New Dublin Adult Hurling Championships Structure Confirmed

The Dublin CCC can confirm that a new structure for the Adult Hurling Championships has been ratified by County Committee.  

The 2025 Go-Ahead Ireland Adult Hurling Championships shall be played as follows: 

• In SHC1 twelve entries (ten teams from SHC 1 of 2024 plus the winner and runner-up of SHC 2 of 2024) will be drawn into two groups of six teams to play a round robin league competition.

In SHC 1 the previous year’s finalists shall be seeded one to each group.

After the round robin competition, the top four placed teams in each group will qualify for quarter finals with 1^st in group A playing 4^th in group B, 2^nd in group A playing 3^rd in group B and vice versa.

Relegation will be decided as follows: Team finishing 5^th in each group will playoff against the team finishing 6^th in the opposite group with the two losing teams relegated.

The winner of SHC 1 shall represent Dublin in the Leinster Senior Hurling Club Championship.

• In SHC2 twelve entries (eight remaining teams from SHC 2 of 2024 plus winner, runner-up and two beaten semi finalists of 2024 SHC 3) will be drawn into two groups six teams and will play a similar competition as in SHC 1.

The beaten semi finalists of SHC 2 in the previous year and the winner / runner up in SHC 3 of the previous year shall be seeded in separate groups.

In quarter finals and semi finals the higher placed teams will have home advantage.

The two finalists shall be promoted to SHC 1. (Exception – A team shall not be promoted if another team from the same club is already participating in the higher championship). In the event that a finalist is affected in this way, the other finalist shall be promoted, and the remaining promotion spot will be filled following a playoff between the defeated semi finalists provided that both are eligible.

Relegation will be decided as follows: Team finishing 5^th in each group will playoff against the team finishing 6^th in the opposite group with the two losing teams relegated.

• PIHC (Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship) will consist of the remaining six teams from SHC 3 in 2024 plus the winner and runner up from IHC of 2024.

• IHC (Intermediate Hurling Championship) having relegated two teams from IHC 2024 to JHC A, the eight teams will consist of the remaining six teams from IHC 2024 plus the winner and runner up from JHC A in 2024.

In both PIHC and IHC the eight teams will play seven games in a round robin league competition.

After the round robin league section of both championships the top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals, 1^st v 4^th and 2^nd v 3^rd with the higher placed team having home advantage.

The winner and runner up of the championship shall be promoted to the next highest championship in 2026 unless that club is already participating in the higher championship.

The bottom four teams after the round robin competition will playoff for relegation, 5^th v. 8^th and 6^th v. 7^th with the higher placed team having home advantage. The two losing teams shall be relegated to the next lowest championship for 2026.

The winner of PIHC shall represent Dublin in the Leinster Intermediate Hurling Championship (provided that they meet the qualification criteria). In the event that they do not meet the qualification criteria the runner up shall represent Dublin.

• There shall be twelve teams in each Junior Championship (exception- lowest Junior championship depending on number of entries) taking into account promotion / relegation from 2024 championships.

The twelve teams will be drawn into two groups of six teams to play a round robin league competition. In all JHC competitions the losing semi finalists from the previous year shall be seeded one in each group.

After the round robin stage, the top four in each group will qualify for quarter finals (1^st in group A v. 4^th in Group B and 2^nd in group A v. 3^rd in group B and vice versa).

Home advantage to higher placed teams in quarter finals and semi-finals.

In all JHC competitions the two finalists shall be promoted to the next highest championship (Exception – a team shall not be promoted if another team from the same club is already participating in the higher championship – in the event that a team is affected in this way the other finalist shall be promoted with the remaining promotion place to be filled following a playoff between the defeated semi-finalists).

In all JHC competitions, with the exception of the lowest grade, relegation shall be decided as follows. Team finishing 2^nd last in each group will playoff against the team finishing last in the opposite group with the two losing teams relegated.

The winner of Junior Hurling A Championship shall represent Dublin in the Leinster Junior Hurling Championship (provided that they meet the qualification criteria. In the event that they do not meet the qualification criteria the runner up shall represent Dublin.

*Qualification for Leinster Club Intermediate and Junior Championships is subject to the approval of the Leinster Council.