[10] A new provincial hurling championship featuring five-team round-robin groups in both Leinster and Munster and the new Joe McDonagh Cup was introduced in 2018 for an initial three-year period.

The proposal was carried by a narrow margin with 62% voting in favour (a majority of at least 60% was required) at the GAA's Special Congress on 30 September 2017.

Participating counties (5): Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Offaly, Wexford Group stage (10 matches): Each team plays each other once.

Participating counties (5): Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford Group stage (10 matches): Each team plays each other once.

Participating counties (6): Antrim, Carlow, Kerry, Laois, Meath, Westmeath Group stage (15 matches): Each team plays each other once.

Preliminary quarter-finals (2 matches): The 3rd placed teams from the 2018 Leinster and Munster championships played the Joe McDonagh Cup champions and runners-up.

The inaugural Joe McDonagh Cup, the second tier of senior inter-county championship hurling, was contested by Antrim, Carlow, Kerry, Laois, Meath and Westmeath.

The game, which took place in Croke Park, saw Carlow emerge victorious by a margin of five points to claim the inaugural Joe McDonagh Cup title.

As both third-place finishers from the provincial series won in the previous round, they were kept apart from the teams they had already met in the round-robin phase to prevent a repeat fixture.

Munster runners-up Clare met Wexford, with beaten Leinster finalists Kilkenny facing Limerick the following day.

The semi-finals took place in Croke Park across the last weekend of July, with the Leinster (Galway) and Munster champions (Cork) playing the winners of the two quarter-finals — Clare and Limerick respectively.

RTÉ, the national broadcaster in Ireland, provided the majority of the live television coverage of the hurling championship in the second year of a five-year deal running from 2017 until 2021.

[24] The panel consisting of Brendan Cummins, Jackie Tyrrell, Anthony Daly, Eddie Brennan, Dónal O'Grady, Ken McGrath and Cyril Farrell unanimously selected Galway's Pádraic Mannion as the Sunday game player of the year.