Some Cork-Kilkenny scars will never heal

“They don't like what was said. It's a reflection on a team that has broken all sorts of records. It's very disrespectful."

5 April 2009; Pat Horgan, Cork, in action against Michael Fennelly and Jackie Tyrrell, Kilkenny. Allianz GAA NHL Division 1 Round 6, Kilkenny v Cork, Nowlan Park, Kilkenny. Picture credit: Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE

Fifteen years on, it’s a league pasting that stains the Cork record books and tattoos the brains of those visiting supporters who lay witness to it in Nowlan Park.

It had been on the cards. Over the two previous weekends in 2009, three-in-a-row All-Ireland champions Kilkenny had smashed Tipperary and Clare by 17 and 13 points respectively.