Glen Rovers are the first big name to crash out of this year's PSHC in Cork

THE one guarantee with a group of death in any sport is that someone is going to end up having to play the role of losers, with Glen Rovers getting cast in the unwanted role in Group A of the Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship this year.

Eliminated after two losses in nine days. 

It is not how they would have envisaged their campaign playing out, but they can have little complaints in the manner in which they lost to both Blackrock and Midleton, in what was admittedly an extremely difficult group to get out of.

Midleton scored a whopping 1-11 without reply to seal their game last Sunday in Carrigtwohill, which is a phenomenal run of scoring, particularly when you consider that the magpies had lost the services of talismanic attacker Conor Lehane by this stage of the match, but arguably the stat from that game that really jumps off the page is that the Glen failed to score after Eoin Downey’s kicked goal with 35.15 on the clock until referee Simon Stokes blew his whistle for the final time with the clock reading 64.16.

The Glen had taken a two point lead with that goal and there was no sign whatsoever of the collapse that they were about to endure. 

To go 29 whole minutes without being able to register a score is something that is difficult to fathom and will no doubt have caused some amount of soul searching in the north side of the city this past week.

The Glen have been amazingly consistent in recent years. 

The two titles won in 2015 and 2016, as well as the three runners-up spots in 2019, 2020 and 2021, mean they have been major players every year for the guts of a decade. 

Even when they have come up short they have been a hard nut to crack. 

That is, until last Sunday, as they will not have enjoyed the way the got rolled over so easily.

The worrying thing from a Glen perspective is that it was the second game in a row that they experienced a second half fade out. 

In Round 1, they had actually gone in level against the Rockies at half time, and had even taken an early second half lead through Dean Brosnan, before a similar drop off saw them eventually lose by eight, and that’s even with the benefit of a last second Simon Kennefick goal.

Was it just fitness, or are some of the legs beginning to go, or was it a systems failure in terms of the Glen’s direct style of play? 

These are the questions that will make for a long winter in Blackpool.

There is still the small matter of their Round 3 tie with Bishopstown. 

They will have to dust themselves off and make sure they get the two points on the board in that one, as a defeat there could see them face into the indignity of a relegation play-off, which would be extremely hard to take for the proud club.