2018 Christy Ring Cup
The 2018 Christy Ring Cup was the 14th staging of the Christy Ring Cup hurling championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2005. It is the third tier of senior inter-county hurling. The competition began on 12 May 2018 and ended on 23 June 2018. Carlow were the 2017 champions, beating Antrim in the final. Both teams were included in the counties competing in the newly created Joe McDonagh Cup. Roscommon lost their play-off match against Mayo in 2017 – normally Roscommon would have been relegated but they remained in the 2018  Christy Ring Cup as a result of the restructuring of the hurling championship tiers. Kildare were the 2018 Chrisy Ring champions, defeating London by 3-19 to 1-11 in the final. Kildare lost the relegation/promotion game against Antrim and remained in the Christy Ring Cup for 2019. Format. Beginning in 2018, the Christy Ring Cup changed to an initial stage of two groups of four teams. Previously it was a double elimination tournament. The top two teams from both groups advance to the semi-finals. In 2018, teams at the bottom of each group will automatically be relegated  to the Nicky Rackard Cup for 2019. In subsequent years, the bottom teams will meet in a relegation playoff to decide the one team relegated to the following year's Nicky Rackard Cup. The Christy Ring champions contest a promotion/relegation playoff with the second bottom team in the Joe McDonagh Cup with the winner earning the right to compete in the 2019 Joe McDonagh Cup. Following the creation of the Joe McDonagh Cup in 2018, the Christy Ring Cup was reclassified as tier 3 (it was previously tier 2). Group stage. Group 2. Group 2 Table. London, Derry and  Down all finished on 4 points and were ranked on score difference. Knockout stage. Semi-finals. The Group 1 winners play the Group 2 runners-up and the Group 2 winners play the Group 1 runners-up. Joe McDonagh/Christy Ring relegation/promotion playoff. Antrim retain their place in the Joe McDonagh Cup for 2019, while Kildare remain in the Christy Ring Cup for 2019. Christy Ring/Nicky Rackard relegation. In 2018, two teams Armagh and Mayo, were relegated to the 2019 Nicky Rackard Cup. No playoff was therefore required. Statistics. Top scorers. Updated to 2 June 2018 2018 Christy