Crunching the numbers on the Munster SHC
Cork's Mark Coleman, seen here in action against David Fitzgerald of Clare, was one of four Rebels to play ever minute of the 2026 Munster SHC round-robin. Picture: Chani Anderson
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.
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