The puzzling over where to play next month's Munster hurling final is largely the product of a situation, which sees two of the province's counties – Clare and Waterford – not having venues suitable for such a large crowd and therefore unable to enter into "home and away" arrangements with others.
Accordingly any finals involving those counties have to be played at neutral grounds. The pairing of Tipperary and Waterford has been a fairly common one in recent years and six of the last eight championship encounters have been played in Cork’s Páirc Uí Chaoimh, which is under reconstruction and not available.
Although the counties have had one home match each in the past 20 championships, Waterford’s was in Walsh Park a 1996 Munster semi-final at a stage when the county didn’t attract the sort of attendances it currently does and certainly for a final.
Financial incentive
Tipperary hosted the 2009 final in Thurles, partly in recognition of the GAA’s 125th anniversary and partly because of a financial incentive understood to have been made available to Waterford.
This year’s final venue is being decided by the Munster Council this evening but there is growing speculation that it may be held in Thurles again. The decision is effectively Waterford’s, should they agree the match will be fixed for Semple Stadium and, if not, it will go to Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds.
The dilemma for Waterford is that they have positive memories of Thurles already this year, having beaten Cork there in the league final and provincial semi-final whereas the county would have little championship experience at the Gaelic Grounds where at the weekend their opponents Tipperary had a big win over Limerick.
It wouldn’t however be a first, as the provincial finals of 1962 and ’63 between the counties (and shared, one each) were played in the Gaelic Grounds.
It appears as if Killarney has been definitely ruled out. Although renowned as a football venue, Fitzgerald Stadium has hosted some legendary hurling matches in its history.
The most recent match of championship significance was the Cork-Tipperary qualifier in 2004, won by Cork, en route to winning the All-Ireland and the most recent Munster final pairing involved the same counties in the replayed decider of 1987. But it hasn’t always been a popular option.
The late Paddy Downey, former Gaelic games correspondent of this newspaper, reacted irritably to the news that the drawn match in Thurles that year would be replayed in Fitzgerald Stadium.
“But why Killarney? That Eden of the West is a beautiful place and a great venue for Gaelic football but, as was starkly evident at last year’s Munster final (1986 between Cork and Clare), it doesn’t generate a distinctive hurling atmosphere. This match could – should – have been fixed for a recognised hurling centre but for reasons which need not be stated again it was sent to a ground which adds considerable distance to the travel of most hurling followers.”
The reasons were simply that Tipperary and Cork couldn’t agree on the venue, as neither wanted to concede home advantage – Tipperary especially. The fabled record at Páirc Uí Chaoimh was that Tipp hadn’t won there since 1923 (in the 1922 championship) but a closer look reveals a less impressive statistic.
Cork had actually only played their traditional rivals eight times in those 85 years. One was abandoned (1926) and one was drawn (1991) so Cork’s record reduces to an average of just one home appearance against Tipp every 14 years. During the heyday of the 1940s and ’50s nearly all the matches were played in Limerick.
Toss for venue
Tipperary were offered a toss for venue and said no, which suited them because it meant Killarney would have to be the venue. The Gaelic Grounds in Limerick were unavailable because the Mackey Stand was being built, a project that saw Tipp play four times in Fitzgerald Stadium that championship.
Cork manager that year, the late Johnny Clifford, remembered being equally reticent about tossing for venue in the wake of the drawn match in Semple Stadium. The home and away arrangement between the counties had expired with that match and there would be a problem deciding where a subsequent agreement would start. Tipperary refused to concede the replay to Cork and wanted any new rota to start that year in Thurles.
"I'd hoped that Tipp would agree to come to Cork after the draw in Thurles," Clifford told The Irish Times many years later. "I spoke to Frank Murphy (Cork county secretary) in the Anner Hotel and he said that Tipperary wouldn't come to Cork.
“I asked him not to toss because I didn’t want to come back to Thurles for a second week. I always left that sort of thing up to Frank and he came back at about 7.30, saying that we were going to Killarney.”
Tipp won in extra-time and the final passed into history. In the 28 years since, every final has been played in Thurles, Limerick or Cork and this year will be no different.
