21 April 2025
By Roger Kennedy
roger@TheCork.ie
SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh
It was hard to believe earlier this month, when it happened after 27 years! But indeed, that is how long it has been since Cork have won the Allianz Hurling League title. Yet the team defied the weight of history to comfortably defeat Tipperary in front of a passionate crowd at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on 6th April.
A long time coming
It’s been a long time, and there have been some bitter disappointments for the Rebels since they last claimed the crown back in 1998. It was a different millennium!
Since convincingly defeating Waterford 2-14 to 0-13 back at the end of last century, there have been plenty of near misses. Indeed, Cork have lost five finals in the interim, most recently in 2022 when Waterford once again exacted revenge for that 1998 loss by inflicting a second final defeat in that period, the other coming back in 2015. Prior to that it was Kilkenny and Galway that proved to be the Rebels’ nemesis in finals, with The Cats twice defeating Cork in 2002 and 2012. In the middle of that spell it was Galway that inflicted the damage in 2022. After five successive final defeats, victory will finally get the monkey off the back of Leeside hurling.
2025 glory
After heartbreak in 2024 which ended in an All-Ireland defeat at the hands of Clare by a solitary point, big things were indeed expected of Cork this time around, and so it proved to be the case. Cork’s speed simply proved too much for their opponents in this final, and the three first-half goals all owed at least part to the pace of the Cork attack. But midfield dominance was also key to success, and it was that first-half showing that left the encounter all but sewn up long before the game was officially done. The score at half time read 3-16 to 0-12. Bigger leads have been overturned in the past, of course, but this time it wasn’t to be for Tipperary. Goals from Alan Connolly, Darragh Fitzgibbon and Ethan Twomey proved decisive.
All-Ireland success to come?
But for anyone getting carried away that All-Ireland success is a certainty after this convincing display, they only need take a look at the history books to see that it is anything but a foregone conclusion.
The sports betting sites are of course polishing their odds on 2025 All-Ireland success and Limerick lead the way in most bookies’ estimations to win the Liam McCarthy Cup (3/1). Yet the consensus among most sports betting and online casino sites in Ireland is that Cork are very much second favourite with odds of around 5/1.
In one regard for Cork fans, the omens are good. Clare claimed the Allianz Hurling League crown in 2024 by narrowly defeating Kilkenny. The Banner County backed up that success of course with that dramatic narrow vanquishing of Cork at Croke Park later that year to become All-Ireland Champions. The year before, Limerick also defeated the Cats in the League final in convincing fashion, and backed up that victory by seeing off the same opponents by an even greater scoreline in Dublin in the hurling showpiece. Could we be looking at three in a row dual League and All-Ireland crowns?
Yet go back a year before, to when Cork themselves were defeated by Waterford, and it will be noted that Waterford didn’t even reach the final of the All-Ireland that year. Indeed, that was in the midst of a dominant run by Limerick, who claimed four All-Ireland titles in a row between 2020 and 2023. The Shannonsiders also claimed the crown in 2018 for a stunning run of five victories in six years. But even during that spell, Limerick were only actually dual champs twice, with their other League title in 2019 coming in a year that they failed to reach the All-Ireland final. Indeed, in the last ten years, only half of the time have the League winners gone on to claim glory in the season-ending showpiece.
Cork know better than most than there is not necessarily an inevitability to dual League and All-Ireland glory. Since that last League crown in 1998, the Rebels have won no fewer than three All-Ireland titles. Let’s hope 2025 is the first time the county does the double since, wait for it, 1970! For those mathematicians out there, that’s 28 years! But this has already proven to be a year that Cork hurling shakes off the weight of history.
