Cork v Clare: All-Ireland hurling final by numbers

2 – Sunday’s winners will be the first All-Ireland champions to have lost two championship matches en route to lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup. Clare were beaten by Limerick in their opening Munster SHC match and against in the provincial final while Cork suffered defeat to Waterford and then Clare in their opening games in the Munster round-robin before responding with five straight victories.

3 – Since winning the All-Ireland SHC in 2018, Limerick have lost six championship matches. There was a Munster SHC round-robin clash against Tipperary in 2019 and that year’s All-Ireland semi-final to Kilkenny as well as the home defeat to Clare in the spring of 2023.

The other three losses? To Cork in 2019 and twice this year.

4 – Cork captain Seán O’Donoghue is once again named at left corner-back. Across Cork’s previous 30 senior titles, never has the successful skipper had number 4 on his back.

6 – In order to reclaim the trophy, Cork will need to do something the county has never achieved before – win six championship matches in the one season. Of course, this is something only made possible by the new system – in the old days of straight knockout, the most wins a Munster side could have in the provincial championship was three before advancing to the All-Ireland semi-final.

In 2005, when Cork last won, they did have to win three games in Croke Park – quarter-final against Waterford, semi against Clare and final against Galway – but they had a bye to the Munster semi-final that year.

10 – Points from as many shots taken by Cork in the opening 13 minutes of the All-Ireland semi-final against Limerick. The Rebels had gone in two points down at half-time and Limerick are acclaimed at masters of the third quarter but this period was the pivotal section of the match as Cork moved into a 1-21 to 0-19 lead.

11 – Years since the last Cork and Clare All-Ireland final. Patrick Horgan looked to have won it for the Rebels but Domhnall O’Donovan scored a miracle equaliser for Clare to force a replay. 

In the second game, three goals from Shane O’Donnell helped Clare to a 5-16 to 3-16 win.

Horgan, Séamus Harnedy and Conor Lehane are the Cork survivors from back then, while Clare can still call upon O’Donnell, David McInerney, Tony Kelly, John Conlon and Séadna Morey.

16 – Goals scored by Cork in six championship matches so far this year – five by Patrick Horgan, four by Alan Connolly and Patrick Horgan, two each by Shane Barrett and Brian Hayes and one each for Séamus Harnedy, Robert Downey and Robbie O’Flynn. However, they managed just one in their last two matches, against Dublin and Limerick.

19 – You hardly need to be told this one.

1999 – The successful Cork team of 25 years ago will be honoured at Croke Park on Sunday. At the time, the nine-year gap bridged by Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s side felt like a long one but it is less than half the current wait.

There have been seven previous instances of a county winning the hurling final on the same day as a jubilee side was present, but it has yet to happen to Cork. The previous occurrences involved Kilkenny five times (1957/1983, 1967/1992, 1975/2000, 1982/2007 and 1983/2008) and Tipperary twice (1964/1989, 1991/2016).

345,777 – the aggregate attendance for Cork’s eight championship matches, taking into account Sunday’s expected full house at Croke Park. That includes the 11,973 for the Munster SHC opener against Waterford in Walsh Park and works out at an average of 43,222.