The 2025 Nicky Rackard Cup was the twenty-first edition of the Nicky Rackard Cup since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2005 and is the fourth-tier of Hurling for senior county teams (the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship is the first-tier trophy). It is contested by six GAA county teams ranked 24âÂÂ29 in the 2025 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. The competition ran from 12 April to 1 June 2025.
Donegal, winner of the 2024 final, were promoted to the Christy Ring Cup, replaced by Sligo who were relegated back to this competition. Fermanagh were promoted from the Lory Meagher Cup.
The top 2 teams from the round robin stage will play off in the final to decide the winner. The Nicky Rackard Cup Final will be played on 31 May 2025 at Croke Park in Dublin. Roscommon defeated Mayo by 3-16 to 1-24.
Relegated from the Christy Ring Cup
Promoted from the Lory Meagher Cup
Promoted to the Christy Ring Cup
Relegated to the Lory Meagher Cup
Initially each of the six teams play the other five teams in single round-robin matches. The top two teams after the round robin games compete in the Nicky Rackard Cup Final.
The Nicky Rackard Cup champions are automatically promoted to the following year's Christy Ring Cup and are replaced by the bottom-placed team in the Christy Ring Cup.
The bottom-placed team in the Nicky Rackard Cup are automatically relegated to the following year's Lory Meagher Cup and are replaced by the Lory Meagher Cup champions. However, if New York are the Lory Meagher Cup champions, no team will be relegated from the Nicky Rackard Cup.
The participating teams, listed by province, with numbers in parentheses indicating final positions in the 2025 National Hurling League before the championship were:
Connacht (3)
Leinster (1)
Munster (0)
Ulster (2)
wins the Nicky Rackard Cup.
In a single game