A total of 15 teams competed in the championship, with Ballyhale Shamrocks unseating the two-time defending champions Portumna by 1–19 to 0–17 in the final at Croke Park, Dublin.

Winning an elusive three-in-a-row would close the argument on club hurling's greatest team.

[3] Ballyhale Shamrocks were regarded as the primary challengers to Portumna's stranglehold on the championship.

Similarly, they were hoping to exact revenge on Portumna who dished out a 5–11 to 1–16 trouncing in the previous year's semi-final.

It was a knockout tournament with pairings drawn at random in the respective provinces – there were no seeds.