Premer IHC: Mallow looking for final flourish after halting slide

Relegation can often set in train a downward spiral from which a club finds hard to escape.

In the new championship era, there are unfortunately more examples of clubs suffering consecutive demotions or two in three years rather than bouncing straight back.

Defeats to Ballincollig and Aghabullogue left them fearing another battle for survival. However, a two-point win over Éire Óg, coupled with Ballincollig’s victory against Aghbullogue, meant that the North Cork side took second place on scoring difference.

Mallow’s Paul Lyons accepts that there was some trepidation when it came to halting the downward momentum but he feels that the win against Éire Óg did them, setting themselves up to make further progress as they saw off Dungourney in the quarter-final.

“Coming down from senior A, we knew that it wasn’t going to be easy in premier intermediate at all,” he says.

“When you’re on a losing streak, it’s very hard to build up confidence. Over the last few years, we were kind of used to losing and hadn’t been able to close out games, so we were very apprehensive at the start of the year.

“Then, the first two rounds of the championship didn’t go too well but getting the win over Éire Óg was a huge monkey off our backs.

“We were probably able to express ourselves a bit more then against Dungourney. When you get a win like we did against Éire Óg, all of a sudden the year just flips.”

Standing in Mallow’s way at Castletownroche on Saturday at 4pm will be Watergrasshill. While they failed to qualify from their group in each of the past two seasons, the East Cork side were somewhat unlucky – in 2022, they drew all three games and then last year they drew two and lost one.

This time around, they have turned the draws into wins and earned a direct semi-final spot

“The fact that they qualified straight for the semi-finals and won their three group games,” Lyons says, “the players they have involved with Imokilly – we’re definitely under no illusions about the threat that they pose.”

Against that, though, Mallow will go in with the belief that they are more than good enough to reach the final.

Key in instilling that is manager Vince Morrissey, who Lyons credits with bringing about a change on the mental side of things.

“One hundred percent,” he says.

“The amount of work he has put into all the players has been huge. Not just for playing hurling but for life in general, it has definitely made a huge difference to us.”

In football, like in hurling, 2024 has seen a turnaround. Last year, Mallow needed a replay to overcome Carrigaline in the Premier SFC relegation play-off but this time around they reached the semi-finals.

While they suffered defeat there against Nemo at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh last Sunday week, Lyons is taking the positives.

“When you look at the year as a whole, you’d have bitten someone’s hand off to be in a semi-final,” he says, “especially compared to where we were last year.

“Even at half-time, going in two points down, we thought we were in a good position but Nemo just showed their class in the second half. They controlled the game so well.”

The key for 2025 is to build on the progress that they have made.

“It was a huge experience for us because we have a very young team,” Lyons says.

“The next few years for Mallow are looking very good, with the minor footballers getting to a county final and a few on the Cork U20s.

“If we can build on this year and make progress in the next few years, we’d be happy with that.

“We’re straight into the hurling now, and it’s probably good too that we had an extra week’s break, to help sharpen up on the hurling.”