Cork's four wins boost position in overall Munster hurling round-robin table

Following the conclusion of last weekend’s games in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship, we’re now one game away from seeing the completion of the seventh provincial campaign under the round-robin format.

The system has drawn its share of criticism, but the overwhelming feeling is one of success, given how competitive the championship has been across those seasons, and how closely fought each individual game is.

The attendance figures – particularly with Cork involved – show just how revered the competition is.

In the seven seasons – and the two Covid-interrupted years of 2020 and 2021 – there have been only been two Munster championship winners, next weekend’s finalists – Cork and Limerick.

Cork won the first in 2018 and won the most recent in 2025, but the six between were all won by John Kiely’s men. It’s no surprise then that they top the all-time Munster round-robin standings for that period, with 17 wins, four draws and seven defeats from 28 games, for a total of 38 points. Limerick’s scoring tally is 42-677 for and 28-579 against, for an impressive difference of +140.

They’re only two points ahead of Clare – the teams had been tied until the Banner were hammered by Cork last weekend. Clare are tied with Limerick on wins, they also have 17 in the round-robin, but two draws and nine defeats leaves them trailing, and their scoring difference is only +6.

Cork moved two points behind in third after their win last weekend rounded off a clean sweep of the 2026 group stage. The Rebels have won 15, drawn four and lost nine of their 28 games, and continue to lead the field for goals scored with 51. Their tally reads 51-681 for and 41-637 against, an impressive difference of +74.

Tipperary sit way back in fourth, with just 21 points across their 28 games. They have 14 defeats, as many losses as they have wins and draws combined. Their scoring difference is -69, and they’ve conceded more goals in that period than any other team.

Their perfect record in 2019 does a lot of the heavy lifting here, though. Strip that from their results and they’d have merely 13 points from 24 games. They won more Munster championship games in 2019 than the other six seasons combined.

Waterford’s record still remains the most abysmal. The Déise have played 28 games, winning just four, drawing three and losing 21. Their scoring difference of -161 is the heaviest of the lot, though somewhat bizzarely, only Limerick have conceded fewer goals across the six seasons.

All-Time Munster Round Robin Group Stage Table (2018–19, 2022-26) 

Pos – Team – P – W – D – L – SF – SA – Diff – Pts 

1 – Limerick – 28 – 17 – 4 – 7 – 42-677 – 28-579 – +140 – 38 

2 – Clare – 28 – 17 – 2 – 9 – 43-627 – 51-597 – +6 – 36 

3 – Cork – 28 – 15 – 4 – 9 – 51-681 – 41-637 – +74 – 34 

4 – Tipperary – 28 – 7 – 7 – 14 – 38-633 – 53-657 – –69 – 21 

5 – Waterford – 28 – 4 – 3 – 21 – 38-560 – 39-718 – –161 – 11