Kieran Shannon: History will be on Cork's side in All-Ireland final

This year's All-Ireland hurling final between Cork and Tipperary will be the eighth time that the same two sides have met in both national finals in the one year. In all seven previous repeat pairings, the league winners ended up also being the All-Ireland winners.

Cork played Tipperary in this year's league final but Tipp are now a different animal to the side the Rebels defeated in April. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Well, this wasn’t the trilogy or repeat final we were expecting, was it?

After Cork cantered past Tipperary back in early but sunny April to win their first league title in 27 long years, the consensus was that Limerick and Clare would accompany them out of Munster. Tipp, for all their progress and effort during the group stage of the league, were hardly going to leapfrog the teams that had won both the league and All-Ireland in 2023 and 2024 and the odds-on favourites to complete a similar double in 2025.