Imokilly hurlers must wait until late August for next championship outing 

THE Imokilly senior hurlers will have to sit and wait until late August until entering the championship fold. 

They got a bye into the final of the divisions/colleagues section and now will watch on as Avondhu take on UCC on August 23. 

The winners there will be back in the championship arena a few days later with the final fixed for the following Sunday evening. 

Before that there is a whole host of key county championship matches at various levels where many of the Imokilly panel will have a further chance to showcase their talents.

The East Cork barony have been the standard bearers for the divisions in the county senior championship - those three county titles at the end of the last decade are the stand out storyline in the annals in the recent senior hurling roll of honour. 

After a heartbreaking penalty shoot out to Blackrock last year, team manager Denis Ring has galvanised his charges and the group has been together on a number of occasions through late spring and early summer.

They played a series of Monday night challenge matches, concluding with the Abernethy Cup encounter against Ballygunner in Castlemartyr recently. 

The game was played without a number of Imokilly's star names, all of whom should be available for selection come their aforementioned big date with either UCC or Avondhu late next month.

Encouragement will be taken from the influx of the new generation who have come on stream to compliment the established names such as Ciarán O'Brien of St Ita's, Shane Hegarty of Dungourney, Will Leahy of Aghad and team captain John Cronin all of whom were key members of the championship winning sequence and also line out recently. 

New kids on the block include rapidly developing names Timmy Wilk of Cobh, Jack Leahy of Dungourney and Diarmuid Helay of Lisgoold - three young guns who have worn the red of Cork in recent years in All Ireland winning minor/under 20 teams.

The return of star names such as Seamie Harnedy, Ciarán Joyce and his Castlemartyyr colleagues along with Youghal's Bill Cooper will add a strong spine to the team that did duty in that 0-29 to 1-20 loss to Ballygunner. 

Dairmuid Healy with 1-5 (1-4 from play) was top marksman on that evening, which also saw Will Leahy register 0-4, Sean Desmond of Watergrasshill tally with 0-3 and Bryan Forbes of Dungourney raise three white flags. 

Interestingly bubbling new Waterford star Patrick Fitzgerald was the big performer for visitors Ballygunner with the razor sharp forward scoring eleven points in his side's victory in front of what was a large crowd at the well manicured Paddy Walsh Memorial Park.

Imokilly's backroom team for this season sees Sean Murphy taking over from Sean Harnedy of St Ita's who has stepped down following a long period as a selector. 

Denis Ring remains at the helm with Brian Ronayne and Aidan Kelleher alongside him. 

The backroom team will be watching with great interest the lie of the land as the exciting county championship programme of games evolves beginning in just over two weeks.

Youghal take on Lisgoold in Castlemartyr on the opening night - Friday August 4 , where a number of Imokilly panelists will be on view in the intermediate 'A' grade. 

Dungourney's contingent will be in action against Ballincollig in Cobh in what will be the club's first outing in the premier intermediate level on the following day. 

Then on Sunday , last year's beaten finalists Castlemarty who boast a strong contingent of Imokilly players face a big opening test against Ballinhassig in Caherlag. Castlelyons against Bandon in Ballyanly on the same day, Watergrasshill versus Kilworth in Rathcormac and Aghada's outing in Pairc Ui Rinn against Aghabullogue in the 'A' grade are other prime destination points for the Imokilly form spotters on the same day.

Of course, locally within the division the August Bank Holiday weekend is a pivotal date as it sees the beginning of this year's East Cork Oil junior 'A' hurling championship. 

The opening fixtures are For O'Neill's v Killeagh in Youghal , Carrigtwohil against Midleton in Lisgoold and Bride Rovers v Sarsfield's in Watergrasshill - so a feast of action awaits the hurling thirsty fans in the eastern barony.