Strong record in junior and intermediate club hurling championships a reflection of depth in Cork

We don’t wish to stomp over old ground but it’s worth reiterating that Cork’s All-Ireland senior club hurling championship drought cannot be taken as clear proof of anything.

Obviously, it’s disappointing and one would wish that it was not the case. However, Ballygunner’s comfortable win over Sarsfields last Sunday week was great for them primarily and not necessarily for Waterford. Equally, defeat was a blow for Sars but doesn’t overshadow a good year and certainly doesn’t impact on the chances of Cork in the 2024 Munster and All-Ireland championships.

The success of the ‘big three’ of Blackrock, Glen Rovers and St Finbarr’s on the Munster and All-Ireland club scene in the 1970s and can be packaged with Cork’s three-in-a-row success as a strong case for there being a link, but it’s more of an example of part-correlation rather than clear causation.

For proof, look at the football equivalent. Nemo Rangers, of course, sit top of the Munster and All-Ireland trees – their seven national titles are greater than the total claimed by Kerry sides. When Dr Crokes won the Andy Merrigan Cup in 2017, it was the first time that a Kingdom club went all the way since Laune Rangers in 1996. During the 21-year interim period, Kerry were All-Ireland senior champions on seven occasions.

By contrast, there have been 19 Munster and All-Ireland intermediate club football championships – Kerry have won 15 provincial and seven national. At junior level, there have been 21 competitions with Kerry claiming 18 Munster titles and converting them into 11 All-Irelands.

Looking at the bare stats, the conclusion to draw is that the second and third tiers provide a better overall picture of the health of a county whereas an exceptional top-level club team can skew the stats to a degree. Kilkenny are almost the exception and the rule as a Noreside club, Ballyhale Shamrocks, top the senior club roll of honour with nine titles – but James Stephens are the only other side from Kilkenny to win it out in the past three decades.

In hurling, there have been 18 All-Ireland intermediate championships. Kilkenny, perhaps unsurprisingly, have seven wins, followed by Cork on three, with no other county having more than one. At junior, across 19 editions, it’s a similar scenario but even more pronounced: ten Kilkenny and six Cork with three others, shared by Antrim, Waterford and Limerick.

Cork have eight Munster club intermediate titles with Clare and Limerick next on three each; the county’s junior champions have gone on to provincial glory on 15 occasions, with Waterford second on three titles.

Naturally, it could be said that the size of Cork and the number of clubs puts it at a massive advantage when it comes to contesting silverware outside of the county and it is obviously a help but it cannot be taken as a given that one follows the other. Those of a less pessimistic bent might feel that the fact that there are more GAA clubs in Cork than rugby clubs in the whole country is a cause for celebration – not in the sense of bashing another sport, we hasten to add – than a stick for beating. The flipside of the argument is that the premier intermediate champions in Cork are essentially the 25th-ranked side in the county while the premier junior representatives are 49th (or 50th in the case of St Catherine’s, who advanced to Munster after losing the final to Erin’s Own).

Both Catherine’s and East Cork neighbours Castlelyons are on the provincial trail this weekend. The Ballynoe side take on Tipperary’s Ballinahinch on Saturday in Páirc Uí Rinn at 1.30pm while 24 hours later Castlelyons make the trip to Mountcoal outside Tralee to do battle with the Kerry senior champions Crotta O’Neills, who eliminated Waterford’s Ferrybank.

With Catherine’s having already defeated Waterford’s Ardmore – the only non-Cork club to win the Munster junior in the past eight years – they will be fancied to progress while Castlelyons will look to benefit from the fact that they have put double county final heartache behind them.

A trip to North Kerry will be a test of their credentials but – as is the case for any side facing Cork representatives in these grades – it will be for Crotta O’Neills, too.