Format
The Walsh Cup is a straight knockout tournament with each match played as a single leg. The pairings are drawn at random without seeding and the draw usually takes place in December of the previous year. Out of the twelve teams that are entered into the draw, eight are drawn to compete in the first round and the remaining four teams that are drawn automatically qualify for the quarter-finals. The four winning teams from the first round progress to the quarter-finals while the losing teams are drawn against each other to compete for the Walsh Cup Shield. If a match ends in a draw, it is settled in extra time. However, if the score remains level at the end of extra time, a replay takes place and so on until a winner is found.
The format of the competition has remained virtually unchanged since its inception in 1954. The biggest change that it has seen was the entry of teams from outside of Leinster into the tournament. As no such pre-season hurling competition exists in Connacht and Ulster, many of their teams now compete in the Walsh Cup and Kehoe Cup, similar to the set up of the Leinster Championship. This has benefited new and existing teams within the tournament by improving the standard of the competition. Another change to the format of the competition was the entry of the top third-level teams into the tournament.
Twelve teams currently participate in the Walsh Cup. The inter-county teams include Antrim, Carlow, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly and Wexford, while the third-level teams consist of DIT, NUIG and UCD.
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