Christy O’Connor on Cork v Limerick: What history tells us about Croke Park rematches

IN chapter 11 of his autobiography, ‘Dalo’, Anthony Daly vividly details the sense of dread and terror he felt before the 1997 All-Ireland final when Clare were meeting Tipperary for the second time that summer.

“I was just riddled with fear, full of trepidation that this time the price to pay would be too much to bear,” wrote Daly. “I remember thinking, ‘If Tipp beat us now, they’ll redden us.’” 

 It was completely new territory for Clare as that was the first year of the back-door championship, in hurling or football. Two months after beating Tipp in the Munster final, Clare were faced with the apocalyptic implications of losing to Tipp again on the biggest stage of all.

The fear was all the greater again for Daly considering what had happened in the aftermath of the Munster final. Daly had made a harmless comment in his acceptance speech that Clare ‘would no longer be the whipping boys of Munster’, but it was interpreted differently in Tipp.

Liz Howard, then Tipp PRO had a go at Daly in the programme for the subsequent Clare-Tipp Munster U21 semi-final. When Ger Loughnane had a go back in an open letter to the ‘Clare Champion’, it added to Daly’s anxiety around the occasion. “The build-up to the final was a complete nightmare,” wrote Daly.

At least Clare won. A year later, Kilkenny’s worst fears were realised when Offaly beat them in the All-Ireland final just two months after Kilkenny had whipped them in the Leinster final.

In the first few years of that new system, repeat pairings were an obvious trend, with Kilkenny and Offaly also meeting in the 2000 All-Ireland final.

It took another 12 years for that to happen again but it has been a strong trend in All-Ireland finals ever since; Kilkenny-Galway (2012 and 2015), Clare-Cork (2013), Limerick-Waterford (2020), Cork-Limerick (2021).

It hasn’t been as common in All-Ireland semi-finals though, as it has only happened on four occasions; Limerick-Waterford (2007), Kilkenny-Wexford (2007), Cork-Waterford (2017) and Cork-Limerick (2018).

Prior to the start of the round-robin in 2018, there were actually only 13 repeat pairings across a 21-year period. Along with those All-Ireland semi-final and final repeat pairings, Cork and Waterford met in All-Ireland quarter-finals in 2005 and 2007, while Tipp and Waterford clashed in the 2006 All-Ireland quarter-final, all after previous clashes in Munster during those three summers.

It’s been a different dynamic ever since because there are guaranteed repeat pairings in the Munster and Leinster final each season now. 

In terms of numbers, Clare and Limerick have clocked up huge figures in the last three years. When the sides met in last month’s Munster final, it was their sixth championship clash in just 26 months.

After four classics in just 13 months between May 2022 and June 2023, their two games this year were nowhere near that quality or standard. Yet their figures are still unique considering they were all in Munster; two teams have never met that often in such a short time-span in the provincial championships.

When the figures are expanded outside the province though, Clare-Limerick are behind Cork and Waterford’s numbers in the 2000s; both sides met on seven occasions in the space of just 27 months between late May 2005 and early August 2007.

PEAK

The rivalry peaked between 2006-’07, when Cork and Waterford played out four brilliant matches in 12 months; the 2006 All-Ireland semi-final, the 2007 Munster semi-final, the 2007 drawn and replayed All-Ireland quarter-finals. All four games were classics.

The 2007 quarter-final replay had such a status that the Kilkenny-Wexford All-Ireland semi-final (which was a repeat of that year’s Leinster final) was played as the curtain-raiser.

Since the introduction of the round robin, there have been 10 repeat pairings in the provinces; Clare-Limerick (2022, ’23, ’24), Cork-Clare (2018), Limerick-Tipperary (2019), Kilkenny-Galway (2018, 2022 and 2023), Kilkenny-Wexford (2019) and Kilkenny-Dublin (2024).

Two teams meeting on three occasions in the one season (without a replay) went very close to happening on numerous occasions; Cork-Clare (2018), Kilkenny-Wexford (2019), Galway-Kilkenny (2022) and Clare-Limerick (2023). Outside of 2018 (when Clare and Cork narrowly lost semi-finals, Cork after extra-time, Clare after a replay), one of those teams narrowly lost a semi-final to deny a third face-off in the same summer.

When Cork lost to Limerick in the 2018 All-Ireland semi-final after extra-time, it was the only time up to this season where two teams which had met in the provincial campaigns clashed again in an All-Ireland semi-final.

Now that Cork and Limerick are meeting again at this stage, the comparative numbers from those second meetings across the last 27 years are interesting; the team which won the first meeting also won the second meeting 60% of the time; the team which lost the first time around only gained revenge 33% of the time.

When Cork and Limerick clashed in that 2018 semi-final, it was no surprise that the match ended in a draw after full-time because the sides had also played out a draw in Páirc Ui Chaoimh in the round robin two months earlier.

When Cork and Limerick clashed again in PUC back in early May, another draw looked on the cards until Limerick forged ahead in additional time before Cork struck back with a penalty from Patrick Horgan and then Brian Hayes put Cork two points up with the last play.

So can Cork beat Limerick again now on Sunday? The data from previous years suggests that the numbers are in Cork’s favour.