Peadar Healy's 25th anniversary but silver looks a distant dream for Cork

Today’s Munster semi-final marks the 25th game of Peadar Healy’s spell as Cork manager. Here is a chequered reign in numbers, as tallied by Eoghan Cormican

1. The winning margin at Fraher Field on May 27. Prior to Cork’s brush with humiliation at Dungarvan, the counties had met on nine occasions in the Munster championship since Waterford’s 1-9 to 0-11 provincial semi-final win over the Rebels in July of 1960. Cork averaged 2-16 across those nine games. The average winning margin stood at 15 points. Now, contrast this with the panicked scenes at Dungarvan as James Loughrey tackled Paul Whyte to the ground close to goal seven minutes into second-half stoppages.

2. Excluding the McGrath Cup, the Rebel footballers have twice managed back-to-back victories under the present management. Monaghan and Down were both taken at Páirc Uí Rinn during rounds five and six of last year’s league. That July, successive wins over Limerick and Longford were achieved in the qualifiers, Cork’s first sequence of championship triumphs since 2013. Probably worth noting that the counties conquered on that occasion were Limerick and Clare. For a group who’ve been so consistent in mentioning ‘consistency’ off the field, they’ve been dreadfully inconsistent inside the white lines.