Munster SHC: Only a Waterford win over Limerick can knock Cork off top before next game

While it is somewhat overlooked given that the quest for five straight All-Irelands came to ground in 2024, Limerick are seeking a seventh straight Munster SHC title this year.

The first year of that run, 2019, is also the only one where a county has won all four matches in the round-robin section of the provincial championship – but it wasn’t the Shannonsiders.

That there has been just one instance of a 100 percent record across five previous editions of the league format (2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024) shows how hard it is to achieve – and after the opening round this year produced two draws, Waterford were the only ones who had a chance to do it.

The Déise still have that possibility, having opened with a win at home to Clare last Sunday, but the fact that they are third in the betting for the championship shows how hard it will be for Peter Queally’s side to win three more. Even then, of course, as Tipp found six years ago, going four from four is no guarantee of lifting the silverware.

Should Waterford pick up a second win when they welcome Limerick to Walsh Park on Saturday, they would leapfrog Cork to take top spot at the halfway stage in the competition but, otherwise, Pat Ryan’s side would at worst be in a share of the lead by the time they take to the field at TUS Gaelic Grounds on May 18.

The draws last Sunday week and Waterford’s victory mean that Cork’s record of qualifying after a pair of defeats in their first two matches – something done twice by the Rebels, in 2022 and 2024 – will not be matched this year. Instead, they will be seeking to avoid the fate of 2023, when they were eliminated despite taking three points from their first two games.

That scenario was a bit different to now, not least because both of those were at home before difficult trips to Clare and Limerick, both ending in one-point defeats.

Once again, there is a trip to the Ennis Road looming but it is followed by a home game against Waterford – win either of those and the Rebels will be at least guaranteed third place and progression to the All-Ireland series. Five points may yet be enough for a Munster final spot; six almost certainly would – in that 2019 example above, Limerick claimed the cup after earning just four points in the round-robin, level with Cork in third and Clare who were eliminated.

It's a quirk that Cork’s best showing came in the inaugural edition, when two wins and two draws gave them six points. In 2019, 2022 and 2024, they had two wins and two losses, enough to scrape through each time but without contesting the final – ironically, had they made it to four points by drawing with Limerick in 2023, they would have been in the decider instead of exiting early.

While the draw in Ennis means there won’t be a 100 percent record, this is the first time since 2018 that they have topped the table after the end of a round of fixtures. The hope is that it won’t be the last such instance this year.