Format
The Munster Club Championship is a knockout tournament with pairings drawn at random – there are no seeds.
Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is a replay. Drawn replays are now settled with extra time, however, if both sides are still level at the end of extra time a second replay takes place and so on until a winner is found.
The format has remained virtually the same since the very first Munster Championship in 1964. Currently, an open draw is made in which three of the five teams automatically qualify for the semi-final stage of the competition. Two other teams play in a lone quarter-final with the winner joining the other three teams at the semi-final stage. Once a team is defeated they are eliminated from the championship.
The Munster Championship has wider implications for the GAA All-Ireland Club Hurling Senior Championship. The winners of the Munster final automatically qualify for the semi-final stages of the All-Ireland series of games. There is no "back-door system" for the defeated finalists.
Five of the six counties of Munster – Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford – are represented in the championship. The club champions of Kerry, the sixth county in the province, contested the senior championship until recently, however, they now contest the Munster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship.
Read more about this topic: Munster Senior Club Hurling Championship