John Horgan: Cork hurlers clearly driven on by hurt with impressive club displays

The opportunity was presented last weekend to try and put the debacle that was the All-Ireland final to the back of the mind with the opening round of the Premier Senior Hurling Championship.

There is always a great sense of anticipation when the curtain goes up on the club championship season. It's a new beginning and no matter how good or bad things were in the previous campaign, everybody starts with a clean slate again.

The flagship competition on Leeside might no longer capture the type of imagination that accompanied it in the old days and the Cork clubs that were successful in the more recent past have found things difficult when they go out to represent the county in the provincial and All-Ireland campaigns.

Sarsfields got into Croke Park last season for a final joust with Na Fianna from Dublin but there was no gold at the end of the rainbow.

But hope springs eternal that things will get better with the playing field in the premier grade a lot more level now than it used to be.

However, those hoping for some cracking fare on the opening weekend were, for the most part, disappointed.

With just two of the four teams from the three groups advancing to the knockout stage, there is very little margin for error.

Therefore, the opening game is of paramount importance. Win that and you are off and running, but, conversely, a loss and you are put under immediate pressure.

In fact, another loss and the season that you have prepared so diligently for will be over in two or three weeks.

PRESSURE

So, there is pressure, quite a lot of it attached to the opening game and that might explain why some of the games never reached any great heights.

Páirc Uí Rinn housed three games over the weekend and it would be fair to state that none of the three ignited to any great extent. In fact, in all three games, there was the sense of the inevitable long before the finish.

The state of the sod at the venue was not good in certain parts and maybe that might have been a contributory factor.

The Barrs and Douglas set the ball rolling last Friday night, a southside derby that carried some potential.

The Barrs were the pre-match fancy and they certainly justified that tag of favouritism.

In these type of games, a good start is always required for the team considered to be the outsider, Douglas in this case but they found themselves on the back foot from the off.

The Barrs had constructed an advantage of 1-14 to 0-5 by the interval and it was fair to say that the game as a meaningful contest was as good as over at that juncture. The winning margin at the end for the team from Togher was nine points and there was no dissenting voice at that outcome.

OUTSTANDING

If there had been a Man of the Match accolade, the debate would not have lasted very long and the unanimous choice would have been the outstanding William Buckley from the Barrs with a haul of seven points from play, some of them sublimely executed.

Ben Cunningham had a fine 11 points attached to his game at the end and Jack Cahalane would have been happy with his 1-2. The Kingston brothers, Shane and Conor put a dozen points between them on the board for Douglas and both worked their socks off.

A big mention too for Douglas goalkeeper, Donal Maher, who made a quartet of excellent saves, illustrating again that he is one of the best club goalies on the scene.

There was a lot of focus on the Glen and their return to the top table of Cork club hurling after their year on the outside looking in.And they endured no great difficulties in seeing off the challenge of Erin's Own in Saturday night's opener.

The margin between the sides at the end was seven points but there was never any danger to the Blackpool unit against an Erin's Own side that contained a lot of changes from previous campaigns.

Some of their great warriors from yesteryear are no longer involved and it could be stated that this is a period of transition in Caherlag. They battled all the way with Robbie O'Flynn to the forefront with a return of six points while one of the club's great servants, Eoghan Murphy, could not be faulted by raising three white flags.

The Glen will be delighted to have got off to a very positive start and if it wasn't a game for the memory bank, the performance suggested that this outfit are definitely back in business.

Patrick Horgan put the huge disappointment of Croke Park behind him and he converted some beautifully crafted scores.

With the Downey brothers, Eoin and Rob and newcomer Michael Mullins on his championship debut in the ranks and Dean Brosnan to return there's no reason why this Glen squad should not be involved at the business end of the campaign.

It was an opening weekend of no real shocks and Sarsfields certainly created their own headlines with a very emphatic and impressive win over Fr O'Neill's.

Sars are hell bent on getting their hands back on the old cannister again and their second-half display in Carrigtwohill illustrated that they are going to be there or thereabouts in October. There is a fine depth to the squad even if some familiar faces were absent, Aaron Myers being one and there is a winning mentality in Riverstown right now after annexing a third league title on the trot.

Even at this very early stage, Sars and the Glen are on course for the top two places in that group.

Of the three games that were listed for Páirc Uí Rinn, the collision of Midleton and Newtownshandrum was the most interesting of the three.

JOB DONE

Midleton, as expected, got the job done and some aspects of their display were encouraging, particularly the opening 30 minutes.

Newtown fought the good fight but the absence of Jamie Coughlan was a considerable blow to their front six. Tim O'Mahony had a fine innings from the placed ball and there was an over-reliance on him but to be truthful, Midleton always looked to be in control.

Conor Lehane posted some quality points, Cormac Beausang, David Cremin and Alex Quirke did likewise in a display that was well sufficient unto the day.

The Magpies management will have been well satisfied to have got past a side that, whilst in transition too, never wave the white flag of surrender.

The Rockies are up and running too after seeing off the gritty challenge of a Kanturk side that can make life difficult at times for the best of opponents. Ten different players contributed on the scoresheet in Mourneabbey and for starters the city side did a nice bit of business.

For some clubs, the pressure has been eased after this opening weekend, for others it has certainly intensified in advance of their next