2017 All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

Format

The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship is a double-elimination tournament based on the Leinster and Munster provincial championships. Fourteen teams take part.

Leinster and Munster Hurling Championships

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship

Seven Leinster counties compete. Galway and Kerry, though not in Leinster, also participate. The competition begins with a qualifier group consisting of the four weakest teams. Two teams from the qualifier group progress and the remainder of the competition is knock-out. Most of the beaten teams enter the All-Ireland qualifiers – the two bottom teams in the Leinster qualifier group do not.

In 2017 the bottom team in the Leinster qualifier group will be relegated to next year's Christy Ring Cup (2nd tier). Their place in next year's Leinster qualifier group will be taken by the winner of 2017’s Christy Ring Cup.

Meath qualified for this year's Leinster Championship by winning the 2016 Christy Ring Cup.

Munster Senior Hurling Championship

Five Munster counties compete. Kerry participates in The Leinster Hurling Championship (see above). The competition has a knock-out format. All of the beaten teams enter the All-Ireland qualifiers.

Qualifiers

All teams beaten in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Leinster and Munster Hurling Championships enter the All-Ireland hurling qualifiers which are knock-out. The qualifiers eventually result in two teams who progress to the two All-Ireland quarter-finals.

All-Ireland

The last two teams from the qualifiers play the beaten finalists from the Leinster and Munster championships in the two All-Ireland quarter-finals. The Leinster and Munster champions play the winners of the two quarter finals in the semi-finals. The final normally takes place on the first Sunday in September.

Non-participating Provincial Championships

Connacht and Ulster teams can qualify for the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship by winning the Christy Ring Cup (tier 2).

Connacht Senior Hurling Championship

This competition is no longer organised. Galway represent Connacht and participate in the Leinster Championship.

Ulster Senior Hurling Championship

Although this competition takes place, it is not part of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Currently no Ulster teams qualify for the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.

Live TV Coverage

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

Leinster Format

Nine counties compete - seven from Leinster plus Galway and Kerry. Last year's Leinster champions receive a bye into the semi-final. The championship begins with a qualifier group involving the four weakest teams. The group winners and runners-up join four of the five strongest teams in the three Leinster quarter finals.

Leinster Qualifier Group

Leinster Qualifier Group Table

Leinster Qualifier Group Round 1

Leinster Qualifier Group Round 2

Leinster Qualifier Group Round 3

Leinster Knock-out

Leinster Quarter-Finals

Last year's Leinster champions receive a bye into the semi-finals. The remaining six teams (four seeded teams plus the qualifier group winners and runners-up) play in three quarter-finals. If a team from the qualifier group wins their quarter-final, they will be seeded in next year's Leinster championship and the beaten seeded team will compete in next year's Leinster qualifier group.

Leinster Semi-Finals

Last year's Leinster champions receive a bye into the semi-finals. They are joined by the winners of the three quarter-finals.

Leinster Final

Munster Format

Five of the six Munster counties compete. Kerry qualify for the qualifier group of the Leinster championship. The competition is straight knock-out.

All-Ireland Qualifiers

All qualifier matches are knock-out.

Qualifiers Round 1 Format

The eight teams beaten in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Leinster (5 teams) and Munster (3 teams) provincial championships play in four matches.

A draw is made that ensures there are three matches between Leinster and Munster teams and one match between two Leinster teams.

Qualifiers Round 2 Format

The four winners of round 1 play in two matches. Teams who have already met in the Leinster or Munster championships cannot be drawn to meet again.

All-Ireland Quarter-Finals

The beaten finalists from the Leinster and Munster championships play the winners of round 2 of the qualifiers.

All-Ireland Semi-Finals

The Leinster and Munster champions play the winners of the two quarter-finals.

Broadcast Rights

Matches will be broadcast live on television in Ireland on RTÉ and Sky Sports under a new five-year contract that was agreed in December 2016. In the United Kingdom, matches will be shown on Sky Sports and worldwide coverage will be provided on GAAGO. RTÉ Radio 1 will also have full radio rights to all championship games which were previously shared with Newstalk.

RTÉ coverage will be shown on RTÉ One on The Sunday Game Live presented by Michael Lyster in high definition. Des Cahill will present The Sunday Game highlights and analysis show on Sunday evening.