Sars and Killeagh prove league form is meaningless but for different reasons
Killeagh's Dinny Walsh turns away after scoring a goal against Inniscarra. Picture: Howard Crowdy
THE opening round of the club hurling championships was another reminder of the fact that league form is completely insignificant when championship comes around.
Obviously, many would point to the fact that players on inter-county duty don’t feature for their clubs in the vast majority of league games, and that will alter a team’s performance, but the rule still applies to clubs with few inter-county stars.
Killeagh and Sarsfields are two perfect examples of this, but for very different reasons.
The former had an abysmal league campaign on the surface, suffering defeat in every single Division 1 game that they played, and were ultimately relegated to the second tier.
Killeagh were playing with pretty much a full-strength team for the entire league campaign, and though they were fairly competitive in almost every game, it just seemed as though there was something not quite clicking with the team.
While they impressed for patches, they lacked confidence on the ball. Killeagh only seemed to be able to turn things up a gear when they were over 10 points behind, and the game was dead and buried.
Anytime they were behind but within a reasonable margin, they panicked, and couldn’t make their scores, even when they were the better of the two teams.
It was a surprise, because they absolutely have the quality, with some excellent players in the squad.
Dylan McCarthy is a top free-taker, and certainly a player of Premier Senior standard. Dinny Walsh and Sean Long are workhorses that have quality on and off the ball, while George Walsh is one of the best sideline takers I’ve seen.
And yet, they scored only scored seven goals in nine league games. As soon as championship rolled around, they hit an Inniscarra side rife with momentum for an impressive four goals.
They’ve got a tough task on their hands facing one of the top Senior A teams in Bride Rovers this weekend in Midleton, but we all know in hurling, the underdog tag can be an absolute blessing, particularly at club level.
Their final group game is against a Na Piarsaigh side severely lacking in firepower, and they’ll certainly fancy themselves, irrespective of their result against Bride Rovers. A win against the northsiders, and Killeagh are as good as qualified.
Sars on the other hand, were outstanding in the league. The Riverstown side were simply unstoppable, and heading into the Premier Senior Hurling Championship, they looked the most well-prepared and organised team out of the entire crop.
Despite hammering fellow senior clubs Blackrock, Fr O’Neill’s, Carrigtwohill, Na Piarsaigh, Erin’s Own and of course Kanturk, Sarsfields fell short and were actually fortunate to come away with a draw against the relegation-tipped Kanturk, a side that they had beaten 6-25 to 0-5 in March.
Sars were heavily criticised last year for failing to make it out of the group stage, and after their impressive league form this year, they were hailed as one of the contenders for the Seán Óg Murphy Cup.
Of course, all they’ve done is drawn one game, and they still have a very good chance of making the knockouts, but they will need some sort of result against St Finbarr’s on Friday night.
However, it is fascinating. Even after months of preparation, and with only the one player on Cork senior duty in Jack O’Connor, they could still fall short in their first championship game against a side they beat by a staggering 38 points in the league earlier this year.
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