Cork SAHC permutations - Blarney must beat Courceys to stay on track

Across five editions of the Co-op SuperStores SAHC since its inception at the end of 2019, there have been just three beaten finalists.

In 2020, Fr O’Neill’s lost to Charleville and then made it back to the decider the next year, beaten by Kanturk. The Ballymacoda/Ladysbridge outfit reached the decider again in 2022 and made it third time lucky, beating Courcey Rovers to ascend to the top tier for the first time.

While the Ballinspittle/Ballinadee club have not managed to reach the knockout stages in the two years since, the mantle has been taken up by Blarney. In 2023, they lost to Newcestown after a replay and then last year fell to a Glen Rovers side that was ultra-keen to make their stay in the second stratum as short as possible following relegation the year before.

If Blarney are to emulate Fr O’Neill’s in trying to achieve success at the third time of asking, they will first need to qualify from their group – to do that, they must overcome the only other team in the grade to have reached its final, Courceys.

The senior A group stage culminates with six games on Saturday evening, all with 6.30pm throw-in times. After an opening-round Group 3 defeat to Bride Rovers, Blarney responded positively with a good victory over Watergrasshill three weeks ago.

Another win, against Courceys in Newcestown, will be enough to advance as long as the Hill don’t triumph against Bride Rovers in Ballynoe. Should Rovers make it three from three, Courceys could still qualify, though they would need to beat Blarney by at least 13 points to secure second place on scoring difference.

Group 1 has a largely similar scenario, with Carrigtwohill sitting on four points after two games as they prepare to take on fellow east Cork side Killeagh in Aghavine.

A win or a draw guarantees Carrig top spot in the group, with an automatic semi-final spot a possibility if they were to bump up their scoring difference; a defeat would make matters less certain but it would need to be by at least nine points as well as requiring a big Fermoy win over Na Piarsaigh.

Were Piarsaigh to win that game in Lisgoold, then there would be hope for them as long as Carrigtwohill beat Killeagh. The current state of affairs – scoring difference of minus-3 for Killeagh, minus-4 for Fermoy and minus-7 for Piarsaigh – means any of the three could progress if that situation arose.

The remaining section, Group 2, has little in the way of the unknown, however. Castlelyons and Inniscarra have both beaten Ballyhea and Bishopstown, meaning that Sunday’s clash between the top two in Páirc Uí Rinn will serve to decide the placings, which in turn will determine how the knockout draws play out.

By contrast, the meeting between the Town, who were relegated from premier senior last year, and Ballyhea in Buttevant is effectively a relegation play-off semi-final as the losers are almost certain to be battling to preserve their status.