Cork v Kilkenny: Rebels can keep good league semi-final record going

THERE are lies, damned lies and statistics, according to the phrase that Mark Twain attributed to Benjamin Disraeli.

We’ll steer clear of the headline stat of Cork not having won the national hurling league since a teenaged Diarmuid O’Sullivan skippered them to glory in 1998, but consider this one, for example: ahead of this weekend’s semi-final against Kilkenny, Cork haven’t lost at the penultimate stage of the competition for 14 years.

It sounds impressive and it is, to a degree, then semi-finals haven’t always existed in the intervening period and, even when they have, Cork haven’t always reached them.

In bare figures, the Rebels have been in the last four on two occasions since 2008, but they have managed to appear in three finals as the 2010 campaign was during a period when the top two sides in an eight-team Division 1 advanced straight to the final.

That game, against Galway, ended in a defeat, as did the 2012 and 2015 deciders against Kilkenny and Waterford respectively. The 2002 loss to the Cats means that Cork have had four unsuccessful finals since the last outright triumph, the 1993 victory over Wexford after two replays.

CONTROVERSY

It was Galway in 2008 who inflicted Cork’s last league semi-final defeat, though that comes with a caveat of sorts. The winter of 2007-08 was the second player strike, with the Cork hurlers having downed tools in sympathy with their footballing counterparts, who were unhappy that the appointment of Teddy Holland as manager had gone through without any consultation.

With no sign of a resolution, walkovers were awarded for Cork’s first two games in both leagues, so Cork’s joint-second-placed finish in Division 1A was all the more impressive as it had been achieved with wins from the three matches played, against Dublin, Antrim and Wexford.

The Rebels finished level on points with Waterford but, as the game against the Déise was one of the two walkovers, it couldn’t be used for breaking the tie – similarly, Cork’s better scoring difference was as a result of ‘losses’ that didn’t negatively affect the points-against tally. As a result, a play-off was needed, with Cork winning in Walsh Park before then seeing off Limerick in the quarter-finals in the Gaelic Grounds. It set up a semi-final clash against Galway, back at the Ennis Road venue, but the Tribesmen won by 2-22 to 0-24.

As mentioned, Galway won again when they met Cork in the 2010 final. After a mixed campaign in 2011, Cork finished second to Kilkenny in the newly formatted league of 2012, whereby the top three teams in the six-team Division 1A were joined by the side that came first in Division 1B for the semis.

Cork met Tipperary, third in 1A, in the last four in Thurles, a game which turned out to be the last in the county colours for captain Dónal Óg Cusack, who sustained an injury which ruled him out for the rest of the year.

After a first half that saw 20 points shared evenly, a goal from Brian O’Meara put Tipp 1-10 to 0-12 ahead and, though Cork came back to lead, Eoin Kelly netted from a free to put the home side back in front.

However, Luke O’Farrell’s goal restored the initiative to Cork and they pulled away in the closing stages, with Patrick Horgan and subs Conor Lehane and Darren Sweetnam – and Cusack’s replacement Anthony Nash – among the points as they won by 1-25 to 2-15, though they would lose out to Kilkenny in the final.

The 2013 campaign saw Cork relegated, and while they topped Division 1B in 2014, they lost out to Tipp in a quarter-final.

Wins in their first three games in 2015 – the last time before this year that they managed three on the trot – helped to secure second place back in Division 1A and, after seeing off Wexford in the quarters, they overcame Dublin in Nowlan Park in the semis.

At half-time, the Dubs led by 2-15 to 0-12, but a superb second-half fightback – underpinned by a personal tally of 0-17 from Patrick Horgan – saw Cork win by 1-27 to 2-23, Séamus Harnedy with the late winner while sub Paudie O’Sullivan got the goal.

Waterford would ensure that the wait for ultimate league glory went on, though, and since then it has been a case of relegation play-offs – beating Galway in 2016 and Waterford in 2018 and then Kilkenny in 2019 in a game that was ultimately meaningless – aside from losing the quarter-final to Limerick in 2017.

A first semi-final in seven years is in sight again and the hope will be that Cork’s good record at that stage can continue.