The 2018 Walsh Cup was an inter-county hurling competition based mainly in the Irish province of Leinster. It took place between December 2017 and January 2018.
For the first time, no third-level college teams took part. 10 Leinster counties, plus Antrim, competed. Longford and Louth entered the second-ranked Kehoe Cup.
Wexford were the 2018 champions, beating Kilkenny 3–2 in a free-taking competition after the final ended level on 1-24 each after extra time. This was the first inter-county hurling game to be decided by the taking of frees.
Format
There are 11 teams, in three groups of 3 teams and one group of 2 teams. In the three-team groups, each team plays the other teams once. In the two-team group, the teams play each other twice. Two points are awarded for a win and one for a draw.
The four group winners advance to the semi-finals.
Group stage Group 1 TeamPldWDLPtsDiff 22 0 0 4 +44 Carlow21 0 1 2 +9 Wicklow20 0 2 0 –53
Group 2 TeamPldWDLPtsDiff 22 0 0 4 +47 Laois21 0 1 2 –18 Kildare20 0 2 0 –29
Group 3 TeamPldWDLPtsDiff 22 0 0 4 +27 Meath21 0 1 2 -15 Antrim20 0 2 0 –12
Group 4 TeamPldWDLPtsDiff Offaly22 0 0 4 +5 20 0 2 0 –5
Knock-out stage
Semi-finals
Final
References