Cork hurling: Waterford to provide first league opposition

Cork are set to begin their defence of the Allianz Hurling League Division 1A title with a home clash against Waterford at the end of January.

Counties have this week been furnished with draft fixture proposals for the league and it is envisaged that Ben O’Connor’s first league game in charge will form a double-bill with the football team’s Division 2 clash against Cavan at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on the weekend of January 24/25.

The counties’ last league clash was Cork’s two-point victory over the Déise in February of 2024. At the end of that campaign, the competition was restructured, changing from a top flight comprising two groups of six counties to seven-team divisions and Waterford competed in Division 1B in 2025.

They finished top of the table to secure a return to the top division and then beat Offaly in the final, played at the Páirc as the curtain-raiser to the Division 1A decider, where Cork beat Tipperary.

That was one of four games Cork played on home soil during this year’s league and it was a sell-out, on the back of the three regular fixtures - against Limerick, Kilkenny and Galway - all drawing crowds of more than 20,000, an unprecedented state of affairs for the hurling league.

Waterford and Offaly will be swapping places with Clare and Wexford, who finished in the bottom two spots in Division 1A this year. Galway, Limerick, Kilkenny and Tipperary are the other sides featuring in the top tier for 2026.

Cork will come into the league - as defending champions for the first time since the 1998-99 edition - on the back of an active pre-season. As well as the traditional season-opening Canon O’Brien Cup against UCC at the Mardyke, O’Connor’s side will have two Co-op SuperStores Munster Hurling League group games under their belts. On Wednesday, January 7, they are away to Limerick and then host Clare on Monday, January 12. The final of that competition is set to take place the weekend before the national league begins, on January 17/18.

The Rebels are a rarity among the major hurling counties in terms of having a new manager bedding in during the league. Limerick’s John Kiely will be facing into his tenth season in charge, while Clare boss Brian Lohan has agreed a new three-year term with six already under his belt. Carlow’s Tom Mullally is entering his sixth season.

Liam Cahill, fresh off Tipperary’s All-Ireland win, is going into his fourth year as manager, as are Derek Lyng of Kilkenny and Offaly’s Johnny Kelly. Waterford’s Peter Queally, Galway’s Micheál Donoghue and Dublin’s Niall Ó Ceallacháin and Tommy Fitzgerald of Laois. Westmeath’s Kevin O’Brien is the only other new face apart from O’Connor.