From cliff's edge to edge of glory, Cork and Clare meet in unique circumstances

IN HOT PURSUIT: Cork's Ciaran Joyce under pressure from David Reidy, David Fitzgerald and Cathal Malone. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Long before the seemingly endless winter finally ended in mid-April, months before the rain ceased and the mist and haze cleared, the cliffs in the distance were visible for Clare and Cork, so clear on the horizon that they both knew exactly where the cliff edge was.

At the outset of every championship, every team is only focused on what’s in front of them, on that first climb up the mountain. 

Yet Clare and Cork also accepted how steep that early ascent was, how challenging those first two expeditions could be. It was obvious from a long way out that their season could be hanging on the precipice after only seven days.

On that opening weekend, Clare faced Limerick in Ennis, Cork travelled to Walsh Park to take on Waterford, both of which were always going to be tricky assignments. 

After both sides lost, Clare and Cork knew what was potentially coming next; barring a draw, one of them would be pointless and dangling over the edge before the championship had even warmed up.

Cork happened to be that team. Two defeats didn’t necessarily mean anything. Cork lost their opening two matches to Clare and Limerick in 2022 (within the space of two weeks) and still qualified from the province. 

But two defeats in a week, and the physical and mental toll it could have exacted, was threatening to be far more damaging this time around.

Cork’s position looked even more perilous again with Limerick next up in round 3. In reality, Cork’s season could effectively have been even over seven days before that fixture. 

If Waterford had beaten Tipperary in Walsh Park, they’d have been on four points, before they had to travel to Ennis and Limerick for their last two matches. Cork could still get to four points. But if Waterford were also on four points, they had Cork on a head-to-head.

Cork needed the breaks to go their way, especially when there was a worrying precedence to their position after those first two defeats.

When the round robin format was first introduced in 2018, Dublin and Offaly saw their championship come to an end inside just seven days. Offaly lost to Galway and Kilkenny, while Dublin were narrowly beaten by Kilkenny and Wexford.

Offaly were already sundered by their inferior scoring difference. 

Dublin still had a chance to get four points on the board but, with Galway expected to beat Wexford and Kilkenny – which they did – Dublin already knew that Kilkenny and Wexford would knock them out on a head-to-head if one of them ended on four points with Dublin.

The championship is different now, as Offaly – who were relegated to the Joe McDonagh Cup after that 2018 campaign – were forced to play four games in 21 days, just as Waterford, Tipperary and Wexford also were in that maiden round robin championship. 

No team has to face that gruelling schedule anymore but one team in Munster has to play four games in 28 days every year. And it was Cork’s turn to do so this year.

Cork were up against the gun but one of the biggest psychological shifts for them before that match occurred in Walsh Park seven days earlier when Tipp scrambled a late draw against Waterford. 

With Waterford having to go to Ennis and Limerick for their last two matches, it reopened the door for Cork. And they drove through it.

One of the greatest challenges with the round robin format is the emotional investment required that doesn’t exist during the league. Managing those emotions, and how certain teams react to setbacks, is what ultimately distinguishes how well – or how well set up – a team will do in a condensed championship.

Getting to that pitch of emotional engagement every week, or even with a two-week break, is difficult. Winning that first game is seen as a critical tone setter but losing it isn’t as damaging as the theory deems it to be. 

The teams which have lost that first game in the round robin have only been eliminated 53 percent of the time. In Munster, that figure is 50 percent.

In 2019, Cork and Limerick lost their first game in the championship and both still qualified from Munster. Clare and Cork now are the only other two teams to lose their opening game and still qualify from the province in the same season. 

Moreover, this is the first time in history that two teams which lost their opening championship match are contesting an All-Ireland final.

Since the introduction of the qualifier and the round robin format, only seven teams have reached an All-Ireland final after losing their first championship game; Clare (2002), Kilkenny (2004), Waterford (2008 and 2017), Tipperary (2010 and 2014), Cork (2021). 

The only team to win an All-Ireland after that opening day defeat though, was Tipp in 2010.

This final is even more unique again as the winners will be the first side in history to have lost two games in the championship and still walk away with the Liam MacCarthy.

Before Clare and Cork met in round 2 in Munster in late April, both knew that they were dangling dangerously close to the cliff-edge. 

Almost three months on, both sides are on the edge of utopia.