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2020 Joe McDonagh Cup

Dates	25 October – 13 December 2020
Teams	5
Champions	Antrim (1st title) Conor McCann (captain) Darren Gleeson (manager)
Runners-up	Kerry Bryan Murphy (captain) Fintan O'Connor (manager)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	11
Goals scored	37 (3.36 per match)
Points scored	419 (38.09 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ciarán Clarke (4-47)
← 2019 (Previous) (Next) 2021 →

The 2020 Joe McDonagh Cup was the third staging of the Joe McDonagh Cup since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2018. The competition was initially scheduled to begin on 10 May 2020 and end on 29 June 2020. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games, the first-round games were delayed until 25 October 2020.

Laois, the 2019 champions, were promoted to the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, while Offaly were relegated to the Christy Ring Cup. Meath and Carlow entered the cup.

On 13 December 2020, Antrim won the Joe McDonagh Cup after a 0–22 to 1–17 win over Kerry in the final at Croke Park. It was their first ever title.

Team changes

To Championship

Relegated from the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

• Carlow

Promoted from the Christy Ring Cup

• Meath

From Championship

Promoted to the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

• Laois

Relegated to the Christy Ring Cup

• Offaly

Teams

Five teams compete in the 2020 Joe McDonagh Cup.

General Information

County	Last Cup title	Last Provincial title	Last All-Ireland title	Position in 2019 Championship	Appearance
Antrim	—	2017	—	3rd	3rd
Carlow	2018	—	—	5th (Leinster Senior Hurling Championship)	2nd
Kerry	—	1891	1891	4th	3rd
Meath	—	—	—	Champions (Christy Ring Cup)	2nd
Westmeath	—	—	—	Runners-up	3rd

Personnel and kits

County	Manager	Captain(s)	Sponsor
Antrim	Darren Gleeson	Conor McCann	fonaCAB
Carlow	Colm Bonnar	Diarmuid Byrne Richard Coady	IT Carlow
Kerry	Fintan O'Connor	Bryan Murphy	Kerry Group
Meath	Nick Weir	Seán Geraghty	Glenveagh Properties
Westmeath	Joe Quaid	Aonghus Clarke	Renault

Competition format

Joe McDonagh Cup

Initially each of the five teams play the other four teams in a round of single round-robin matches. The top two teams qualify for the Joe McDonagh Cup final which is held at Croke Park.

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

Normally the top two teams also enter the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship where they play the third-placed teams in the Leinster and Munster championships in the two All-Ireland preliminary quarter finals with the Joe McDonagh Cup teams having home advantage. The senior hurling championship was shortened in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the cancellation of the participation of the two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists.

Promotion to Leinster or Munster SHC

The winner of the Joe McDonagh Cup can also be promoted to the following year's Leinster or Munster Senior Hurling championships, which form the first round of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. How this is achieved depends on the province to which the Cup champions belong.

If the Joe McDonagh champions are a non-Munster team, they are automatically promoted to the following year's Leinster Championship and the bottom-placed team in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship are automatically relegated to the following year's Joe McDonagh Cup. If the champions are a Munster team (effectively, Kerry), they must win a play-off with the bottom-placed team in the Munster Championship to gain promotion at that teams expense to the following year's Munster Championship.

Relegation

The bottom-placed team in the Joe McDonagh Cup are usually relegated to the following year's Christy Ring Cup, and replaced by the 2020 Christy Ring Cup Champions. In 2021 the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship will be increased from five to six teams, meaning there will be no team relegated from the Joe McDonagh Cup in 2020. The 2020 Christy Ring Cup winners will be promoted to Maintain the Joe McDonagh Cup as a five team competition.

Group stage

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	SF	SA	Diff	Pts	Qualification
1	Antrim	4	3	1	0	14-89	8-64	+43	7	Advance to Knockout Stage
2	Kerry	4	3	0	1	7-75	4-67	+16	6
3	Westmeath	4	2	0	2	4-70	9-76	-21	4
4	Carlow	4	1	1	2	6-83	9-80	-6	3
5	Meath	4	0	0	4	5-63	6-92	-32	0

Round 1

25 October 2020 Round 1	Antrim	4-25 – 1-15	Westmeath	Corrigan Park
	C Clarke (2-8, 6f); C McCann (1-3); N McKenna, K Molloy (0-4 each); A O’Brien (1-0), G Walsh, E Campbell (0-2 each); D McMullan, S McCrory (0-1 each).	Report	B Murtagh (0-6f); Niall O’Brien (1-2); D Clinton (0-4); A Clarke, N Mitchell, S Williams (0-1 each).	Referee: S Stack (Dublin)

25 October 2020 Round 1	Kerry	1-20 – 0-13	Meath	Austin Stack Park
	S Conway 0-9 (9f); S Nolan 1-2; M Boyle 0-4; M O'Leary 0-2; B Barrett, M Slattery, C Harty 0-1 each.	Report	P O'Hanrahan 0-8 (6f, 1 '65); J Regan 0-4; S Whitty 0-1.	Referee: T Walsh (Waterford)

Round 2

31 October 2020 Round 2	Westmeath	0-14 – 2-19	Kerry	TEG Cusack Park
	B Murtagh 0-4 (3f), D Clinton 0-3, R Greville, A Devine, N O'Brien 0-2 each, D McNicholas 0-1.	Report	S Conway 1-12 (8f), S Nolan 1-0, P Boyle 0-3, C Harty 0-2, M O'Leary, M O'Connor 0-1 each.	Referee: S Cleere (Kilkenny)

31 October 2020 Round 2	Carlow	2-25 – 5-16	Antrim	Netwatch Cullen Park
	M Kavanagh 0-7 (5f), C Nolan 0-5, E Byrne 1-2, J Kavanagh 0-4, JM Nolan 1-1, T Joyce, K McDonald 0-2 each, D Byrne, J Nolan 0-1.	Report	C Clarke 2-7 (1-0pen, 5f, 1 '65'), C McCann 1-1, N McKenna 0-3, D Nugent, J McNaughton 1-0 each, K Molloy 0-2, D McCloskey, P Burke, C Cunning 0-1 each.	Referee: C McAllister (Cork)

Round 3

7 November 2020 Round 3A	Carlow	1-22 – 1-21	Meath	Netwatch Cullen Park
	M Kavanagh (1-13), J Nolan (0-3), C Nolan (0-3), J Kavanagh (0-2), E Byrne (0-1).	https://www.gaa.ie/hurling/news/joe-mcdonagh-cup-carlow-edge-out-meath/ Report	J Regan 0-6 (1’65, 5f), P O’Hanrahan 0-4 (3f), D Kelly 0-3, D Healy 1-0, K Keoghan 0-2, J Walsh 0-2, A Douglas 0-1, D McGowan 0-1, A Gannon 0-1, P Conneely 0-1.

14 November 2020 Round 3B	Antrim	3-18 - 2-14	Kerry	Corrigan Park
	C McCann (2-3); C Clarke (0-9, 7f); M Bradley (1-2); K Molloy (0-3); D McCloskey (0-1).	Report	S Conway (1-7, 3f); D Collins (1-2); T O’Connor, S Nolan, B Barrett, M Boyle, P Boyle (0-1 each).	Referee: P Murphy (Carlow)

Round 4

21 November 2020 Round 4	Kerry	2-22 - 1-23	Carlow	Tralee
	S Conway (0-08, 0-03f, 0-01’65’), D Collins (2-01), M Boyle (0-04), M O’Leary (0-03), M O’Connor (0-02), M Leane (0-02), S Nolan (0-01), B Barrett (0-01).	Report	M Kavanagh (0-11, 0-11f), C Nolan (0-05), J Nolan (1-01), K McDonald (0-02), E Byrne (0-01), D Byrne (0-01), J Kavanagh (0-01), J Doyle (0-01).	Stadium: Austin Stack Park Attendance: 0 Referee: C McAllister (Cork)

21 November 2020 Round 4	Meath	1-19 - 2-20	Westmeath	Navan
13:30 GMT	P O’Hanrahan (0-8, 8 frees), J Walsh (1-2), A Gannon (0-3), J Regan (2f) (0-3 each), S Morris, A Douglas, K Keoghan (0-1 each).	Report	A Clarke (0-9, 7 frees), L Loughlin, S Williams (1-0 each), C Boyle, J Boyle (0-3 each), N Mitchell (0-2), R Greville, D Clinton, A Cox (0-1 each).	Stadium: Páirc Tailteann Attendance: 0 Referee: R McGann (Clare)

Round 5

28 November 2020 Round 5	Westmeath	1-21 - 2-13	Carlow	Mullingar
	A Clarke 0-13 (0-6 frees, 0-2 65s), C Boyle 0-4, N Mitchell 1-0, J Galvin 0-1, S Williams 0-1, B Murtagh 0-1, L Loughlin 0-1	Report	C Nolan 0-5 (0-2 frees), J Nolan 1-1, JM Nolan 1-0, K McDonald 0-4 (0-3 frees), J Kavanagh 0-2, E Byrne 0-1.	Stadium: TEG Cusack Park Attendance: 0

28 November 2020 Round 5	Meath	3-10 - 2-30	Antrim	Navan
13:30 GMT	J Kelly 1-1, S Morris 1-0, D Healy 1-0 (1-0f), P O'Hanrahan 0-2 (0-1f, 0-1 65), A Douglas 0-2, J Walsh 0-1, P Potterton 0-1, K Keoghan 0-1, D Kelly 0-1 (0-1f), D McGowan 0-1.	Report	C Clarke 0-12 (0-10f), M Bradley 0-8, D McCloskey 1-0, N McKenna 1-0, C McCann 0-2, J McNaughton 0-2, N McKeague 0-2, E Campbell 0-1, R McGarry 0-1, D McMullan 0-1, D Nugent 0-1.	Stadium: Páirc Tailteann Attendance: 0 Referee: D Hughes (Kilkenny)

Final

13 December 2020 Final	Kerry	1-17 - 0-22	Antrim	Dublin
13:00 GMT	S Conway (0-9, 0-8 frees); M Boyle (1-0); M O’Leary, D Collins (0-2 each); P O’Connor, C Harty, P Boyle, B O’Leary (0-1 each).	Report	C Clarke (0-11, 0-8 frees); N McManus (0-4, 0-2 ‘65s, 0-1 free); N McKenna, C Gunning (0-2 each); J McNaughton, C McCann, M Bradley (0-1 each).	Stadium: Croke Park Attendance: 0 Referee: L Gordon (Galway)

Stadia and locations

Colours	Location	Province	Stadium	Capacity
Antrim	Belfast	Ulster	Corrigan Park	5,000
Carlow	Carlow	Leinster	Netwatch Cullen Park	21,000
Kerry	Tralee	Munster	Austin Stack Park	12,000
Meath	Navan	Leinster	Páirc Tailteann	17,000
Westmeath	Mullingar	Leinster	Cusack Park	11,000

Statistics

Top scorers

Overall

In a single game

Miscellaneous

• Antrim and Kerry both qualified to the Joe McDonagh Cup final for the first time.
• Antrim won their 1st championship in 3 years since winning the 2017 Ulster Senior Hurling Championship.

Awards

In February 2021, the GAA named the 2020 Joe McDonagh Team of the Year. Conor McCann of Antrim was named as the 2020 Joe McDonagh Cup player of the year.

• 1: Brian Tracey (Carlow)
• 2: Tomás O’Connor (Kerry)
• 3: Matthew Donnelly (Antrim)
• 4: Stephen Rooney (Antrim)
• 5: Jason Diggins (Kerry)
• 6: Aonghus Clarke (Westmeath)
• 7: Ger Walsh (Antrim)
• 8: Shane Nolan (Kerry)
• 9: Keelan Molloy (Antrim)
• 10: Niall McKenna (Antrim)
• 11: Shane Conway (Kerry)
• 12: Daniel Collins (Kerry)
• 13: Chris Nolan (Carlow)
• 14: Conor McCann (Antrim)
• 15: Ciaran Clarke (Antrim)

References

1. Moran, Seán (30 September 2017). "GAA Congress approve round-robin provincial hurling championships". Irish Times. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
2. Cormican, Eoghan (13 December 2020). "Antrim see off Kerry to secure McDonagh Cup success at Croke Park". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
3. "Clarke points the way as Antrim celebrate Joe McDonagh Cup glory with win over Kerry". The 42. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
4. "ANTRIM 0-22 KERRY 1-17". GAA.ie. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
5. "McManus inspires Antrim". GAA. 30 June 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
6. Devlin, Michael (10 May 2019). "Guide to the Joe McDonagh Cup". GAA. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
7. "Meath hurlers unveil new sponsor". Archived from the original on 20 January 2020.
8. O'Brien, Kevin (16 September 2019). "New era for Westmeath as Cooney and Quaid get the green light". Westmeath Independent. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
9. Casserly, Mark (24 January 2019). "Aonghus Clarke named senior hurling captain for 2019". Archived from the original on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
10. "Joe McDonagh and Champions 15 award winners announced". The 42. 15 February 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
11. "Antrim lead the way on Joe McDonagh Team of the Year as Kilkenny duo vie for camogie award". Irish Independent. 15 February 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.

• 2020 in hurling
• Gaelic games events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Joe McDonagh Cup