Cork v Waterford, Limerick v Clare, Munster championship live updates
3.27pm Some pre-game listening? Anthony Daly, TJ Ryan, Mark Landers and Liam Sheedy
convene on Dalo's Hurling Show.
3.24pm John Fogarty is on Leeside and checks in from his perch in the stands:
It's a blustery one in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The wind is blowing hard and straight into the Blackrock End. The coin toss between Shane Barrett and Conor Prunty will carry extra significance. Waterford have made an 11th hour change to their squad, Conor Ryan replacing injured Iarlaith Daly and one of the named substitutes will be expected to start in place of the Lismore man. There have been a couple of rumblings that Alan Connolly isn't fit to start for Cork but that will become apparent in the next 30 minutes. Waterford supporters are scarce on the ground and the dropping of their captain Dessie Hutchinson, while justified, has probably dampened expectations. As expected, Cork folk are here in their droves, knowing a win and the prospect of doing themselves justice against Limerick in a first Munster final in seven years is quite the nugget.
3.20pm In the great tradition of 1980s professional wrestling, we have a blockbuster loser-leaves-town match topping the bill, from SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh this afternoon.
Welcome to live coverage of that Cork v Waterford showdown on Leeside as well as Limerick v Clare at the Gaelic Grounds.
We have reporters and analysts at both grounds and beyond and will go puck by puck for the next few hours.
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The 42
3 hours ago
- The 42
Poll: Who do you think will win the Munster hurling final?
IT'S TROPHY DAY in the Munster hurling calendar. Limerick and Cork are the last two standing as they battle it out at the Gaelic Grounds for the big prize. John Kiely's side are hoping to complete a provincial seven-in-a-row while Cork are back in a Munster final for the first time in seven years hoping to upset the champions. It was Limerick who emerged with a 16-point victory in their round-robin meeting last month and Cork will be seeking redemption, as well as the Munster title later today. With all that said, who do you think will be crowned Munster champions for 2025?
RTÉ News
4 hours ago
- RTÉ News
The joy of six - Limerick's Munster final triumphs
Limerick stand on the brink of another feat never achieved before in Munster hurling – seven senior titles in a row. That would rival the provincial milestone of Brian Cody's great Kilkenny team of 2005-2011, another side who won four consecutive All-Irelands. The Cats go for a third Leinster six-in-a-row against Galway tomorrow. Six had never been achieved in Munster until last year either; today's opponents Cork managed five twice, from 1975-79 and 1982-86. Let us remind you just how John Kiely's men went from Munster rarely men to the brink of a magnificent seven. 2019 Limerick 2-26 Tipperary 2-14 The Treaty had missed out on the provincial decider in 2018 but third in the inaugural round-robin was enough for a place in the knockout stages and they went all the way, pipping Galway in a thrilling final for their first All-Ireland SHC triumph in 43 years. The defence didn't start too well, with defeat to Cork in the Gaelic Grounds, but huge wins over Waterford (20 points) and Clare (18) meant they were all but through ahead of facing Tipp in the final round. Seamus Callanan's goal was the difference as the Premier ran out 1-22 to 0-21 winners to finish with a 100% record (the only time it has been done) in the group and eight points. However, Limerick had rested key men like Declan Hannon, Hurler of the Year Cian Lynch and Gearóid Hegarty, while Tipp lost Patrick 'Bonner' Maher (cruciate ligament) and Cathal Barrett to injuries that were put them out of the final rematch. And the Green Machine showed their true strength back on home turf, recovering from an early Callanan goal to hit one of their own through Peter Casey (1-05) and lead 1-11 to 0-09 at the interval, having played against the wind. Limerick dominated their opponents after the break, replying to John McGrath's goal with one of their own from Kyle Hayes (1-02) as part of an unanswered run of 1-06. Hegarty (0-03) and Tom Morrissey (0-04) were also big contributors from play. Declan Hannon, one of just four survivors from the county's previous victory in 2013 - itself a first in 17 years - lifted the cup, which they added to that year's league trophy to complete the set. Tipp were to have the last laugh however, regaining Liam MacCarthy after Limerick slipped up against Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-finals. 2020 Limerick 0-25 Waterford 0-21 Over 500 days passed between that first Munster triumph and the second. For a while, it looked like Covid-19 might put paid to hurling altogether, but instead the format reverted to knockout/back door, behind locked doors. Limerick were again relatively comfortable winners over both Clare (also counting as the league final) and Tipperary before meeting Waterford, provincial finalists in their first year under Tipp native Liam Cahill. The Déise had beaten Cork by four points despite conceding a late goal to Patrick Horgan, and put it up to the champions at an empty Semple Stadium. The sides were level five times in a first half Limerick shaded by 0-14 to 0-11 and the challengers briefly inched ahead before the water break (remember those?) as Stephen Bennett (0-12, 9fs) led the charge. But Hegarty, Graeme Mulcahy and Seamus Flanagan all contributed to the traditional strong finish as Limerick retained the Munster crown for the first time since 1981. They won all 13 games they played that year, including handing Waterford a much heavier beating – 0-30 to 0-19 – in an All-Ireland final played at an eerie Croke Park two weeks before Christmas. 2021 Limerick 2-29 Tipperary 3-21 An extraordinary Limerick comeback in this second half and it's summed up here by this Kyle Hayes effort. Watch now on @rte2 or highlights on #sundaygame from 9.30pm — The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 18, 2021 This final was arguably the most interesting, for a number of reasons. Or a number of numbers. 35: the highest number of points Limerick scored in any of the six finals. 30: the highest total they conceded. 10: the half-time deficit they overturned. 2: the number of red cards they escaped, according to Jackie Tyrrell. Tipp started like a train at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, goals from Jake Morris and John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer sending them scorching into a 10-point lead at the break, 2-16 to 0-12. The scores were still level two minutes in the second half when 30th-minute sub Aaron Gillane was fouled by Cathal Barrett but swung his hurl back into the defender after the referee had blown the whistle. Paud O'Dwyer seemed to be looking straight at the incident but somehow deemed it only worthy of a yellow card. It's hard to imagine the epic comeback that followed would have happened with 14 men, and they could have finished without another when Flanagan went in high with the hurl on Ronan Maher, though less obviously and late on. Gillane scored 0-06 (4fs), a total matched by Tom Morrissey (1f). Limerick scored the first three points of the half before Flanagan's goal - from a blocked Gillane shot - really got things going and the holders were already ahead by the second water break. In the 56th minute, Hayes took off on a memorable run for their second, game-settling goal. Tipp lost an All-Ireland quarter-final shootout to Waterford, which proved the last game of Liam Sheedy's second spell in charge. Limerick beat the Déise by eight points in the semi-final before hammering Cork on a record 3-32 to 1-22 scoreline in the decider. 2022 Limerick 1-29 Clare 0-29 The first and probably the best final of the trilogy was a relentless slugfest in the rain in Thurles. Clare were, and still are, chasing their first Munster since 1998 and were prepared to fight fire with fire. Tony Kelly hit seven first-half points but a Hegarty goal had it level at half-time – 1-11 to 0-14. Nobody led by more than two points over the initial 73 and a half minutes but the Banner needed a sublime sideline cut from Kelly (0-13, six from play) to force extra-time. Limerick seemed to have the fresher legs in the additional periods, Flanagan finishing with a superb eight points, as Hannon fittingly became the first captain to lift the Mick Mackey Cup. Clare fought back in their All-Ireland quarter-final against Wexford but were blown away in the semi-final by Kilkenny. The Cats gave Limerick, who had edged a war of attrition with Galway, their closest All-Ireland final of the Kiely era, which they won by just two points 1-31 to 2-26. 2023 Limerick 1-23 Clare 1-22 Aaron Gillane is the start of this Munster final. Huge moment for Limerick as they move in front. ⌨️Updates: 📺Watch: #sundaygame — The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 11, 2023 Clare had raised hopes that Limerick were mortal after all when edging their round-robin encounter by a point at the Gaelic Grounds – the Treaty's first championship defeat in almost four years. So they were happy to play the provincial rematch on Limerick's home turf rather than travel to the much further afield neutral venue of Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Things looked to be going to plan for the challengers at half-time as a Mark Rodgers goal had them 1-11 to 0-11 ahead. But, as so often, Limerick upped the intensity in the second half and Gillane (1-11, 8fs) took over. Clare surprisingly left Cian Nolan, already on a yellow card, on the danger man and his 44th-minute goal put them back in front. The hosts scored five in a row after Kelly had levelled and though the Banner pushed all the way, they could never draw level. The game finished in high drama, referee Liam Gordon playing on after a premature pitch invasion before controversially denying Clare a last-gasp free that could have forced extra-time. Hannon again lifted the trophy as Limerick became just the second county to win five Munster titles in succession and first since Cork in 1986. Clare gave a better account of themselves in the All-Ireland series, thumping Dublin in the quarters before a narrower semi-final loss to Kilkenny. Limerick were more comfortable winners over Galway this time, despite a difficult start, and produced one of the most sensational half hours of hurling ever seen in the final as they overturned a five-point deficit to thrash Kilkenny by nine and seal four in a row. 2024 Limerick 1-26 Clare 1-20 'Our first-half performance against the breeze was exceptional... we always found a way to get those extra couple of scores' John Kiely reflects on another Munster crown for Limerick 📺 Watch on @RTE2 and @RTEplayer 📱Updates — The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 9, 2024 The record-breaking sixth triumph proved the easiest since the first. Limerick had beaten Clare in the group stages but only after the Banner imploded, having been nine points up by the 52nd minute. Surely revenge, and that long-awaited provincial title, were in store. They wouldn't make the same mistake with the venue anyway, we were heading back to Thurles. Different stadium, same outcome. A Peter Duggan goal levelled the game just before half-time, 1-10 to 0-13, but once again Limerick lifted it in the second half, Hegarty's opportunistic 46th-minute goal easing them into a lead Clare never cut to more than four points. Six Munsters in a row for a county that had won just one of the previous 22, taking them to 25 overall. There was a twist in the tale though. Clare finally got the better of Kilkenny in a semi-final and Cork stunned the champions, ending their drive for a first All-Ireland five-in-a-row. The Banner then edged a classic extra-time final by a single point.
The 42
5 hours ago
- The 42
'I was thankful that we got out with a point': Red card in rearview mirror as Barrett leads Cork into battle
HAVING BEGUN THE Munster senior hurling championship on a low note, Cork attacker Shane Barrett could yet end it by captaining the winning side in the final. If the Rebels are to win a provincial title for the first time in seven years, it will be Robert Downey lifting the Mick Mackey Cup in the Mick Mackey Stand but, as the Glen Rovers man has been limited to a place on the substitutes' bench due to a hamstring injury, his vice-captain will lead the side out. For 24-year-old Barrett, it was an honour to be asked by manager Pat Ryan but, equally, something he has tried to take in his step. 'Pat said it to me at the end of year review, would I be interested,' he says. 'I asked him who the captain was going to be, but he wouldn't tell me – I had a bit of an inkling and then I found out it was Rob. It is an honour to be asked especially when Rob was going to be captain. 'It is a nice honour but hopefully I won't have to do it too many more times this year and Rob will be back. Advertisement 'When I get the chance to do it, you are not really thinking about it at the moment but afterwards you reflect on it and it is a nice thing.' Reflection of the less-nice kind was required after the Blarney man's red card against Clare at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg in the first round of fixtures. 'Look, I suppose it happened,' he says, 'and I was thankful that we got out of Ennis with a point. 'If we had lost up there, we would have been under a lot more pressure and I would have been feeling a lot worse but once we got a point and Tipp and Limerick also drew, no team was worse off. 'It cost us a point in Ennis and very regretful but we weren't any worse off than when we got up there. Pat had said beforehand that he would have taken a point against the All-Ireland champions.' Barrett tries to escape the attention of Limerick's Will O'Donoghue. Tom Maher / INPHO Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO The indiscretion meant a watching brief in Cork's next game, the routine victory over a Tipperary side that were themselves reduced to 14 men after Darragh McCarthy's first-minute dismissal. 'It was my own doing, so I couldn't really give out to anyone else,' Barrett says. 'I probably hadn't watched a game like that in ages, so it was an experience I hadn't got since I was about 18. I didn't think of it much before the game but at the game it was horrible, but the lads were brilliant on the day and put the game to bed in the first half. 'So, I enjoyed the second half.' While the second half of the 16-point defeat to Limerick at TUS Gaelic Grounds three weeks ago was better than the first period, nobody in red was enjoying it. However, there wasn't any dwelling on it, either, given the need to respond a week later against Waterford. For Cork, the Monday gym sessions bring as much mental as physical benefit. 'That is the case,' Barrett says, 'especially when you have the back-to-back games and say you have been playing on the Sunday. 'You come in on the Monday and completely park that game. In our case it was Waterford this week, so you don't have time to be dwelling – you are just fully focused, about being back around the lads and getting our work done, getting ready for training on Tuesday and the match at the weekend.' And, given the chance to avenge that earlier defeat, where does Barrett identify the major areas for improvement? Related Reads 'It was a whole new world for me': Limerick-Cork Munster final memories 50 years on 'That narrative has been debunked now' - Limerick boss hits back at end of an era talk Pat Ryan: 'Some of our own people writing off Limerick. Are they off their game?' 'Everything, really,' he says. There wasn't anything we could have taken as a positive, they blew us completely out of the water. We had no answer for them whatsoever. 'I think we improved on a lot of things against Waterford, that weren't there in the Gaelic Grounds, but we just had no answer for them up there. 'Limerick are an unbelievable team. You just have to respect what they've done over the last seven, eight years. They're an unbelievable unit, a well-oiled machine. They know each other inside out. 'It's about weathering the tough moments against them, and trying to impose your own gameplan on them.'
