Whatever happens on Saturday, Limerick and Cork will be after sharing the last nine Munster Hurling titles between them. When you put it that way, things don’t sound that bad, do they? Let that statistic in no way fool you, however. Facts may be facts, but facts can mislead us. Sometimes they don’t tell us the story at all. The last eight titles may have been shared, and the head-to-head record isn’t as one sided as you might imagine, but we all know that there is no comparison, really. Just as we know that the only currency that really matters is majors.
2013 seems like a fair place to start when looking forward to Saturday as there are still a handful of players remaining from that baking hot day in the Gaelic Grounds when Limerick won their first Munster title since 1996. Nickie Quaid manned the posts for Limerick, Declan Hannon lined out at full-forward while Shane Dowling was on the bench. For Cork, Seamus Harnedy wore the number ten while Patrick Horgan and Conor Lehane made up two thirds of the full-forward line.
From there, Limerick went on to do what they always used to do as stage fright got the better of them in the All-Ireland semi-final against Clare. Back then, we all may have imagined that Limerick would remain the same as they ever were. What they have done since is truly remarkable. Their spectacular achievements have ensured that Limerick has metamorphosized into something completely different. Something that will never be the same again. Something that won’t ever go away. Something where the appearance could, eventually, mask the reality. Like the New York Yankees, like Kerry, like Keyser Soze.
Cork went on to re-affirm what they’ve become since the end of the last great team. Just not good enough. Just that bit off. Just missing that je ne sais quoi. Eternally chasing the dream, despite the bleakness of the reality. Limerick changed their narrative, took control of it. Someday, Cork will too, because they have to. Until then, the question will always be, How Soon is Now?’ Chances are, that question might even be answered when we least expect it.
With 2013 as the starting point, Cork and Limerick have played each other on twelve occasions in championship hurling. They’ve played in Limerick four times, in Cork four times, in Croke Park thrice and in Thurles once. Limerick have won three times at home, once in Cork, once in Thurles and twice in Croke Park. Cork have won once in Limerick, twice at home, and once in Croker.
That makes it seven to four in Limerick’s favour, with one draw down the Páirc in 2018. Of course, if you wanted to cloud the facts a bit more, you could say that in seventy-minute games, it’s Limerick on six, Cork on four with two draws. And, let’s face it, who in their right mind would want to remember extra time in 2018?
Last year has obviously made Cork’s part in the rivalry far more respectable, but what happened in Limerick three weeks ago has blown things wide open again.
With that in mind, I find it very hard to decipher what to expect from the game. You’d imagine Cork will have to be significantly better than they were three weeks ago in terms of energy, attitude and physicality. However, necessity dictates that the team that will take the field on Saturday will be significantly different to the one we might have imagined in the depths of winter. Diarmuid Healy and Cormac O’Brien are two of the nine Cork players who will start a Munster Final for the first time, but we still might have hoped that there would be more of a freshness to the Cork panel this time around.
You’d imagine that Limerick might struggle to hit the heights that they did three weeks ago. As much as Cork can’t be that bad again, can they be that good again? The fact is, they don’t have to be. They hold all of the aces. They are the form team, they have the panel, they have the experience, they are the champions. In short, they are the men. Replacing Shane O’Brien with Aidan O’Connor even feels like a flexing of the muscles as much as anything else.
A loss for either team wouldn’t signal the end of anything. However, the nature of the loss could. Were Cork to suffer another significant defeat, for example, it might be that bit more difficult to dream.
Nineteen of the thirty men named to start on Sunday have played in a Munster Final before. Seventeen of them have never tasted defeat. That number will grow tomorrow, and two facts will remain true, no matter what happens.Cork will remain the last team to have beaten Limerick in a Munster Final. Limerick will remain the last team to have beaten Cork in a Munster Final. When the sun sets on Páirc na nGael on Saturday, that will still be the case. When it rises on Sunday morning, everything will begin again.
John Coleman
The Little All-Ireland 