Guide to the Divisions/Colleges section of the hurling and football championships in 2024
Brian O'Keeffe, Duhallow in action against UCC in the Bon Secours Hospital Division/Colleges Section UCC vs Duhallow at Pairc Ui Rinn. Picture: Larry Cummins
THE Divisional/colleges section of the Cork Premier Senior hurling and football championships returns once more in 2024, but with a slight tweak.
Like last season, MTU and Seandún will not be entering the competition next year. Carrigdhoun also will not field a team, given that they are a hurling stronghold.
In the previous year, the divisional sides played off in the preliminary stage, before advancing to a semi-final and final.
The winning finalist, Duhallow, were then placed in a semi-final with Carbery, the top ranked divisional team.
The winner of that game moved onto the final, where UCC then entered the competition. Duhallow prevailed once again and as a result, qualified for the PSFC quarter final.
Next season, it’s going to be different.
There are three seeded teams, and four unseeded.
The three seeded sides are the top ranked divisional teams (Duhallow and Carbery, as the pair contested the semi-final in 2023) and UCC, as they are the college entry. The three seeded teams have all been given byes to the semi-final stage.
The four unseeded teams are the remaining four divisional sides who entered last season – Avondhu, Beara, Imokilly and Muskerry.
These four teams will play each other once each in a round robin format, while the side who come out on top of the group will advance to the semi-final stage, where they are joined by the three seeded teams.
Last Thursday, December 14, the four unseeded divisions were drawn into the unseeded round-robin phase to determine the order that the games will be played.
The group stage will act as the first phase of a separate competition, known as the McCarthy Insurance Group Divisions/Colleges Football Championship 2024 (DCFC).
Muskerry v Beara
Imokilly v Avondhu
Muskerry v Avondhu
Beara v Imokilly
Muskerry v Imokilly
Beara v Avondhu
Like with the football, and like last season, MTU and Seandún will not be entering the competition. Beara will also not enter, given that there is little to no hurling played in the division.
The competition will follow the exact same format as its football equivalent, only with slight changes among the divisional teams, swapping between seeded and unseeded in the two codes and with certain divisions only entering in one.
The Co-op Superstores Divisions/Colleges Hurling Championship 2024 (DCHC) has three seeded teams – Avondhu, Imokilly (last year’s top ranked Divisional teams) and UCC (the college entry).
The remaining four – Carrigdhoun, Duhallow, Carbery and Muskerry are all unseeded, and will contest three games each in the group stage phase, with the top ranked side joining the three seeded teams in the semi-finals.
Last Thursday, as with the football, they were drawn into their group to determine the order that the games will be played in.
Carrigdhoun v Duhallow
Carbery v Muskerry
Carrigdhoun v Muskerry
Duhallow v Carbery
Carrigdhoun v Carbery
Duhallow v Muskerry
The idea behind the unseeded phase is to allow the teams who have statistically shown to be weaker, an opportunity to play more games and get up to speed before entering into the semi-final stage with the three seeded outfits, giving them a better chance at securing qualification.
The winner of the DCHC will advance to the Premier Senior Hurling Championship quarter final.
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