By John Considine
Last Saturday's National Hurling League final between Cork and Waterford brought an end to the competition that is viewed as the GAA's second most important national title. In terms of the GAA finances, the League is important for County Boards as explained in the second chapter of Michael Moynihan's book GAAconomics. The chapter is titled 'The Great Secret Springtime Revenue Generator'. One of the advantages of the League for County Boards is its "fixity of fixtures". When the book was published, counties were only guaranteed two games in the premier competition. Since the book was published, there has been the introduction of a "Summertime Revenue Generator" in terms of a round-robin format to the provincial hurling championship. This doubles the number of guaranteed games for each county. Interrupted by the pandemic for a couple of years, the round-robin format returns this year.
The change of the season is also seen in the travel patterns of the supporters. Like migrating birds, the hurling supporters tend to travel north in the summer. The Cork-Waterford game was held in Semple Stadium, Thurles. The latter stages of the All-Ireland championship tend to be held in Dublin. Since 1937, every senior All-Ireland hurling final has been held in Croke Park with the exception of the Centenary Final in 1984. By contrast, only three of the hurling league finals have been held in Croke Park since 1992.
The hurling fan will wonder what signals they can take from the League final about the forthcoming championship. Looking at the similarities between the League final and the All-Ireland finals since 1975 might suggest that Waterford's recent league title is a sign of things to come. Between 1975 and the end of the century there were only three winners of the League and All-Ireland double. Since 2001, there has been nine double winners (Kilkenny on six occasions, and one double each for Galway, Limerick, and Tipperary). That is 45% of the time (ignoring the unplayed final from last year). Waterford fans might also look to the fact that Galway's 2017 springtime success was followed by their first senior All-Ireland in three decades.
The change of the season is also seen in the travel patterns of the supporters. Like migrating birds, the hurling supporters tend to travel north in the summer. The Cork-Waterford game was held in Semple Stadium, Thurles. The latter stages of the All-Ireland championship tend to be held in Dublin. Since 1937, every senior All-Ireland hurling final has been held in Croke Park with the exception of the Centenary Final in 1984. By contrast, only three of the hurling league finals have been held in Croke Park since 1992.
The hurling fan will wonder what signals they can take from the League final about the forthcoming championship. Looking at the similarities between the League final and the All-Ireland finals since 1975 might suggest that Waterford's recent league title is a sign of things to come. Between 1975 and the end of the century there were only three winners of the League and All-Ireland double. Since 2001, there has been nine double winners (Kilkenny on six occasions, and one double each for Galway, Limerick, and Tipperary). That is 45% of the time (ignoring the unplayed final from last year). Waterford fans might also look to the fact that Galway's 2017 springtime success was followed by their first senior All-Ireland in three decades.
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