Christy O'Connor: How important is home advantage in the hurling championship anymore?

There are any amount of reasons why the home team is more likely to win than the away team; greater familiarity, comfort and logistical ease with the venue; unintended refereeing bias towards the home team

No place like it: Clare fan Mary Carey fixes her hair ahead of a championship game in Cusack Park, Ennis. Home advantage is still set to be a significant factor for Sunday’s Clare-Limerick and Waterford-Cork games.

When it was confirmed in January that Cork’s championship game against Clare would be moved from Páirc Uí Chaoimh to Thurles, Kieran Kingston immediately doused the sparks of public frustration threatening to ignite into a blaze.

“Being brutally honest,” said Kingston, “if you had a straw poll tomorrow among the Cork players about playing in Cork or Thurles, it’d be 50-50.”