SUNDAY, 21 JULY
Clare v Cork, Croke Park, 3.30pm
ONLINE
Live blogs on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app. Highlights also available across the weekend.
TV
Live coverage on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Coverage as Gaeilge on RTÉ News from 2.55pm. The Sunday Game will recount the day’s events from 9.30pm on RTÉ2.
Live coverage also on GAAGO and BBC2 NI.
RADIO
Live commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 and on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Spórt an Lae.
WEATHER
Sunday will start off mainly dry. However, rain will develop in the west during the morning and then spread eastwards to all areas through the afternoon and evening. It will gradually clear overnight with scattered showers following. Highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees with moderate to fresh southerly winds.
For more, visit met.ie.
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A 124(5)-year history
Clare and Cork’s first championship meeting came all the way back in 1900, although it was actually a game from the 1889 Munster championship.
Reports at the time tell us that the footballers of both counties were also set to meet in Tipperary, but the Banner couldn’t wrangle a team together.
Clare won that one, but it’s a rivalry that they have played second fiddle in with just 15 more wins over the next 60 games taking us up to this weekend. The Rebels have come out on top 40 times, with five draws in there too.
The last 10 meetings, stretching back to the famous 2013 All-Ireland final replay win for Clare, have been much more balanced with five wins apiece.
The Munster march
Given how many great teams compete down in the southerly province, All-Ireland final Munster pairings have been surprisingly rare.
Indeed, since Cork and Clare’s two-game classic 2013, it has only happened twice – Limerick’s wins over Waterford and Cork in 2020 and ’21 – the former played in an eerily quiet Croke Park as Covid restricted attendance to the teams, officials and some media.
If it had been said at the start of the race for Liam that Munster would have two teams at Croke Park on 21 July, the idea that Limerick wouldn’t be one of them would have been a fanciful assertion.
Cork made sure of that in a thrilling semi-final, but their Munster meeting earlier in the season was equally as critical.
Pat Ryan’s side were not only on the ropes but the gumshield had slipped from their mouth.
Patrick Horgan keeping things in perspective
Opening up with losses to Waterford and Clare meant that defeat to Limerick at Páirc Uí Chaoimh would bring their season to a premature end for the second consecutive season and the critics would be circling.
As the clock ticked into the red, they were sharpening their claws, but with 72:36 on the clock Shane Kingston was dragged down by Kyle Hayes and Patrick Horgan, with championship goal 27, just fired his penalty past Nickie Quaid to save – and spark – their season.
The outpouring of emotion after that spoke of something special happening, and the Rebels ran with it as they defeated Tipperary, Offaly and Dublin to set up a rematch with the five in-a-row chasing Green Machine.
Lightning couldn’t strike twice, the so-called experts said (‘Treaty’s march on history to continue against Cork’ read the headline on this journalist’s preview piece) with Limerick expected to resume their usual dominance in the midfield skirmishes having been bullied in their earlier meeting.
This Cork side is made of stern stuff though, and they showed they had no shortage of quality either as they nabbed 10 points from 10 shots in the first 11 minutes of the second half. That’s a stat worth reading again, it’s spectacular and it provided the breathing space for the Limerick fightback in the final minutes of their 1-29 to 0-28 defeat.
Clare’s path to the final has probably been less rousing, a bit unusual at times in truth. Not that they’ll care.
They came second in Munster thanks to narrow wins over Cork and Waterford and a fairly unimpressive win over an already condemned Tipp.
That meant a third straight provincial final against Limerick and while the last two brought battling defeats, the 2024 decider was lacking that Banner edge with Limerick’s six-point winning margin flattering the losers.
Reassurance was sought and found with a 2-28 tally against Wexford with John Conlon at his best and livewire Shane O’Donnell with 1-04 to his name.
That belief shook though with a, at times, shocking first-half display against Kilkenny in the semi-final, who led from minutes one to 68 – but when the game was there to be won, it was Brian Lohan’s side who prevailed with Tony Kelly coming to life having been marked absent in the opening 35 minutes.
It was only Clare’s second championship win over Kilkenny. The first? The 1997 All-Ireland semi-final, Lohan a rock at full-back in his red helmet, and the Banner will be hoping for history to repeat itself on Sunday.
Either way, it’ll be Munster’s day again with the Liam MacCarthy guaranteed to head that way for the seventh season in a row.
Team news
Cork manager Pat Ryan has keep faith with the same 15 that defeated Limerick last time out.
Three members remain from the side that lost the 2013 replay to Clare with Séamus Harnedy and Patrick Horgan on from the start and Conor Lehane on the bench.
Clare are also unchanged from their win over Kilkenny.
Brian Lohan has resisted the urge to start Ryan Taylor. Returning from a cruciate injury, he made a huge impact around the middle upon his introduction against Kilkenny in the semi-final, but he has again been kept in reserve.
Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Eoin Downey, Seán O’Donoghue; Ciarán Joyce, Robert Downey, Mark Coleman; Tim O’Mahony, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Declan Dalton, Shane Barrett, Séamus Harnedy; Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes.
Subs: Brion Saunderson, Damien Cahalane, Ger Millerick, Tommy O’Connell, Luke Meade, Ethan Twomey, Conor Lehane, Jack O’Connor, Shane Kingston, Pádraig Power, Robbie O’Flynn.
Clare: Eibhear Quilligan; Adam Hogan, Conor Cleary, Conor Leen; Diarmuid Ryan, John Conlon, David McInerney; David Fitzgerald, Cathal Malone; Tony Kelly, Mark Rodgers, Peter Duggan; Aidan McCarthy, Shane O’Donnell, David Reidy.
Subs: Cian Broderick, Rory Hayes, Paul Flanagan, Cian Galvin, Darragh Lohan, Ryan Taylor, Seadna Morey, Aaron Shanagher, Ian Galvin, Shane Meehan, Robin Mounsey.
Scoring stats
With 4-71 across seven matches, Wexford’s Lee Chin currently leads the championship scoring charts but Horgan (5-62) is within striking distance.
Seven points would take the Rebel man top of the charts. And of course, he needs just three to surpass TJ Reid in the all-time scoring race.
Conor Cleary hails Clare maturity
His closest scoring rival in Cork is Alan Connolly with 4-12 with Darragh Fitzgibbon chipping in with 0-22 from play and Shane Barrett 2-16.
Aidan McCarthy leads the way for Clare with 1-53, including 41 frees and a ‘65’, while Mark Rodgers has 2-23.
Their leading scorer from play is David Fitzgerald (2-18) with O’Donnell (2-13) a few points behind.
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship final, Cork v Clare, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
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