Evolution, not revolution: Less of a need for Cork to target league

The beauty of the Allianz Hurling League, if such a word can be used, is that it represents different things to different teams.

Counties will always be at varying stages of development and so the approach will be tailored according to what they need to get out of the springtime competition.

However, underpinning all of this is the fact that, however happy or unhappy a side will be at how their league went, its ultimate success or lack thereof will only be properly quantified after the championship. If proof were needed, we only have to look at last year.

When Cork were winning All-Irelands (it did happen kids, we promise), the lack of any league success could be handwaved fairly easily – a team regularly challenging come the end of the championship season only needed to be unearthing one or two players each year who could provide competition for places.

Then, as the wait for the Liam MacCarthy to return to Leeside lengthened, the gap since the 1998 league win took on greater significance. The sentiment was that if Cork could win some national silverware in the form of a league title.

Such a feeling was accentuated by a number of final defeats – even when the actual evidence undermined the consensus. For example, in 2022, four Waterford goals were key as they beat Cork in the decider in Thurles – proof, apparently, that the Déise were the coming team in terms of challenging Limerick’s supremacy while Cork’s loss, on the back of the 2021 All-Ireland defeat to the Shannonsiders, highlighted an inability to produce when needed.

When Waterford got the better of Tipperary in their opening championship match and then narrowly came off second-best against Limerick, that view gained further validity; equally, Cork lost at home to the Treatymen and then fell to Clare in a ‘home’ game in Thurles.

Then, the counties’ third fixtures were against each other in Walsh Park – and Cork summoned a great effort to earn the victory, essentially eliminating their hosts and securing third place and qualification with a win against Tipperary. While the Rebels’ campaign came to an end with an All-Ireland SHC quarter-final defeat to Galway, it was more down to a day of highly inefficient shooting rather than scar-tissue from the league final.

The fact that Limerick in 2023 and Clare in 2024 completed league and championship doubles served to strengthen the notion that a good spring was necessary for a good summer and the Cork bridged what had become a 27-year gap in impressive fashion last year.

A campaign where three home games had each had more than 20,000 people in attendance ended with the final also at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh – and a 3-24 to 0-23 win over Tipperary suggested that the form-lines from the 2024 championship had continued.

But, while everyone might say that you need to win the league, the winning of it doesn’t actually count for much in and of itself. As Cork found, even adding the Munster title doesn’t keep you warm over the winter when the championship ends as it did.

All of which brings us to the new league campaign, which opens at home to Waterford next Sunday at the Páirc.

Will Cork win the league? It is of course impossible to say but what we can say is it that’s not going to be the main objective. And, if they do manage to retain the trophy, there’s unlikely to be a pitch invasion at the end of it.

With two All-Ireland defeats behind them, the harsh reality for Cork is that they are now at the stage where the annual judgement hinges entirely on being successful or not in mid-July. The league will be beneficial for the newer players aiming to stake a claim – there is a place in the full-forward line up for grabs – but the squad rotation necessitated by that can make consistent performances and results difficult to achieve.

For Ben O’Connor and his management, having their championship 15 nailed down the end of the league is the main thing. Actually winning the thing would represent a bonus rather than a need.