Munster Hurling Championship: Crunching the numbers on every county and player this season

Statistics without context are useless.

For instance, the county having the highest number of players starting in the Munster SHC round-robin could be said to be benefiting from squad depth, allowing greater rotation - or it could be down to the fact that struggling sides are more willing to roll the dice.

The latter was certainly the case in this year's edition, with the tallies of starters in inverse proportion to the final standings: Waterford and Tipperary both had 21, Clare 20 and Cork and Limerick 19 each.

While Tipp also led the way in total number of players used, though, Waterford matched Cork's 25 in that department, with Limerick giving game-time to just 23 players, and four of those getting less than a quarter of an hour.

What perhaps jars is the fact that Waterford were comfortably in third place in terms of aggregate scoring output but had just 13 players finding the range - it helped that Stephen Bennett landed 4-24, despite being forced off before half-time in the Déise's third match, against Cork.

Where Cork can take some pride is the fact that Waterford scored nine goals but none against the Rebels, who allowed just three green flags. The 3-84 conceded by Cork is the lowest tally since the round-robin format was reintroduced in 2022.

Minutes played

Cork: 

280: Patrick Collins, Niall O’Leary, Mark Coleman, Shane Barrett (1-12); 275: Seán O’Donoghue; 271: Alan Connolly (1-35, 0-26f); 269: Tommy O’Connell (0-1); 266: Tim O’Mahony (0-4, 0-3f); 265: Eoin Downey (0-2); 262: William Buckley (0-16, 0-1f); 246: Brian Hayes (1-12); 210: Darragh Fitzgibbon (0-12, 0-3f); 196: Barry Walsh (0-6), Robert Downey; 190: Damien Cahalane; 158: Diarmuid Healy (0-1); 75: Ciarán Joyce; 65: Hugh O’Connor (0-2); 28: Cormac O’Brien; 25: Shane Kingston (0-3); 21: Ger Millerick; 20: Robbie O’Flynn; 16: Alan Walsh (0-1); 14: Pádraig Power; 12: Séamus Harnedy (0-1).

Limerick: 

280: Nickie Quaid; Diarmaid Byrnes (3-8, 2-0 penalties, 1-4f), William O’Donoghue, Gearóid Hegarty (1-7), Aidan O’Connor (3-31, 0-18f, 1-2 65); 279: Cathal O’Neill (0-14); 271: Kyle Hayes (0-1); 248: Peter Casey (1-8); 247: Seán Finn; 242: Barry Nash (0-3); 220: Darragh O’Donovan (0-3); 219: Adam English (0-6); 199: Shane O’Brien (0-13); 197: Mike Casey (0-1); 160: Cian Lynch (0-5); 151: Dan Morrissey; 118: Aaron Gillane (2-0); 105: David Reidy; 102: Tom Morrissey (0-8); 14: Colin Coughlan; 7: Ethan Hurley; 1: Fintan Fitzgerald (0-1), Hugh Flanagan.

Clare: 

280: Éibhear Quilligan, Diarmuid Ryan (0-6), Niall O’Farrell (0-2), Peter Duggan (1-5, 0-2sl, 0-1f); 267: Cathal Malone (0-1), Shane O’Donnell (0-6); 266: Tony Kelly (1-14, 1-0 penalty, 0-7f, 0-2 65); 262: Adam Hogan; 233: Seán Rynne (0-9); 223: Darragh Lohan (0-2); 186: Ryan Taylor (0-2); 185: Rory Hayes; 184: Diarmuid Stritch (0-9); 168: David McInerney; 153: Mark Rodgers (0-21, 0-17f, 0-2 65); 134: David Reidy (0-6, 0-4f); 120: Conor Cleary; 112: John Conlon; 102: Ian Galvin (1-3); 63: David Fitzgerald; 37: Shane Meehan (2-1); 35: Jack O’Neill (0-1); 28: Cian Galvin (0-1); 25: Jack Kirwan; 18: Conor Leen; 2: Ronan Kilroy.

Waterford: 

280: Billy Nolan (0-2, 1f), Paddy Leavey; 278: Jack Prendergast (1-3); 277: Dessie Hutchinson (0-16, 0-8f), Jamie Barron (1-6); 270: Mark Fitzgerald, Jack Fagan (0-2); 261: Calum Lyons (0-10); 259: Seán Walsh (1-5); 210: Aaron O’Neill; 190: Kevin Mahony (2-8); 189: Shane Bennett (1-6, 1-0 penalty, 0-3f); 175: Stephen Bennett (4-24, 1-0 penalty, 0-21f, 0-1 65); 143: Seán Mackey (0-3), Conor Keane; 137: Ian Kenny; 121: Darragh Lyons; 90: Michael Kiely; 82: Tadhg de Búrca; 80: Iarlaith Daly; 64: Peter Hogan (0-1); 58: Austin Gleeson (0-3, 0-1sl); 35: Reuben Hallloran; 8: Patrick Curran; 3: James Power.

Tipperary: 

280: Rhys Shelly, Robert Doyle, Ronan Maher (0-3), Bryan O’Mara, Jake Morris (0-12); 276: Oisín O’Donoghue (0-6); 270: Eoghan Connolly (0-13, 0-6f, 0-1 65); 235: John McGrath (0-5); 206: Darragh McCarthy (0-19, 0-18f); 201: Michael Breen; 196: Alan Tynan (1-2); 175: Wille Connors (0-3); 162: Craig Morgan; 161: Andrew Ormond (1-1); 144: Conor Stakelum (0-5); 138: Stefan Tobin (0-6); 122: Jason Forde (0-11, 0-7f, 0-1sl); 103: Noel McGrath (0-2); 93: Séamus Kennedy; 90: Sam O’Farrell (0-3); 72: Keith Ryan; 71: Darragh Stakelum (0-2); 25: Joe Caesar; 16: Paddy McCormack; 9: Jamie Ormond; 4: Peter McGarry; 2: Brian McGrath.

Players used: 

27 – Tipperary; 

26 – Clare; 

25 – Cork, Waterford; 

23 – Limerick.

Played every minute: 

5 – Limerick, Tipperary; 

4 – Clare, Cork; 

2 – Waterford.

Starters: 

21 – Tipperary, Waterford; 

20 – Clare; 

19 – Cork, Limerick.

Scorers: 

16 – Clare; 

15 – Limerick, Tipperary; 

14 – Cork; 

13 – Waterford.

Scored from play: 

6-85 – Limerick; 

3-75 – Cork; 

7-56 – Waterford; 

4-54 – Clare; 

2-50 – Tipperary.