Galway hurlers have upper hand over Cork in championship across modern era
Ben O'Connor breaks his hurley in a clash with Galway's Ollie Canning in 2008 at Semple Stadium. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Galway were Cork's opponents in their last All-Ireland final win back in 2005.
They were strong favourites to retain Liam MacCarthy and never looked like being caught on that glorious September afternoon in Croke Park. Three years later at Semple Stadium, the Rebels survived Donal Óg Cusack's sending-off and a masterclass from Joe Canning, on another epic evening for Cork hurling.
The dynamic between the counties has shifted. The Tribe have beaten Cork in all the championship meetings across the 20 years since, in 2009, 2011, '12, '15 and 2022, including Denis Walsh, Jimmy Barry Murphy and Kieran Kingston's last games in charge. There was a league final victory for Galway in 2010 as well.
Galway ended their All-Ireland final drought in 2018 but the agonising wait continues on Leeside. Of course, Cork are in a stronger position than Galway currently, having reached the business end of the season three times since 2021, while Kilkenny have dominated Leinster.
Cork have a new bainisteoir in Ben O'Connor as Micheál O'Donoghue heads into the second season of his second stint at the helm out west. Despite the change, Cork have a more settled squad and team as Galway look to blood a new generation.
A championship joust is well overdue but for now, the counties will meet on Saturday night at Pearse Stadium in the second round of the league. Galway hurled very well for the majority of their opener away to Tipp before coming up short and Cork cruised to a facile victory over a toothless, understrength Waterford.
Ben O'Connor has already stated Cork will be out to win every game they play, which would be in keeping with the relentless mindset he had as an All-Star hurler.
By the same token, retaining the league is hardly a priority and we'll surely see more experimentation in terms of line-up and tactics across the next seven weeks.
Cork are home to Tipp in the third league game in what will naturally be a grudge match. Beating the Premier at Semple in the Munster opener in mid-April will be far more important, but there will be a bite in the Páirc on Saturday week all the same.
That's Cork's only match in February until they head to Kilkenny on Sunday, March 1. They're away to Limerick six days later and the regular league phase concludes at home to Offaly on March 21.
The league final is pencilled in for April 4-5 with a two-week gap until that first round-robin clash in Thurles, so the question is whether it's worth avoiding the decider to have a block of training before the real stuff starts.
The answer will be reflected in the teams picked in the next few matches.
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