2018 Nicky Rackard Cup

The 2018 Nicky Rackard Cup was the 14th staging of the Nicky Rackard Cup hurling championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2005. It was the fourth tier[1] of senior inter-county hurling as of 2018.

2018 Nicky Rackard Cup

Dates	12 May 2018 - 23 June 2018
Teams	9
Champions	Donegal
Tournament statistics
Matches played	6
Top scorer(s)	Joe O'Brien (2-24)
← 2017 (Previous) (Next) 2019 →

The competition began on Saturday 12 May 2018 and ended on Saturday 23 June 2018.

Derry were the 2017 champions, beating Armagh in the final. Both teams were promoted to the 2018 Christy Ring Cup as a result of the restructuring of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Following the withdrawal of the Fingal team from the competition in 2017, there was no relegation from the 2017 competition and Warwickshire were promoted from the 2017 Lory Meagher Cup.

Format

Beginning in 2018, the Nicky Rackard Cup changed to an initial stage of two groups, which in 2018 consisted of one group of four teams and one group of three teams. Previously it was a double elimination tournament.

The top two teams from both groups advance to the knockout semi-finals. The winners of the 2018 Nicky Rackard Cup are promoted to the 2019 Christy Ring Cup. Two teams will be relegated from the 2018 Christy Ring Cup to the 2019 Nicky Rackard Cup to make the 2019 completion into two groups of four teams.

The bottom teams from each group playoff in a relegation match with the losers playing in the 2019 Lory Meagher Cup. They are replaced by the winners of the 2018 Lory Meagher Cup.[2]

Group Stage

Group 1

Group 1 Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	SF	SA	Diff	Pts
1	Warwickshire (Q)	3	3	0	0	68	52	16	6
2	Monaghan (Q)	3	1	1	1	69	58	11	3
3	Longford	3	1	0	2	48	59	-11	2
4	Louth	3	0	1	2	49	65	-16	1

Group 1 Rounds 1 to 3

Group 1 Round 1

Monaghan v Longford

12 May 2018 Round 1	Monaghan	4-19 – 2-11	Longford	Grattan Park, Inniskeen
	E Collins 1-7, M Treanor 1-3, F Rafter 0-5 (2fs) T Campbell, B McGuigan 1-0, C Boye 0-2, A Kenny, C McNally 0-1 each.	Report	J O'Brien 2-3, C Mullane 0-4 (3fs), P Walsh 0-2, C Kavanagh 0-1.	Referee: A Ferguson (Fermanagh)

Louth v Warwickshire

12 May 2018 Round 1	Louth	1-16 – 3-19	Warwickshire	Dundalk
	P Lynch 0-6 (4 fs), D Kettle 1-1, R Byrne (2fs), S Callan, S Connelly 0-2 each, J Crosbie, G Smyth, D Ryan 0-1 each.	Report	N McKenna (5fs), D Nugent 0-5 each, P Hoban 0-4 (3fs), S Caulfield 1-1, G Lennon, K Magee 1-0 each, P Uniacke 0-2, J Collins, N Kennedy 0-1 each.	Referee: J Clarke (Cavan)

Group 1 Round 2

Warwickshire v Monaghan

19 May 2018 Round 2	Warwickshire	1-21 - 3-11	Monaghan	Páirc na hÉireann, Solihull
	N McKenna 0-9 (5f), G Lennon 1-4, P Hoban 0-2 (1f), D Nugent 0-2, B Fallon 0-2, J Collins and S Caulfield 0-1 each.	Report	F Rafter 0-7 (2f), M Treanor 1-0, E Collins 1-1, T Campbell 1-1, C Boyle 0-3, P Finnegan 0-1.	Referee: K Brady (Louth)

Longford v Louth

19 May 2018 Round 2	Longford	0-19 - 0-12	Louth	Pearse Park, Longford
	J O'Brien 0-9 (5f), P Walsh 0-5, K Murray 0-2, C Mullane, C Kavanagh, D Connell 0-1 each.	Report	P Lynch 0-4, (3f, 1'65), A McCrave, M Molloy, S Connolly 0-2 each, D Ryan, J Crosbie 0-1 each.	Referee: T Gleeson (Dublin)

Group 1 Round 3

Louth v Monaghan

2 June 2018 Round 3	Louth	0-18 - 0-18	Monaghan	Dowdallshill
1:00 pm	P Lynch 0-10 (9f); R Byrne 0-3 (3f); G Smyth, D Kettle, S Connelly, S Kettle, M Molloy 0-1 each.	Report	F Rafter 0-10 (9f); M Treanor 0-2; E Collins 0-2; C Boyle, C Flynn, P Finnegan and C Power 0-1 each.	Referee: G McGrath (Wexford)

Longford v Warwickshire

2 June 2018 Round 3	Longford	0-13 - 1-13	Warwickshire	Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, Longford
1:00 pm	J O'Brien 0-12 (8f, 1 '65), Jody Leonard 0-1.	Report	N McKenna 0-9 (7f, 1 '65'), K Magee 1-0, P Hoban, S Caulfield, C Robbins, B Fallon 0-1 each.	Referee: J Clarke (Cavan)

Group 2

Group 2 Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	SF	SA	Diff	Pts
1	Donegal (Q)	2	2	0	0	63	29	34	4
2	Tyrone (Q)	2	1	0	1	46	49	-3	2
3	Leitrim	2	0	0	2	34	65	-31	0

Group 2 Rounds 1 to 3

Group 2 Round 1

Tyrone v Donegal

12 May 2018 Round 1	Tyrone	1-12 – 1-26	Donegal	Killyclogher
1:00 pm	D Casey 0-7 (4f, 1 '65), B McGurk 1-0, C Kearns 0-2, L Devlin, R McKernan, D Begley 0-1 each.	Report	D Coulter 0-13 (9f), D Flynn 1-5, C Matthewson 0-3, G Gilmore 0-2, R McDermott, J Donnelly, C McDermott 0-1 each.

Group 2 Round 2

Donegal v Leitrim

19 May 2018 Round 2	Donegal	2-28 - 2-08	Leitrim	O'Donnell Park, Letterkenny
1:00 pm	D Flynn (4f, 1 '65) 1-13, G Gilmore 1-4, J Boyle, K Campbell, L Henderson 0-2 each, C Matthewson, D Cullen, E McDermott, B Lafferty, C McDermott 0-1 each.	Report	C Cunniffe (4f) 1-5, B Murray 1-0, C Donovan 0-2, J Clancy 0-1.	Referee: K McGeeney (Roscommon)

Group 2 Round 3

Leitrim v Tyrone

2 June 2018 Round 3	Leitrim	2-14 - 2-25	Tyrone	Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada, Carrick
1:00 pm	C Cunniffe 0-6 (5f, '65'); C O'Donovan 0-4; C Moreton & J Glancy 1-0 (each); Z Moradi 0-2; A Duffy, J McNabola 0-1 (each).	Report	P O'Kelly 0-8; D Casey 1-4 (f); A Kelly 1-1; C Kearns, J Ferguson, J Kelly, T Morgan 0-2 each; R McKernan, B McGurk, D Begley, L Armstrong 0-1 each.	Referee: A Ferguson (Fermanagh)

Knockout Stage

Bracket

	Semi-Finals					Final
	1A	Warwickshire	1-25
	2B	Tyrone	1-14
						1A	Warwickshire	0-18
						1B	Donegal	2-19
	1B	Donegal	4-22
	2A	Monaghan	1-10

Semi-finals

The Group 1 winners play the Group 2 runners-up and the Group 2 winners play the Group 1 runners-up.

Warwickshire v Tyrone

9 June 2018 Semi-final	Warwickshire	1-25 - 1-14	Tyrone	Dowdallshill
		Report

Donegal v Monaghan

9 June 2018 Semi-final	Donegal	4-22 - 1-10	Monaghan	Owenbeg
		Report

Cup Final

The semi-final winners met in the Nicky Rackard Cup final at Croke Park with the winners being promoted to the Christy Ring Cup for 2019.

23 June 2018

Final

Warwickshire	0-18 - 2-19	Donegal
Niall McKenna 0-12 (8fs), Shane Caulfield 0-2, Paul Hoban 0-1 (’65), Niall Kennedy 0-1, Conor Robbins 0-1, Domhnall Nugent 0-1 (1f)	Report	Declan Coulter 1-9 (2fs, 1 ’65), Gerry Gilmore 0-5 (3 sidelines), Gavin Brown 1-0, Davin Flynn 0-2, Bernard Lafferty 0-2, Ciaran Mathewson 0-1.

Croke Park, Dublin

Referee: Gearoid McGrath (Wexford)

Relegation Playoff

The bottom teams in each group - the fourth placed team in group 1 and the third placed team in group 2 - meet in a relegation playoff. The winners remain in the Nicky Rackard Cup for 2019, while the losers are relegated to the 2019 Lory Meagher Cup.

9 June 2018

Relegation final

Louth	2-22 - 2-10	Leitrim

• Leitrim are relegated to the 2019 Lory Meagher Cup. Louth will remain in the 2019 Nicky Rackard Cup

Scoring statistics

Top scorers overall

Rank	Player	County	Tally	Total	Matches	Average
1	Davin Flynn	Donegal	4-31	43	4	10.75
1	Declan Coulter	Donegal	1-28	31	3	10.33
1	Joe O Brien	Longford	2-24	30	3	10.00
3	Niall McKenna	Warwickshire	0-23	23	3	7.66
4	Fergal Rafter	Monaghan	0-22	22	3	7.33
5	Paddy Lynch	Louth	0-20	20	3	6.66
6	Eamon Collins	Monaghan	2-10	16	3	5.33
7	Clement Cunniffe	Leitrim	1-11	14	2	7.00
	Damian Casey	Tyrone	1-11	14	2	7.00
9	Gerry Gilmore	Donegal	1-11	14	4	3.5

Top scorers in a single game

Rank	Player	Club	Tally	Total	Opposition
1	Davin Flynn	Donegal	2-11	17	Monaghan
1	Davin Flynn	Donegal	1-13	16	Leitrim
2	Declan Coulter	Donegal	0-13	13	Tyrone
3	Joe O'Brien	Longford	0-12	12	Warwickshire
4	Eamon Collins	Monaghan	1-07	10	Longford
	Fergal Rafter	Monaghan	0-10	10	Louth
	Paddy Lynch	Louth	0-10	10	Monaghan
5	Joe O'Brien	Longford	2-03	9	Monaghan
	Niall McKenna	Warwickshire	0-09	9	Monaghan
	Joe O'Brien	Longford	0-09	9	Louth
	Niall McKenna	Warwickshire	0-09	9	Longford

References

1. Hurling tiers - 1. All-Ireland (Liam MacCarthy Cup) 2. Joe McDonagh Cup 3. Christy Ring Cup 4. Nicky Rackard Cup 5. Lory Meagher Cup
2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-05-14. Retrieved 2018-05-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)