John Horgan on hurling: City sides struggle as country clubs dominate county finals

ONE of the season’s main talking points thus far has been the relegation of Glen Rovers to the Cork County Senior A hurling championship.

The wish of all genuine hurling folk will be that they can make a quick return to the top flight but for one season at least they are out of the equation in the chase for the Sean Óg Murphy Cup.

For now, however, the big question has to be: who will take their place at the top table?

At the time of writing this column, the answer to that poser is Bride Rovers or Newcestown, the East Cork club defeating Blarney after extra time and a penalty shootout in their semi-final last Saturday.

However, Blarney, have now lodged an objection to that outcome, stating that the grounds for that being Bride Rovers had 16 players on the field after a substitution towards the end of extra-time.

That objection was due to be heard at County Board level on Thursday night when board representatives, match officials on the day, and representatives from both clubs were in attendance.

The findings of that meeting were awaited with three options available: a replay to be ordered; awarding of the game to the opposition; or a fine.

In all of this, Newcestown can rest easy, safe in the knowledge that they will be involved on final day, a marvellous achievement for them given their dual mandate and still being heavily involved in the Senior A football championship, opposing Newmarket in the semi-final this weekend.

They have been out every weekend in both codes but are still going strong, another illustration of the club’s resilience and ability to cope with such a demanding schedule.

To reflect on the game between Blarney and Bride Rovers, the latter had to endure a penalty shootout before they edged out the Mid Corkmen in a compelling semi-final, their goalkeeper, Cian Hogan emerging as the hero of the day.

Such a scenario would have been unthinkable 20 or 30 years ago in a game of hurling, a team winning a game of great magnitude after a penalty shootout.

People have various and strong opinions on a game being decided like that and it’s a difficult one to get the head around.

Where this observer is concerned, it’s not the right way and it’s the wrong way for a club to exit the championship after putting in a gargantuan effort over the previous 80 minutes and the season prior to that.

Yes, there is a tight fixture schedule to be adhered to, there’s a provincial campaign to be played out in some instances, but every effort should be made to avoid the lottery of a penalty shootout.

In this instance there is no provincial campaign, no deadline day. Okay, the same rules have to be applied in all the competitions, we accept that.

But one is nearly certain that whichever clubs are involved, they’d take a replay any day rather than the other option.

And if that replay has to fit into the tightest of schedules, 48, 72 or 96 hours later, so be it.

A couple of short years ago, Carrigtwohill lost their Premier senior status to Charleville after one of these penalty shootouts and that surely was so wrong and a replay should have been the case in that particular situation.

There was simply far too much at stake and there was no schedule to adhere to.

Anyway, after that bit of a rant, returning to the game in question — Bride Rovers held their nerve against Blarney and full credit to them, but it’s so tough on the team that loses and on the individuals who didn’t convert their penalty shots.

However, at the same time, and whether we like it or not the rules are in place before a game commences.

It’s a wait-and-see situation now regarding the outcome of last night’s objection hearing by Blarney but, one way or the other, the final will be an all-rural affair.

It’s an all-rural affair too in the PIHC decider between Castlelyons and Kilworth with the East Cork team going in as slight favourites.

One was present at the splendid Clonmult Memorial Park in Midleton for Castlelyons’ win over Castlemartyr in the semi-final, a victory that was based very much around an outstanding defensive display which saw Colm Barry, Colm Spillane and Niall O’Leary backbone that sector, all three putting in sterling performances.

Their two very quick, first-half brace of goals were major contributory factors too in their victory and having lost two finals in the recent past there might be a thinking that their time has finally come.

INTRIGUE

Kilworth, however, are very worthy finalists too, maybe a bit of a surprise package where some are concerned after being outsiders at the group stage, a group that contained last season’s runners-up, Castlemartyr, Ballinhassig and Watergrasshill.

They lost to Castlemartyr but subsequently responded magnificently to defeat Ballinhassig. They were again outsiders against Ballincollig last weekend but, as in many of their games, they exhibited an inner belief and there is a strong balance to their starting 15.

The fact that both clubs reside not a million miles apart adds to the intrigue surrounding this premier intermediate final, another one of those days when rural Ireland will come out to play

In last Tuesday’s column, we mentioned the fine achievement of Midleton’s second team in reaching the IAHC final where they will play Aghabullogue.

Now we have to salute Erin’s Own’s second string on a similar happening, getting themselves into the county premier junior hurling final against another East Cork club, St Catherine’s.

Despite the fact that the Caherlag club’s senior side came up short in the premier senior competition, the fine achievement of the premier junior side shows that there is no shortage of good hurlers in the club.

There is a strong blend to the side, a few former senior contributors and members of the club’s younger brigade.

Similar to Midleton, they deserve applause and the fact that it’s an all East Cork affair with the team from Ballynoe adds further to the potential of this final.

In all of this, however, there is one notable ommission: in all five county finals there will be no city involvement and that surely has to be a concern for the powers that be.

You will have East Cork, West Cork, Mid Cork, North Cork all represented on finals day.

The rural clubs dominate the Cork GAA landscape for now but for the greater good of the game we need a strong urban involvement too and the sooner that is the case again, the better for all concerned.