Divisions/colleges sections undergo tweaks for 2025

While the format for the divisions and colleges sections of the Cork premier senior hurling and football championships will remain broadly the same for the coming year, there are some small but notable changes.

The draws for these competitions – the winners of the hurling are awarded the Denis O’Riordan Cup with the football victors taking the Tadhg Crowley Cup – were made at Tuesday night’s Cork County Board meeting at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Since the return to ‘normal’ action after 2020 and 2021, the filtering of teams from the unseeded first phase to the second stage has varied. In 2022, with MTU Cork competing in the championships, they and UCC had byes to the second part along with the division that had won the section in the previous year.

In 2023, with MTU having withdrawn, there were just three teams in the second phase, meaning one semi-final and a final, while last year that segment featured two divisions, UCC and the winners of the first phase.

For 2025, there has been another alteration. While it had been hoped that MTU would return to action, that will now not be happening. Instead, UCC and last year’s winners – Imokilly in hurling and Muskerry in football – have byes to the second phase, but this time they will be joined by two divisions progressing from phase 1, which will also operate on slightly different lines.

In hurling, the opening matches – likely to take place in June – see Duhallow take on Muskerry (who reached the final last year, beating UCC) while Avondhu are up against Carbery. Then, the second set of fixtures sees the winners of each of the opening fixtures take on the loser from the other.

After all of those results are collated, the top two sides will advance to the semi-finals, with top-ranked side taking on Imokilly and the side in second place clashing with UCC.

The opening Premier SFC games are Avondhu v Carbery and Beara against Duhallow, with the winners up against the losers in the second round. As with the hurling, the top two sides then advance – first place taking on Muskerry with second clashing with UCC.

The draws for the junior B hurling and football championships also took place at Tuesday’s board meeting. Limited to clubs who do not field at a higher grade, these are run on a county-wide basis, with group stages feeding into the knockout sections.

The hurling features three groups of three teams each, with two groups of four in football and one comprising three clubs. In each case, the top two teams in each group advance, with two group winners moving straight to the semi-finals while the other first-placed side goes into the quarter-final draw with the three runners-up.

Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC (Divisions/Colleges): Round 1 – A) Duhallow v Muskerry, B) Avondhu v Carbery; Round 2 – Winner A v Loser B, Winner B v Loser A; Semi-finals – Imokilly v Unseeded first-placed team, UCC v Unseeded second-placed team.

McCarthy Insurance Group Premier SFC (Divisions/Colleges): Round 1 – A) Avondhu v Carbery, B) Beara v Duhallow; Round 2 – Winner A v Loser B, Winner B v Loser A; Semi-finals – Muskerry v Unseeded first-placed team, UCC v Unseeded second-placed team.

Co-op SuperStores Confined JBHC: Group 1 – O’Donovan Rossa, Lough Rovers, Bantry Blues; Group 2 – Uibh Laoire, Ballyphehane, Crosshaven; Group 3 – Gabriel Rangers, Rathpeacon, Castletownroche.

McCarthy Insurance Group JBFC: Group 1 – St Catherine’s, Glengarriff, Araglen, Shanballymore; Group 2 – Clann na nGael, Brian Dillons, Ballinacurra, Muintir Bháire; Group 3 – Ballyphehane, Garnish, Belgooly.