Cork v Tipperary: Sunday not the first time for counties to meet in last championship match of the year
The Cork team that won the All-Ireland SHC in 1941. Back: Din Joe Buckley, William Walsh (chairperson), Jim Buttimer, Billy Murphy, Micka Brennan, Jack Barrett, Batt Thornhill, Jim Barry. Sitting: Alan Lotty, Johnnie Quirke, Ted O’Sullivan, Con Buckley, Christy Ring, Jim Young, Jack Lynch. Front: Willie Campbell, Con Cottrell.
Trivia question – which was the first county to win the All-Ireland SHC in a year where they did not also claim their provincial championship?
The instinctive reaction would be to say Offaly in 1998, the second year of the ‘back door’, as they effected a turnaround on Kilkenny after losing the Leinster final to the Cats.
However, the Faithful County were beaten to the punch, by 57 years. And, while Sunday is the first time that Cork and Tipperary will have met in an All-Ireland final, they did clash in the last championship game of the year in the year in question, 1941.
Cork received a bye to that year’s Munster SHC semi-final, awaiting the winners of the Tipperary-Waterford first-round clash.
That match in Thurles was initially set for June 1, but an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the country had been felt heavily in Tipp and that game was postponed – it would not be played until July 27.
While Tipp came through that game to set up a clash with Cork in Limerick on August 17, the beginning of the week of the game saw Department of Agriculture officials contact the Munster Council to say that Tipperary were not permitted to travel.
A back-up plan of Tipp playing Cork in Cork came to nothing and, with uncertainty as to when they would receive clearance to play, the provincial body came up with an alternative strategy.
They determined that Limerick – who had enjoyed a good win over Clare in their semi-final in late June – should play Cork to decide who would represent Munster in the All-Ireland series, but it was not the Munster final. Instead, when Tipp were back in action, the winners of that game would take them on in the decider.
Cork’s 8-10 to 3-2 triumph at the Athletic Grounds on September 14 sent them to the All-Ireland final against Dublin a fortnight later.
In Croke Park on September 28, a 5-11 to 0-6 victory gave Cork the MacCarthy Cup for the first time since 1931. There was of course an asterisk attached in that they hadn’t won the Munster championship but Tipp were given clearance to play again by the end of October.
However, at no stage was it suggested that it would be a ‘unification bout’ – i.e. the All-Ireland was Cork’s, regardless of the outcome.
Tipp triumphed by 5-4 to 2-5 at the Gaelic Grounds, leaving an unusual situation whereby they were Munster champions and another Munster team were All-Ireland champions. Indeed, it proved to be the first of Cork's four in a row.
It would be 2004 before such a scenario materialised again, with Waterford winning Munster but Cork claiming the All-Ireland through the back door. This happened again in 2013 and 2024 – Limerick the Munster winners and Clare the All-Ireland champions both times. Cork supporters will hope that 2025 does not follow that trend.
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