Unbeaten run and large crowds give Cork home comforts

It’s easy to forget now, given all that happened since, but Cork’s 2025 Allianz Hurling League campaign was an unprecedented one.

There were three ‘regular’ home games – the draw with Limerick and the wins against Kilkenny and Galway, before the final, which was also held at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh due to a long-standing home-and-away arrangement with Tipperary for knockout ties in the competition.

The decider had the Division 1B final between Waterford and Offaly on the under-card and so it was hardly surprising that such an occasion was a sell-out, given the levels of expectation that Cork would end what had become a 27-year wait for the league title.

However, the three games prior to that had all drawn crowds of more than 20,000, levels that only the Dublin footballers would previously have managed in terms of the springtime competition.

To give some context to those figures, the game between Limerick and Clare at TUS Gaelic Grounds had 16,789 in attendance, while Limerick-Tipp, Tipp-Cork and Clare-Cork all had in the 11-12,000 range.

Obviously, the growing anticipation that Cork might end the All-Ireland drought was the major reason for the growing fervour and that went hand-in-hand with the fact that the team were winning.

There was a feelgood factor around Pat Ryan’s side and, speaking at the launch of the Co-op SuperStores Munster Hurling League before Christmas, Mark Coleman agreed that the big crowds helped the team to perform, lifting the occasions above what we might call run-of-the-mill league fare.

“Definitely, yeah, it had to, really,” he said.

“I remember we were playing Limerick last year, I think it was nearly sold out before the weather came down and we still got 25,000 out of it or whatever.

“It gives it that bit more of a kind of a championship feel, definitely, and it makes it more enjoyable, anyway.”

The Tipp game in the league final was a 3-24 to 0-23 win and was followed by Munster SHC victories against the same opposition (4-27 to 0-24, albeit with the visitors having to play the whole game with 14 men) and then Waterford, 2-25 to 1-22.

As surprising as it may seem, it was the first time in the round-robin era (2018-19 and 2022-25 inclusive) that Cork won both of their home games.

Those victories also served to extend an unbeaten run at the venue dating back to the famous win over Limerick on May 11, 2024. As Cork prepare to open their new league campaign with another Waterford visit this Sunday – the second part of a double-header also featuring the footballers of Cork and Cavan – they carry a stretch of seven consecutive games without defeat at the Páirc.

It is easy to say that the growing crowds are a function of the unbeaten run, but in a way it is the opposite: Cork went into that Limerick game in 2024 after defeats away to Waterford and at home to Clare, with championship survival hanging by a thread.

Despite the fact that they were facing invincible-looking All-Ireland champions – and that a win in itself only guaranteed staying alive – there were 41,670 on that never-to-be-forgotten Saturday evening.

The fact that Sunday is Ben O’Connor’s first game in charge is likely to give a curiosity element to those attending and it should not be under-estimated that this will be the first proper chance for fans to show their support since the All-Ireland final, especially given that there was no homecoming event.

The 20,000 barrier may not be broken as consistently this year, but one would certainly expect Cork to top the average attendance charts again.