-34402Damian CaseyTyrone2-23293Alan GrantDerry4-0921Brendan RogersDerry6-03215Davin FlynnDonegal2-1117Ruairí ConveryDerry1-14177Conor CorvanArmagh1-1316Lee HendersonDonegal0-1616Donal MeeganMonaghan0-161610Brian CassidyDerry3-0615Patrick WalshLongford0-1515
Top scorers in a single game
Rank Player Team Tally Total Opposition1David CarvillArmagh1-1114Tyrone2Damian CaseyTyrone1-1013Donegal3Brendan RogersDerry3-0211LongfordAlan GrantDerry2-0511LongfordDamian CaseyTyrone0-1111ArmaghRuairí ConveryDerry0-1111LouthDavid CarvillArmagh0-1111Louth8Brendan RogersDerry3-0110MonaghanBrian CassidyDerry2-0410LongfordConor CorvanArmagh1-0710LongfordDonal MeeganMonaghan0-1010Tyrone
References