The last time the Munster old firm contested a senior national title, the old Hogan Stand was only built a year and the original Páirc Uí Chaoimh was over a decade and a half away from construction.
Christy Ring’s hat-trick wasn’t sufficient to stop Tipperary claiming their ninth league title in the Cork Athletic Grounds – the same site as Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Ballintemple – at the end of the 1959-60 campaign.
Cork and Tipp meet in this year’s final, both seeking to bridge a lengthy gap to their last league triumph. In each case, their most recent league title could be retrospectively seen as a springboard.
Cork’s 1998 league success during Jimmy Barry Murphy’s first stint came at the end of a barren…