GOING TO BE SUM FINISH

HURLING’S Day of Destiny will not implode like the Premier League’s much-hyped final day did last week.

Phil Foden’s second-minute goal for Manchester City against West Ham effectively ended Arsenal’s already remote chance of taking the title ahead of Pep Guardiola’s side.

Nothing like that will happen today in hurling. There are 18 possible outcomes – nine in each province – to the final round-robin games in the Munster and Leinster hurling championships.

And that doesn’t include the relegation battle between Antrim and Carlow in Corrigan Park, where the visitors need a win to keep their place in the 2025 Leinster championship.

Granted, debate over the fairness of the system and in particular the perceived difference in standard between the two provincial series will continue.

But the reality is the GAA has stumbled on a brilliant formula which has rejuvenated the provincial championships as well as becoming a cash cow for Munster.

In 2023, the Munster hurling championship generated gate receipts of €5.39m compared to €433,304 for the football series.

This year’s title race is expected to be equally lucrative. Unquestionably, it is the glamour series.

Some Leinster hurling aficionados may question the real worth of Munster’s high-scoring extravaganza, but the reality is that since the introduction of the round-robin format in 2018, no Leinster team has won the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

You’ll need to get your calculators out with so much to be decided in both Leinster and Munster hurling

RESTRICTIONS

Limerick have secured five, including four in a row (the 2020 and 2021 wins were achieved under the old format due to Covid-19 restrictions), with Tipperary winning in 2019.

The final round of games in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023 have not disappointed.

But Galway’s exit in 2019 was arguably the most dramatic of the lot.

Firstly, Dublin sprung a surprise at Parnell Park by beating the Tribesmen – who had contested the previous two All-Ireland finals – by four points.

While the players absorbed the implications of the result, attention switched to Wexford Park, where the home side, then managed by Davy Fitzgerald, were battling Brian Cody’s Kilkenny. Galway would still advance as long as the Wexford v Kilkenny game didn’t finish level.

TJ Reid’s seventh point put the Cats one up in the 70th minute. But Lee Chin levelled with a late free to secure the draw which put Wexford, Kilkenny and Dublin through.

Kilkenny, Wexford, Dublin and Galway all finished level on five points. But the Tribesmen lost out on score difference. Their then manager Micheál Donoghue recently admitted: “I’m mentally scarred with that.” It was his final game in charge.

Such has been Limerick’s dominance in the current decade that it is often overlooked how they limped into the 2018 All-Ireland series. They were on the receiving end of an 11-point hosing from Clare in their final round-robin game, relegating them to third place in the Munster table.

John Kiely’s side regrouped and beat defending champions Galway in the All-Ireland decider.

In 2019, they reached the Munster final courtesy of having a better scoring difference than Cork and Clare, so their four-point loss to Tipperary in the last round didn’t matter.

It was much tighter last season in Munster when Clare’s defeat of Limerick put them under pressure. It went down to the wire in the last round.

Clare were already guaranteed a place in the provincial final and All-Ireland series. Tipperary were in pole position to join them and their final-round game was at home to Waterford, who had failed to win their three previous matches and had nothing but pride to play for.

PIVOTAL

The pivotal contest looked to be the showdown at the Gaelic Grounds between Limerick and Cork.

As they had a better scoring difference than the All-Ireland champions, a draw would be sufficient to give the Rebels a place in the All-Ireland series, while a win would secure a Munster final spot if Waterford overturned Tipperary.

Waterford did shock Tipperary, but Cork couldn’t close the deal before 40,000 fans at the Gaelic Grounds.

As is becoming the norm, the game was decided in injury time. Séamus Harnedy’s fourth point left a point between the sides before Diarmaid Byrne’s ’65 doubled their advantage.

Patrick Horgan responded with a free, but Séamus Flanagan made it a two-point game again. Another Horgan free left the minimum between the teams once more, and that’s how it stayed.

Limerick survived and went on to claim another Munster/All-Ireland double, while Cork were left with a bellyful of regrets over what might have been.

But the Oscar went to Leinster where the last-round encounter between Kilkenny and Wexford was even more dramatic.

Four years after winning the Bob O’Keeffe Cup, Wexford had to beat Kilkenny in order to keep their place in the Leinster hurling championship.

Traffic congestion on routes leading to Wexford Park caused a 10-minute delay to the throw-in. The home fans feared the worst when their side conceded two goals and fell eight points behind midway through the first half.

But Wexford then outscored the visitors by 4-8 to 0-4, only for Kilkenny to come roaring back with a 2-5 scoring blitz, during which the home side managed just 0-4. There were still 12 minutes left when Conor Delaney tied up the game.

Eoin Cody’s third goal put Kilkenny back in the driving seat, but Wexford countered again, outscoring the visitors by five points to one. But the drama still wasn’t over. Alan Murphy looked to have won the game for Kilkenny at the death with a goal, but the referee had blown up for a free out.

AMBITIONS

So today’s action has a lot to live up to. Limerick’s five-in-row ambitions will go up in smoke if they lose at home to Waterford and Clare v Tipperary finishes in a draw.

And Munster’s form team Cork could also go out.

In the event of Limerick and Waterford drawing and Clare drawing with or beating Tipperary, then the Rebels will miss out.

Kilkenny are the only county involved in Super Sunday showdowns guaranteed a place in the All-Ireland series regardless of the outcome of their game. This is due to a quirk in the regulations governing scoring difference.

The Leinster Council has decided that if scoring difference is needed to decide the finishing order of teams, only results between the counties involved will be used.

However, in Munster scoring difference across all four matches will be counted where three or more teams finish level on points.

The Leinster ruling means that Kilkenny cannot be eliminated.

If they are beaten in Nowlan Park and finish behind Wexford and in a three-way tie with Galway and Dublin (if they draw in Pearse Stadium), Kilkenny will still end up in the Leinster final.

Wexford would top the group on seven points, with Kilkenny, Dublin and Galway all on six each. But only the results involving the latter three would be used to calculate scoring difference.

Thanks to their two-point win over Dublin and their draw with Galway, Derek Lyng’s side would have a +2 scoring difference. A draw between Galway and Dublin would leave Henry Shefflin’s side on a zero scoring difference but would be enough to give them a place in the All-Ireland series. Dublin, on -2, would be eliminated.

Best to have the calculator at the ready today!