At the back end of 2008, this writer was in Australia for the Compromise Rules. There was a series of cafes in Perth, along a street, and the smell of cooking made the body desire some food. The ‘Sporting Limerick’ jersey was on me upon walking in, and the Asian counterman said to me in a broken English accent, ‘Do you know what the greatest sporting occasion in the world is?’ Assuming he was referring to something from that side of the world I replied ‘The Melbourne Cup’, ‘The Bledisloe Cup’. ‘No, No’ he replied, ‘the greatest sporting occasion in the world is the Munster hurling final’. It turns out that he had been to Ireland a year earlier, and visited Semple Stadium for the Waterford vs Limerick decider, sealed by the late Dan Shanahan goals. A small world eh. Truthfully, it brought a tear to my eye.

He is dead right. There have been some truly great Munster finals. Last year, my workload was heavy, between writing a book and trying to qualify as a teacher. ‘Running on Empty’ would be something of an understatement. Some use music to give themselves a lift in such circumstances, and this writer is no different, but the greatest lift of all came from listening to Mick Dunne’s great commentary of the 1980 Munster Hurling final. (The Eamonn Grimes speech from 1973 came a close second!). That was the day of the famous Ollie O’Connor goal, and John Horgan’s thrown hurley. In one of the greatest team performances ever from a Limerick side, Eamonn Cregan was very influential and scored two late pressure frees to help secure victory against a Cork side who were comparable to the present day great Kilkenny side.

The 1981 Munster final between Limerick and Clare was one of the most exciting ever played, but is rarely mentioned, such is the volume of quality Munster finals etched into folklore. Joe McKenna scored three goals off John Ryan that day to secure a Limerick victory, and Paudie Fitzmaurice lifted the cup. 1982 and 1983 were washouts as Waterford seemed to freeze on both days against Cork. The 1984 final was arguably a better final than many played in subsequent years which have greater reputations. Cork stole that one with a late victory over Tipperary. Those sides would meet in several Munster finals from then until 1991, but all the talk seems to be about 1987 and 1991. However 1984 and 1990 (The Day of the Donkeys) are not far behind based on present day video evidence. Who can forget Mark Foley scoring 2-7 in 1990, or the great John Fitzgibbon poaching two more.

Clare dominated the mid to late 1990’s more than any other side. They appeared in every Munster final from 1993 to 1999 except for one year, 1996, the year of the great Ciaran Carey point. 1993 and 1994 were washouts while 1995 was known as the Johnny McDonnell final (There’s something wrong when the referee still hasn’t been forgotten fifteen years later). 1996 brought the year where Limerick memorably won the Munster final twice. As satisfying as it was to win the psychological battle in Limerick after a thrilling comeback - thanks to my boyhood hero Frankie Carroll - there was nothing to compare to climbing the wire for the replay in Páirc Uí Chaoimh one year later. Clare raised the bar in 1997, 1998 but were caught by a fresh faced Cork in 1999. 1997 is best remembered for the late John Leahy goal chance, and the famous great speech by Anthony Daly “We are no longer the whipping boys of Munster”, a speech that incidentally doesn’t seem to be available on Youtube. It must be any captain’s dream to make a speech like that after beating Tipperary in a Munster final. 1998 brought a new era where controversy became more important than hurling. Read Ger Loughnane’s book ‘Raising the Banner’ for the exclusive account of what happened there. It’s first hand, explosive and opinionated. If you haven’t read it by now, you should have read it.

The 2000’s brought us the Cork vs Waterford rivalry and the greatest game of hurling ever witnessed by this writer, apart from the 1990 All Ireland final. The year was 2004, and the game had everything, Paul Flynn’s superlative free, Garvan McCarthy’s goal which summed up the Waterford full back line and goalkeeping frailties of that time, Ken McGrath’s overhead catch at the end and don’t forget John Mullane’s sending off, followed by a declaration of passion for his beloved ‘Wahurford’. Time waits for no man, though, and 2004 is but a memory now. A promising 14-year-old Tony Forrestal player back then is a 20-year-old senior intercounty hurler now. No longer a boy but a grown man.

Cork and Waterford have an opportunity to recreate 2004 on Sunday in a hurling year marred by slack attendances. The Munster Council need a big attendance at this game, and, above all, they need a spectacle of 2004 proportions. It hasn’t been a good year for the Munster hurling championship and it needs to be rescued from the media critics (who would prefer if the Munster championship wasn’t there) on Sunday. Cork vs Tipperary was a cash cow, Cork vs Limerick was never going to be a cash cow, so they needed to ensure that Clare vs Waterford maximised its financial potential. However, the brains who fixed that game for a Bank Holiday Monday are probably still patting themselves on the back for blowing a small fortune on potential gate receipts.

As for Sunday, Cork appear to be the more settled outfit. They know their team and their players are comfortable in their positions. Waterford are strong in the half back line, and Cork have runners as opposed to ball winners there. Limerick picked runners to mark the Cork midfield and half forward runners and it worked well to an extent, but Waterford have players who like to impose themselves rather than try to contain their Cork opponents. Cork will be better at containing Waterford, than Waterford will be at containing Cork. Waterford do not know their best starting team, and cannot be sure until the match is in full flow if the balance is right between starting players and those held back on the bench.

The full back line forever remains the chestnut but they will be mindful of the job David Breen did on Aisaki in the last round. Maybe Declan Prendergast is the man for the No. 3 shirt yet again. He did an excellent job as a left half back in wet blustery conditions against Clare, but it would be a huge ask of him to mark Ben O’Connor on a fast sod, especially if the Newtownshandrum man is supplied with the right ball. Aidan Kearney would do the No. 3 job too, but is he available/wanted? Cathal Naughton and Tom Kenny are sprinters, but have Richie Foley and Shane O’Sullivan got the appetite to sacrifice their own ballplay to contain the running game? Dan Shanahan will be a dream for Eoin Cadogan, and someone like Shane Walsh would make life a lot more difficult for Cadogan. The Waterford half back line thrive on overhead battles, but Cork are the one team that will not rain high ball down on top of them.

It’s a game that both teams need to win, Waterford to vindicate their decision to remove Justin McCarthy (as if the Limerick situation didn’t already do that) while Cork need this trophy to vindicate their striking actions over the past couple of years.

Cork to win.

PS: Here are the teams and scorers from 2004.

Scorers: Waterford: P. Flynn 1-7 (1-3 frees); D. Shanahan 1-3; E. Kelly
1-1; J. Mullane 0-2; D. Bennett (free), K. McGrath and S. Prendergast
0-1 each. Cork: J. Deane 0-9 (0-6 frees); G. McCarthy 1-0; B. O'Connor
0-4 (0-1 free, 0-1 seventy); T. Kenny 0-3; B. Corcoran and J. O'Connor
0-2 each; R. Curran 0-1.

WATERFORD: S. Brenner; J. Murray, D. Prendergast, E. Murphy; T. Browne,
K. McGrath, B. Phelan; E. Kelly, D. Bennett; D. Shanahan, M. Walsh, P.
Flynn; J. Mullane, S. Prendergast, E. McGrath. Subs: P. O'Brien for
Bennett (50th minute); S. O'Sullivan for E. McGrath (66th); J. Kennedy
for O'Brien (71st).

CORK: D. Og Cusack; W. Sherlock, D. O'Sullivan, B. Murphy; S. Og