Cork Hurling: John Horgan on the teams to beat in Senior A and Premier Intermediate

It would be fair to state that the final round of group games in the Cork County Senior A Hurling Championship had more intrigue attached to it than the Premier Senior grade.

At Premier, most of the issues across the three groups had been sorted. Blackrock, Sarsfields, the Glen and Charleville had already booked their place in the knockout stage.

However, in the Senior A competition, there was less certainty as to who would have their season extended and that certainly was the case in Group 1 which featured Carrigtwohill, Fermoy, Killeagh and Na Piarsaigh.

The Farranree team were in a far more precarious position than the other three, pointless from their opening two games and facing the prospect of being involved in the game to decide who would take the dreaded drop. It must have been a big worry in the Na Piarsaigh camp, another relegation would have been disastrous for the club, dropping from the top flight to Premier Intermediate in a very short space of time.

Northside clubs, apart from the Glen, who themselves lost their Premier status only to bounce back immediately and subsequently become a force again, have not been faring well across the grades and another relegation would have been a big blow for the region as a whole.

But, thankfully, it did not come to pass and not only did Na Piarsaigh survive, they qualified for the knockout stage of the Senior A as a result of a hugely important victory over Fermoy.

In most circumstances, two points from three games would not have been sufficient to achieve that feat but with Killeagh failing to defeat Fermoy, Na Piarsaigh got through on a superior points differential.

The pressure must have been huge on them in advance of that win over Fermoy but they deserve immense credit for being in the position to extricate themselves from that very dire situation.

For Cork hurling in general, this was a significant result. 

Piarsaighs are one of Cork's great clubs with hugely dedicated people giving so much over the years.

They are probably outsiders in the overall scheme of things as far as winning the competition goes and thus returning to the top flight but they have survived the very precarious situation that they were in and now given themselves an opportunity for further progress.

Cork hurling needs a strong northside and Na Piarsaigh may well have laid down a more solid foundation for better days ahead.

Some of Cork's finest down the years have worn that famed club jersey and this is a club that has given so much.

They'll probably be underdogs against Blarney in the quarter-final but this is a sort of local derby and who knows.

From where they were before that game against Fermoy, they are now in bonus territory and the true grit and determination that they had to exhibit in that encounter will have lifted the spirits of everyone associated with the club.

The story from this Senior A championship is starkly contrasting for Bishopstown who are now faced with another relegation showdown with Courcey Rovers, their second such battle in two seasons.

They have lost all three games in Group 2 of the grade and unless they can overcome Courceys in that relegation play-off they'll be playing Premier Intermediate hurling next season. Certainly worrying times in a club that lost by just two points in the top-tier senior final of 2012.

This Senior A championship and who will emerge victorious is far more difficult to predict than its premier counterpart.

Two East Cork teams, Carrigtwohill and Castlelyons, are safely berthed in the semi-finals but with Bride Rovers and Blarney among others still in the equation, it's a competition where the only certainty is the uncertainty.

This observer went to have a look at Castlelyons against Inniscarra last weekend and this was one of those games of two halves. Inniscarra had a seven-point advantage at the break and were the better team at that juncture but thereafter Castlelyons reinvented themselves to win a fine game of hurling.

There's a very experienced dimension to this Castlelyons side from goalkeeper Jack Barry out, with his brother Colm fronting him. The Spillanes, Colm and Anthony, Alan Fenton and, of course, Niall O'Leary provide a very solid base and they'll believe that they can go further than last season's semi-final.

WIDE OPEN

In truth, all the remaining contenders in this Senior A championship will believe that they can lift the trophy. In a nutshell, it's a wide-open competition and that adds to the intrigue.

Things were sorted too last weekend in the Premier Intermediate grade and one of the most impressive returns came from Ballincollig in a group that had all four teams on two points going into the final game: Ballincollig, Ballinhassig, Castlemartyr and Kilworth.

Ballincollig, however, produced the fireworks to resoundingly see off the challenge of Castlemartyr, a team that contested the final and were desperately unlucky to lose to Inniscarra three years ago.

Ronan Curran, it seems, is getting the best out of this Ballincollig team and they'll be in confident mood facing into a quarter-final clash with Carrigaline, who knocked them out in last year's semi.

In stark contrast, Castlemartyr are facing a relegation decider against Mallow, a contest that will be fraught with tension.

Not for the first time, this Premier Intermediate competition is almost impossible to even try to predict the outright winner. That's the way it has been since its inception.

One of the remaining sides that have impressed this observer is Dungourney, who have young Jack Leahy in sublime scoring form. 

He will surely figure in Ben O'Connor's first Cork senior hurling squad.

Carrigaline, under that great warrior manager Eddie Murphy, will be hoping to prove that the old theory that you have to lose a final to win one rings true and Cloyne will be delighted to be back chasing honours again.

TOUGHEST

Valley Rovers and Ballinhassig are always teak-tough opponents for whoever they encounter and let there be no doubt about it, this grade of hurling is probably one of the toughest and most difficult to win.

In the lower intermediate grade, you have three East Cork teams, the second team from Erin's Own, Midleton and Sarsfields vying for honours, another illustration of the strength of the game in that region.

For the second team from a club involved at the business end of that particular grade is a fine achievement for the work going on in those clubs.

However, it's an entirely different scenario in Mayfield and Youghal, both now involved in the relegation decider and facing the prospect of playing premier junior hurling next season.

Both clubs have enjoyed big days in the past, Mayfield having a great day in Croke Park a few years back but it just goes to show that it's a very thin line between success and its opposite.