Cork GAA: Football is still the priority in West Cork
Carbery Rangers' Jerry O'Riordan is tackled by St Michael's Daniel Meaney during the McCarthy Insurance Premier SFC at Brinny. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Football remains king south of the Viaduct so the dawn of another county championship campaign brought renewed hope to 10 clubs across five grades.
In the top tier, reigning Munster and Premier SFC champions Castlehaven bested divisional rivals Clonakilty by six points.
James McCarthy guided the Haven to county and provincial success last year and the same panel, under the guidance of Seanie Cahalane, got their season off to positive start.
The Castletownshend-Union Hall side kicked 1-12 of their winning total in the opening half. Usual suspects Brian Hurley (0-5), Jack Cahalane (1-3) and Michael Hurley (0-4) provided the bulk of their scores.
Bottom line, without hitting top gear, Castlehaven look primed to reach the knockout stages once again.
As for Clonakilty, they will point to Simon Murphy’s red plus Ross Mannix and Niall Barrett’s black cards as contributory factors to a disappointing loss. Yet, poor shooting including seven wides in the first half proved their undoing.
There were positives to take from their Group 2 opener, not least a good spread of scores amongst eight players.
Ross Mannix (1-2) and Conor Daly (0-4) combined well but Murphy’s enforced omission will be felt ahead of another West Cork derby against Carbery Rangers in three weeks.
The latter were defeated by St. Michael’s in the other Premier SFC Group 2 match completed over the weekend. Fionnán Leahy’s goal was one of the deciding factors in a 1-8 to 0-8 St. Michael’s victory at Brinny.
For Seamus Hayes and his backroom team, failure to take advantage of an opponent missing key players including Eric Hegarty and Tadgh Deasy proved costly.
This Rangers team is nothing if not resilient however, and will look to John O’Rourke, the Hodnett’s Mark and Brian plus Keelan Scannell to turn things around against a familiar foe next time out.
That Rangers and Clonakilty showdown in Sam Maguire Park on August 18 has now taken on extra importance.
Neither side will want to face into their final group game still looking for a first championship victory.
The sides played out a drab 0-6 to 0-6 draw at the same juncture of last year’s championship.
Also in the Premier SFC, 2023 Senior A football and hurling county champions Newcestown marked their return to the top tier with a merited Group 1 victory over Éire Óg.
Despite managing just three points in the second half, Jim O’Sullivan’s charges were full value for their 0-12 to 0-10 win.
Tadhg Twomey got through a huge amount of work, goalkeeper Chris White was solid throughout on an evening Cork footballer David Buckley (0-4) and Cork hurler Luke Meade (0-3) also made their presence felt.
Getting two points on the board was important for a busy dual club ahead of testing Group 1 football assignments against Ballincollig and Nemo Rangers.
In the Senior AFC, West Cork clubs Dohenys and O’Donovan Rossa will meet in the final round of Group 1 games in early September.
A lot could be riding on that fixture depending on upcoming results but it was the Skibbereen side who got off the mark at the expense of Fermoy, 1-14 to 0-16, this past weekend.
Declan O’Dwyer’s Dohenys team were defeated by another Carbery club, Newcestown, in last year’s Senior AFC county final.
Last Saturday, the Dunmanway club lost a high-scoring shootout, 0-17 to 0-15, to Kanturk despite Rhys Coakley and Keith White combining for eleven points.
Despite the loss, a Dohenys side that kicked 0-17 will be eager to bounce back against Fermoy ahead of that eagerly anticipated O’Donovan Rossa clash.
Ballydehob club Gabriel Rangers bested Kildorrery 2-10 to 1-9 in their Intermediate A Group 1 opener thanks to Killian O’Brien’s goals. St. James’ lost out to Canovee, 1-14 to 0-11, in the Premier JFC and will look to rebound against Kilmurry next time out.
Three West Cork clubs got their Intermediate AFC campaigns underway last Sunday.
Elsewhere in the county championships, Bantry Blues began their quest to reach a third consecutive Premier IFC final with a 2-20 to 1-13 Group 2 defeat of Nemo Rangers. Ruairí Deane set up goals for Arthur Coakley and Kevin Casey.
Bandon lost to Naomh Abán, 0-12 to 0-9, in the same group while Iveleary scored four goals en-route to defeating Ilen Rovers in the same grade.
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