While Cork are regarded as one of the "big three" of hurling, with Kilkenny and Tipperary completing the trio, Wexford are ranked joint fifth in the all-time roll of honour and have enjoyed sporadic periods of dominance at various stages throughout the history of the championship.

After the endless and oftenpersonal wars of attrition against Tipperary andKilkenny, meeting the purple and gold jerseys ofWexford must have been a liberating experience.

[1] On 5 September 1954 a record crowd of 84,856 packed Croke Park to see the first championship clash of Cork and Wexford in over half a century.

Ring and Twomey points cut the deficit to two and with four minutes left young Johnny Clifford trapped the ball on the end line, dribbled it along the ground and shot past Art Foley from a narrow angle.

[3][4] Within a minute the sliotar dropped into Foley again and after it was cleared it made its way up the pitch and was buried in the back of the Cork net by Nicky Rackard giving Wexford a 2-14 to 2-8 victory.

Cork fought back through the brilliance of Pat Moylan's long-range free-taking, while a Ray Cummins goal brought the sides level at the interval.

[8] The second successive meeting of Cork and Wexford in the All-Ireland decider on 4 September 1977 failed to live up to the expectations of the previous year.

Cork's preparations were hampered during a pre-match warm-up in front of Hill 16 when Seánie O'Leary got hit in the face with a sliotar, suffering a broken nose.

Christy Keogh sent a thundering shot at goal and it looked like the certain equaliser, only for Coleman to reach for it and leave those in attendance confident they had witnessed one of the greatest saves in an All-Ireland final.

Played in brilliant sunshine, the match opened at a blistering place, with Joe Deane pucking over the first score before a Paul Codd goal for Wexford in the sixth minute.

Wexford stretched the lead to six points early on, however, Cork began to fight back with a goal from Setanta Ó hAilpín helping their cause.

A long puck out from Damien Fitzhenry was met by more shaky Cork defending, and as the ball broke loose about 20 yards out, it was hit first time by Larry Murphy whose shot was too hard for Cusack to stop.

Wexford trailed by 2-8 to 2-3 at the interval, however, as Diarmuid O'Sullivan and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín shored up the defence, Cork went on to win the second half by 1-9 to 0-4.

Cork had the breeze on the resumption though and gradually took control of the game, and with Patrick Horgan and Niall McCarthy in form they pulled away.

The Rebels dominated the opening exchanges and had three points on the scoreboard before Wexford’s Ian Byrne landed a free on four minutes to get the home side off the mark.