John Horgan on the teams to beat in Cork's Senior A Hurling Championship
Carrigtwohill's Liam O'Sullivan is challenged from behind by Cloyne's Eoin Motherway. Picture: Howard Crowdy
PROMOTION and relegation are very much part and parcel of the Cork County Board championship season.
For some clubs, relegation is the most feared word in the English dictionary and if it comes to pass they find it difficult to accept that they have to drop down a grade.
That is particularly true where the big senior clubs are concerned and the big concern is that you might never get back up to where you once were. Becoming a senior hurling club is the primary objective of every club in every corner of the county.
Of course, that is only a wild dream for so many clubs because they simply haven't got the resources or the numbers to get to that level.
In the past relegation did not exist and once a club gained a particular status they retained it year after year despite the fact that they were just not good enough to compete at that level. And re-grading was not an option for some club members.
There were other clubs who believed that dropping down a grade was best, giving them a greater opportunity to reinvent themselves and to be in a better position to challenge for honours again at the lower level and to regain the status that they once held. Where the senior hurling championship was concerned, they were simply out of their depth and results illustrated that.
That's all changed now, the format of the championship since the introduction of the group stage which guarantees every club at least three games has been met with almost full approval.
You get three games to progress to the knockout stage of the championship and you get three games to avoid being sucked down into a relegation dogfight.
It's as fair a system as can be got and if a team loses its status there cannot be any genuine reason for complaint.
Some of the biggest clubs here on Leeside have found themselves immersed in a relegation struggle over the years, Blackrock and the Barrs had issues in that regard and when they succeeded in their quest to survive the relief was massive and the pledge was made there and then: 'this must never happen again'.
For some, of course, that was not the case and the trap door opened and down they went.
Na Piarsaigh went down last season, Carrigtwohill, Bride Rovers, Cloyne and Killeagh suffered the same fate previously and now they compete in the Senior A championship which is hugely competitive in itself.
The five aforementioned clubs are still motoring in their quest to qualify for the knockout stage of that competition and it will all come down to the final group games the weekend after next.
The state of play in the three groups are exactly similar, one team has full points from two games played, the next two have two points from two and there are three clubs with no points at all from their two outings. Bride Rovers, Newcestown and Carrigtwohill are the three clubs in pole position with the maximum return and in a very advantageous position to progress to the knockout stage.
The big game in Group A on the resumption will be the collision of Na Piarsaigh and Killeagh with the winner going through.
For both the stakes could not be higher with Na Piarsaigh hoping to take a significant step in their quest to make a very speedy return to the top flight after last season's relegation and a new look Killeagh team equally determined to stop them.
This Senior A hurling championship contains some very good teams, not quite good enough for the top flight but not that far away either.
So predicting who will emerge with the trophy at the end of it all is very difficult, unlike the Premier competition where realistically only three or four can be regarded as favourites.
The newcomers this season have been Inniscarra after their last-gasp and sensational county PIHC triumph last season when they defeated Castlemartyr in a replayed final. However, they have found life very difficult in the higher grade, losing both their games thus far and now requiring something from their last outing against table toppers, Bride Rovers.
Courcey Rovers and Mallow are sailing in very choppy waters in Group B and Group C respectively, both pointless and needing a result in their last outings against Newcestown and Cloyne respectively to avoid the relegation conversation.
A glance at the three groups in the Senior A championship shows how very competitive it is and how difficult it is to emerge from.
An illustration of how competitive it is, is the fact that last season's runners-up, Courcey Rovers have already been eliminated from this season's competition.
They were involved in a terrific scrap with Blarney in their last game with the Mid Cork side showing their potential even without their marquee performer, Mark Coleman who has been ruled out through injury thus far. Blarney, of course, can call on Cork compatriots, Shane Barrett and Padraig Power and in that win over Courceys they shared 1-15 of their 2-18 total.
Their final game in Group is against Ballyhea and this should be a fierce battle to see who joins Newcestown in making progress.
Some teams cannot make the progress that they desired but they must still do their utmost in trying to avoid the dreaded relegation issue.
Some of the games in the three groups have been fiercely fought.
In fact, in the last round, only two points was the difference in three of the six games played, another illustration of how tight it all is.
The only certainty right now is that whoever comes out on top at the end of it all and graduates to the Premier championship stage again will have well and truly earned that right.
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