Format
The county is a geographical region in Ireland, and each of the thirty-two counties in Ireland organises its own GAA affairs through a County Board. The county teams play in their respective Provincial championships in Munster, Leinster, Connacht and Ulster.
As of 2011, the championship format is as follows:
14 counties participate in Tier 1 of the 2012 Championship. These teams will be as follows:
- Leinster: Antrim, Carlow, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford
- Munster: Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford
Provincial Championships
The Leinster, Munster and Ulster championships are knockout competitions. The Ulster Championship is not part of the All Ireland championship and results have no bearing on the competition. The Leinster Championship consists of the 7 Leinster teams mentioned above, along with Galway and Antrim. The Munster Championship consists of the 5 Munster teams mentioned above only. The Leinster and Munster champions advance directly to the All-Ireland semi-finals. The losing provincial finalists go on to the All Ireland quarter finals and other losing teams enter the All Ireland qualifiers.
All-Ireland Qualifiers
Preliminary Round: (2 matches) This consists of matches between 4 teams knocked out before the semi finals of the provincial championships, with 2 winners proceeding to Phase 1.
Phase 1: (2 matches) This winners of the preliminary round play the remaining 2 teams knocked out before the semi finals of the provincial championships, with 2 winners proceeding to Phase 3.
Phase 2: (2 matches) This consists of matches between teams knocked out at the semi final stage of the provincial championships. The 2 winners proceed to Phase 3.
Phase 3: (2 matches) The winners of Phase 1 play the winners of Phase 2, with the winners of these matches proceeding to the All Ireland Quarter finals.
All-Ireland Series
Quarter-finals: (2 matches) The defeated Munster and Leinster finalists will play the winners of the qualifier phase 3 games.
Semi-finals: (2 matches) The Munster and Leinster champions will play the winners of the quarter-finals.
Read more about this topic: All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship