Munster HL: Limerick first up as Cork begin defence of pre-season title

SUNDAY

Cork v Limerick

Co-op SuperStores Munster Hurling League

Mallow, 2pm

Cork’s first official inter-county opposition of the 2024 season are the county that ended the Rebels’ 2023 campaign (among others), the All-Ireland champions Limerick.

While the game is strictly speaking a home tie for John Kiely’s side, it takes place on Cork soil and Mallow’s Carrigoon venue is also the site for next week’s clash against Clare. The mid-west counties clash on Wednesday night.

Pat Ryan’s side are the defending champions of the provincial season-opening competition. A year ago, the Sarsfields man’s reign opened with a win away to Kerry on January 5 in Tralee.

Declan Dalton’s penalty goal helped the Rebels into a 1-16 to 0-7 lead by half-time. Foreshadowing a good year for the Fr O’Neills man, he finished with 1-7 as Cork won by 2-2-30 to 2-17, the second goal coming from Shane Barrett.

Ten days later, Cork secured top spot in their group and a place in the final as Limerick were beaten by 0-20 to 1-16 at Páirc Uí Rinn. While Darragh O’Donovan scored an early goal for the Shannonsiders, Cork led by 0-11 to 1-7 at half-time and, in a game that remained close throughout the second half, Brian Hayes scored what proved to be the winner.

The Boreenmanna Road also hosted the final, a week later against Tipperary.

An early Patrick Horgan goal gave Cork a firm footing and they were 1-6 to 0-5 in front after a Robbie O’Flynn point on 21 minutes but Tipp outscored the Rebels by 1-6 to 0-1 for the remainder of the half. With 18 minutes of normal time left, the visitors were 1-16 to 1-8 in front but Cork were able to get back into the game with goals from subs Jack O’Connor and Brian Hayes. As the match moved into injury time, they were still a point behind but late Horgan frees saw them over the line by 3-14 to 1-18.

It was Cork’s second title in the competition, having beaten Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds in the 2017 decider, while they were beaten finalists against the Treatymen in 2020.

Was it a good barometer? On the one hand, you can say that Cork carried the winning feeling into the Allianz Hurling League, winning their first four matches to secure qualification for the semi-finals with a game to spare.

On the other, you could then point out that Cork drew their final round-robin league game with Clare, were beaten by Kilkenny in the last four and only won one of four Munster SHC games, at home to Waterford.

The bare statistics would mask things like the Clare match being a dead rubber, losing Eoin Downey to a harsh red card against Kilkenny, drawing with Tipperary in the championship and losing away to Clare and Limerick each by a point.

Nothing can be gained from re-litigating last year, in any case: the facts are the facts and Cork know that there must be an improvement in the championship showing. A relatively young squad will be a year older but that can’t be taken as a guarantee of anything.

Pre-season competitions can mean different things to different teams, in the same way that the national league serves a variety of objectives depending on the county. Last year, a new management team wanted to look at as many players as possible and lay down a marker in the league. They did that, but the target may not be exactly the same this time around.

With Alan Cadogan the only departure from the 2023 panel and the stars of last year’s All-Ireland U20 win pushing to make the step up, the competition will be tough. At the same time, the involvement of UCC and MTU Cork in the Fitzgibbon Cup means that Cork will need a large squad for the moment.

On the other side of the fence, Limerick are beginning a year they hope will end with history being made. For them, it is a luxury of sorts in that players can be tried out and if any of them do put their hand up to such an extent that they challenge for a championship spot, then great; equally; the need is not hugely pressing.

With more room to improve, in that sense, it could be that Cork are likelier winners. Either way, the significance may not be huge.