John Horgan on hurling: Cork left with regrets but 2026 priority is escaping Munster

How will the 2025 inter-county hurling season be rated alongside previous campaigns?

Will the word vintage come into the conversation? What were the big takeaways from the provincial and All-Ireland championships?

The answer to the opening question would have to be no. It was a good year in some instances but it didn't take your breath away.

For all the leading counties, success is only measured on whether or not you take home the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

Yes, winning the national league title or the provincial championship is a fine feat, but ultimately, it's all about the journey in the aftermath of those campaigns.

Cork won more titles than all the rest, ending a 27-year wait for the league and subsequently halted Limerick's bid for seven-in-a-row in the province.

But league titles in the top counties are quickly forgotten by the general public and the only show in town thereafter is the championship. And to be fair, Cork won a great Munster championship, having to hold their nerve in that thrilling decider in the Gaelic Grounds.

INTENSE

Munster's intense competitiveness with its round-robin format has taken the game in the province to a different level and from one year to the next, the only certainty is the uncertainty.

At the conclusion of the championship in July of the previous year who would have forecast that All-Ireland champions Clare would not be in the top three in the province in the 2025 campaign and that Tipperary, rock bottom of the pile in 2024, would wind up the 2025 campaign with the MacCarthy Cup in their possession.

And before the 2026 season gets underway next April, the possibility exists that the Premier might not make it out of the province and that applies with the other four counties as well. The jeopardy and intrigue that accompany the fare in Munster is something to behold.

Cork ended last season with the title but it must be remembered that in their group game with the county that they defeated in the final they got walloped by 16 points. And in an earlier assignment with Clare in Cusack Park, they were fortunate enough to come out with a draw.

Clare subsequently lost to Waterford and Tipperary before defeating Limerick in a dead-rubber game and their season, alongside Waterford, was over.

Cork hammered Tipperary in Munster by 15 points but a few months later the tables were dramatically turned in Croke Park.

With Paddy Power betting, Limerick and Cork are joint favourites to win the 2026 All-Ireland at 11/4, Tipp next best at 4/1 but one wonders how many takers on those odds in those counties will there be.

With the uncertainty surrounding the group stage in Munster, in particular, not too many one would i think.

Right now, months out from the beginning of the new championship season, the question to ask all the managers would be what their ambitions are for 2026. Pound to a penny, they will all come up with the same answer, to be in the top three in the province. That would be their first and foremost objective.

When reviewing the 2025 season, there were quite a few talking points. 

Dublin's defeat of Limerick in the All-Ireland quarter-final was right at the top of the list. Dublin lost twice in Leinster, were well down the pecking order entering the All-Ireland series and were not given much of a chance of beating a Limerick team fancied to regain the main title.

Nobody in the country, outside of Dublin maybe, gave them a chance of winning and the result stunned the hurling world.

Were Limerick complacent? How much did the loss to Cork in the Munster final take out of them? No one knows but the outcome that day was one of the biggest hurling stories for many a long day.

Dublin subsequently got the mother of all hammerings from Cork in the semi-final, a result, as it turned out, did Cork no favours as everybody made them the hottest of fancies to just go up to Croke Park for the final and collect the trophy.

If one is looking for good news stories from last season, then look no further than Kildare in the Joe McDonagh Cup, a victory that has now catapulted them into the Leinster championship next year.

People have their own thoughts on that competition and the entry for the winners into the provincial campaign.

Babs Keating has already stated that they are facing a crucifixion in the Leinster championship, that terminology was way out of line and whilst it's likely to be a difficult process for them, let's wait and see.

There were many counties ranked above them in the McDonagh Cup last season, Laois, Westmeath and Carlow for starters, but they illustrated the progress that is being made in the county by coming through the field to finish first past the post.

Yes, it will be difficult for them next season in Leinster and they did get trounced by the Dubs in he preliminary All-Ireland quarter-final, but give them some credit.

One negative feature of the 2025 hurling season was the number of lopsided games, both at provincial and All-Ireland level, Cork's loss to Limerick in early season being one of them.

Cork and Dublin was far too one-sided, in a last-four game of the championship that should not be happening.

And then we had the All-Ireland final outcome, which to this day remains a total history, how one team could go in at half-time leading by six points and subsequently only score two more points in nearly 40 minutes of hurling and lose the game by 16 points.

In the history of the championship it was mind-boggling.

HOPE

But when all was said and done, the entire championship dissected, Tipperary were the team of the year, all the more so from the very low base they had strated off from. Their story will surely provide optimism in a lot of other counties, in the Waterfords, Wexfords, Galway too, how quickly it can all change.

We all want our own county to be bringing back the McCarthy but for the game of hurling in general, it would be a huge positive if the likes of the aforementioned Wexford and Waterford came in from the cold.

It would be another positive if Offaly's upward trajectory continues. Dublin's defeat of Limerick provided good vibes in the capital but it all fell apart against Cork.

We should get two great All-Ireland club semi-finals before Christmas and here on Leeside, Ben O'Connor's reign as Cork's new boss will begin. There is always added spotlight on a county with a new management team and there will be renewed optimism too.

And it won't be long before the pages in the new chapter of Cork's hurling history are turned in the Canon O'Brien Cup game and the subsequent Munster League.

As they say, yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery.