John Horgan picks the best club hurling games to attend in Cork this weekend

There should be plenty of appetite for hurling across the county this weekend after a three-week break that provided all teams with an opportunity to reflect on what had transpired for them in the opening two championship games at the group stage of the competition.

A number of clubs across the grades have already secured their spot in the quarter-final, the only issue to be resolved is which of them will avoid a potentially very tricky quarter-final assignment and instead march straight into the last four.

In the Premier Senior championship, Sarsfields, Glen Rovers and the Rockies are safe in the knowledge that their hurling summer has already been extended, irrespective of how they fare in the third and final game of the group stage.

Without ever reaching any great heights, defending champions Imokilly secured their place too in the quarter-final as a result of seeing off a brave enough challenge from Muskerry in the final of the divisions/colleges section.

The same two sides collided in last season's final when the East Cork team blitzed the Mid Corkmen but credit where it's due, Muskerry put up a far more formidable challenge this time before the inevitable came to pass in the final 20 minutes and Denis Ring's team ran out comfortable winners in the end of a game that, for the most part, was mundane.

On the evidence presented at Pairc Ui Rinn last Sunday night, the Imokilly management under Ring will demand a much better showing the next day.

But they are where they want to be and not too many clubs will be relish coming up against them in the knockout phase of the competition.

But that's for another day and the importance of the games that will take place next Sunday afternoon cannot be emphasised enough.

Yes, the pressure is off to some extent where the aforementioned trio of Sars, the Glen and Rockies are concerned but for the rest it's all going to be on the line.

One game that will carry huge pressure is the East Cork clash between Erin's Own and Fr O'Neill's, both pointless after the opening two games and with the threat of relegation for whoever loses this game looming very large, it's going to be a game fraught with tension.

One thing is a certainty, the loser will be in that dreaded relegation decider when the stakes will be twice as high as they going to be in Killeagh on Sunday.

Newtownshandrum are in a similarly very difficult situation, again pointless after their two games and a loss to Newcestown will have them coming out of the opposing dressing room in that relegation final. And they are facing a Newcestown team that deservedly bagged a precious point against Midleton and as a result are not out of the equation as far as qualification from the group is concerned.

The Barrs find themselves in a tricky enough situation after their loss to the Rockies in round two and they will be very aware that a vast improvement will be necessary if they are going to come out on the right side of matters against Kanturk.

Kanturk themselves are not out of the equation either which all adds up to quite a lot of tension around the grounds that are hosting these games.

The Rockies tackle near neighbours Douglas and they have designs on going straight through to the semi-finals with full points thus far.

The likelihood is that semi-final place as things stand rests between the Church Road team and Sars. Nothing is set in stone yet and points difference will decide that issue if both get past the challenge from Douglas and the Glen respectively.

Again that's a wait-and-see situation.

The new Cork management is now in place under the stewardship of Ben O'Connor. Their tenure begins over the weekend when they will most likely be keeping close tabs on how everything pans out and what players might be first in with regard to catching their eye.

There will be a hope too that the fare on offer over the weekend will go up a notch or two on what we have witnessed already but that may not be possible with some of the tension that will be contained in quite a few games across the grades.

For the club players who will on the teams that don't make it through to the knockout stage and who are not involved in the various relegation deciders it will be their final game of the year and they will not be involved again in championship hurling until next August.

Yes, the leagues in the county will provide them with plenty of activity in the earlier months of next season but no championship hurling for the bones of 10 or 11 months is difficult to get one's head around.

The weekend ahead of us is one of those when you wish you could be in a couple of places at the same time.

That's not possible, of course, but if it were, these are the games this observer would choose to attend.

At Premier Senior level, Sars and the Glen should be very interesting as regards first and second in that group.

Newtown and Newcestown has the potential to be one of those games that will contain huge endeavour, two rural clubs going into battle with the stakes very high.

Obviously, the Fr O'Neill's v Erin's Own clash is of huge importance for the reasons outlined above and any East Cork derby carries great relevance, in this instance more than ever.

DERBY

In Senior A, it's another East Cork derby featuring very near neighbours, Bride Rovers and Watergrasshill and that is a must for those domiciled in that part of the county.

Then you have yet another Imokilly battle for the bragging rights involving Carrigtwohill and Killeagh, a must-win game for Killeagh in their endeavours to keep the show on the road.

The two Premier intermediate games involving Castlemartyr against Ballincollig and Ballinhassig Kilworth are huge in their own right. The situation is very simple here, both winners will be extending their season, the losers going home empty-handed.

It's becoming a bit of a cliche now to state that there's something for everybody in the audience this weekend.

Finally, this column likes to keep abreast of what's going on in other counties and tuning into Clubber last Sunday, we had late, late drama in the two semi-finals in Waterford.

Austin Gleeson exhibited his class when he almost single-handedly dragged Mount Sion over the line against Roanmore and Dessie Hutchinson's brace of late goals kept Ballygunner's remarkable run of success in the county alive for another week.

Gleeson's equalising point in stoppage time and his assist for the winner were a joy to watch for Mount Sion while Hutchinson delivered when the need was at its greatest for the Gunners.

It was compelling stuff to view from the couch.

Sunday's decider is another game we'll be monitoring very closely.