2024 Joe McDonagh Cup

The 2024 Joe McDonagh Cup was the seventh edition of the Joe McDonagh Cup since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2018 and is the second-tier of Hurling for senior county teams (the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship is the first-tier trophy). It is contested by six GAA county teams ranked 12–17 in the 2024 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. The fixtures were announced on 13 April 2018. The competition began on 5 May 2018. The competition ran from 20 April to 8 June 2024.

The Joe McDonagh Cup final was played on 8 June 2024 at Croke Park in Dublin, between Offaly and Laois, in what was their first ever meeting in the final. Offaly won the match by 2–23 to 0–26 to claim their first ever cup title.

Offaly's Brian Duignan and Westmeath's Killian Doyle were the joint-top scorers.

To championship
Relegated from the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
 * Westmeath

Promoted from the Christy Ring Cup
 * Meath

From championship
Promoted to the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
 * Carlow

Relegated to the Christy Ring Cup
 * Kildare

Cup format
Initially each of the six teams play the other five teams in single round-robin matches. The top two teams after the round robin games compete in the Joe McDonagh Cup final. The Joe McDonagh Cup champions and runners-up also advance to the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals with the Joe McDonagh Cup teams having home advantage.

Promotion
If the Joe McDonagh champions are a non-Munster team, they are automatically promoted to the following year's Leinster Championship. If the champions are a Munster team, they are automatically promoted to the following year's Munster Championship. The Joe McDonagh Cup champions replace the bottom-placed team in the provincial championship containing six teams.

Relegation
The bottom-placed team in the Joe McDonagh Cup are automatically relegated to the following year's Christy Ring Cup and are replaced by the Christy Ring Cup champions.

Teams by province
The participating teams, listed by province, with numbers in parentheses indicating final positions in the 2024 National Hurling League before the championship were:

Leinster (4)


 * Colours_of_Laois.svg Laois (13)
 * Colours_of_Meath.svg Meath (18)
 * Colours_of_Offaly.svg Offaly (11)
 * Colours_of_Westmeath.svg Westmeath (10)

Munster (1)


 * Colours_of_Kerry.svg Kerry (17)

Ulster (1)


 * Colours_of_Down.svg Down (15)

General information
Six counties will compete in the Joe McDonagh Cup:

Group stage seeding
The fixtures for the group stage were an open draw.

Numbers in brackets indicate ranking in the 2024 NHL.

Pot


 * Colours_of_Westmeath.svg Westmeath (10)
 * Colours_of_Offaly.svg Offaly (11)
 * Colours_of_Laois.svg Laois (13)
 * Colours_of_Down.svg Down (15)
 * Colours_of_Kerry.svg Kerry (17)
 * Colours_of_Meath.svg Meath (18)

All-Ireland seeding
The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship draw took place in 7th December 2023.

Seeded into preliminary quarter-finals Unseeded into preliminary quarter-finals
 * Joe McDonagh Cup winners
 * Joe McDonagh Cup runners-up
 * 3rd place Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
 * 3rd place Munster Senior Hurling Championship

Final

 * Laois and Offaly qualify to the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship preliminary quarter-finals.
 * Offaly are also promoted to the 2025 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship.

Top scorers

 * Overall


 * In a single game

Scoring events

 * Widest winning margin: 31 points
 * Meath 1-16 - 7-29 Laois (Round 2)
 * Most goals in a match: 8
 * Meath 1-16 - 7-29 Laois (Round 2)
 * Meath 3-16 - 5-31 Offaly (Round 3)
 * Down 3-25 - 5-23 Offaly (Round 5)
 * Most points in a match: 49
 * Down 3-24 - 0-25 Meath (Round 1)
 * Offaly 2-23 - 0-26 Laois (Final)
 * Most goals by one team in a match: 7
 * Meath 1-16 - 7-29 Laois (Round 2)
 * Most points by one team in a match: 31
 * Meath 3-16 - 5-31 Offaly (Round 3)
 * Laois 4-31 - 0-17 Down (Round 4)
 * Highest aggregate score: 72 points
 * Down 3-25 - 5-23 Offaly (Round 5)
 * Lowest aggregate score: 35 points
 * Kerry 3-13 - 1-10 Meath (Round 5)

Miscellaneous

 * Offaly won their 1st championship in 3 years, last winning the 2021 Christy Ring Cup.
 * Offaly become the fifth different county to win the Joe McDonagh Cup.
 * First-time Joe McDonagh Cup meetings:
 * Down v Westmeath (Round 3)
 * Meath are relegated from the Joe McDonagh Cup for a record third time.