ON 55 wins, Cork head the Munster Senior Hurling Championship Roll of Honour. Next on 42 are Tipperary, followed by Limerick with 25 titles.
The successes of the Shannonsiders are from 1897 to 2024, and were achieved under the captanices of Denis Grimes, John ‘Tyler’ Mackey, Willie Hough, Bob McConkey, Paddy McInerney (Young Irelands), Mick Fitzgibbon (Young Irelands), Timmy Ryan (Ahane), Liam Ryan (Cappamore), Éamonn Grimes (South Liberties), Seán Foley (Patrickswell), Paudie Fitzmaurice (Killeedy), Gary Kirby (Patrickswell), Ciarán Carey (Patrickswell), Donal O’Grady (Granagh/Ballingarry) and Declan Hannon (Adare).
One of the special wins was the surprise, comfortable 0-24 to 0-15, defeat of Cork in the 2013 final at the Gaelic Grounds.
It ended 16 years of crushing frustration. Key scores from future five-time All-Ireland winning captain Declan Hannon (0-8), Shae Dowling, James Ryan, Graeme Mulcahy, Seánie Tobin and Kevin Downes.
Not surprisingly, the still evergreen Nickie Quaid kept a clean sheet in the home goals.
Captain O’Grady – a current selector – gave one of the most memorable speeches on cup presentation.
It began: “Today is the day that the Munster Cup is finally back home….” and ended with the skipper leading the on-field masses in a joyful rendition of Denis Allen’s Limerick You’re A Lady, the number one hit from 1979.
Limerick and Cork have met in 23 finals, and the win count is 16-6 in favour of the latter. There were tied contests in 1944 and ‘25, both won thereafter by Cork, and they are included.
There have been 28 final defeats.
An irritating statistic that manager John Kiely is keen to erase is that Limerick have never beaten Cork in a Munster Final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
A win on Sunday would ease the hurt of those Final losses of 1920, ‘76, ‘92 and ‘14.