Format
The Munster Championship is a knockout tournament with pairings drawn at random - there are no seeds, and the draw is usually made in October of the previous year.
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. If the lone quarter-final is a draw, extra time is played immediately as replays are only permitted for provincial semi-finals and finals.
The format has remained virtually the same since the very first Munster Championship in 1888. For years Cork and Tipperary, recognised as the 'big two' in the province, were drawn at opposite sides of the championship. This was viewed, however, as a mean of penalising the other teams. While it might be possible to beat one of these teams it was deemed near impossible to beat both in a single championship season. This practice was abolished and now 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 Hurling Senior Championship. The team that is defeated in the lone quarter-final advances to phase one of the All-Ireland qualifiers. The two teams that are defeated in the Munster semi-finals advance to phase two of the All-Ireland qualifiers. The winners of the Munster final automatically qualify for the semi-final stages of the All-Ireland series of games while the runners-up qualify for the quarter-final stages.
Five of the six counties of Munster - Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford - participate in the championship. Kerry, the sixth county in the province, contested the Munster Championship until 2004, however, they currently participate in the Christy Ring Cup, a competition for the second-level teams.
Read more about this topic: Munster Senior Hurling Championship