Premier SHC: Where to plant the seeds at quarter-final stage?

The system whereby divisions and colleges can compete in the Cork premier senior championships is often seen as a curiosity outside the county.

For those of us so used to the phenomenon, it’s easy to forget that it is the exception rather than the norm, but, equally, it can be argued quite strongly that it has brought far more benefits than drawbacks.

Thankfully, it appears that any issues around the divisions’ entry affected national rules around top grades not exceeding 16 teams have been dealt with – Cork’s case that the Premier SHC and Premier SFC comprise 12 clubs plus one other was genuine, rather than seeking to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.

The riddle for the county board to then contend with at local level is how best to place the winners of the Denis O’Riordan Cup (hurling) and Tadhg Crowley Cup (football) in the quarter-final stages of the championships proper.

In senior A, premier intermediate, intermediate A and premier junior, the knockout seeding takes care of itself – top two through to semi-finals, then it’s 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 in the quarter-finals, unless that yields a repeat pairing, in which case it becomes 3 v 5 and 4 v 6.

Obviously, the addition of an extra time at premier senior level throws things slightly out of kilter. It means that there is just the one automatic last-four spot and three quarter-finals, with the added question of who the division or college team should play.

On the one hand, their path through to that stage could be said to be less difficult than a club team that has had to play three group games and so it would be unfair to play the lowest seeds; on the other, if they were paired with the highest-ranked club, that could be said to punish rather than reward a team for topping their group and taking the second overall seed.

Since 2020, the mode in Cork has been the former rather than the latter: the quarter-finals are 2 v 5, 3 v 4 and 6 v the divisions/colleges winner. However, if there is a repeat pairing in that mix, it changes to 2 v 4 and 3 v 5 – so the second-ranked team run the risk, through no fault of their own, of having to play the best group runner-up. It might be more equitable in such a scenario to swap the divisional team’s opposition, but we digress.

With five years’ worth of quarter-final results, we can assess how the seeding works for the confederate team joining the clubs at that stage.

In 2020, UCC progressed and beat Na Piarsaigh by 2-20 to 3-11; it remains the only instance of the college side making it out of their section under the new system, with Imokilly the hurling representatives every year since then.

The east Cork side lost to Glen Rovers by a point in 2021; a year later, they drew with Blackrock before the city side won on penalties. Those two tight games have given way to more convincing results the last two years, though – 2023 saw Imokilly beat Douglas by 13 points and then last year they had seven points to spare on Fr O’Neill’s in Midleton.

This weekend sees them back in Clonmult Memorial Park, taking on St Finbarr’s with a semi-final place up for grabs. The Togher side are perhaps unfortunate to have drawn the short straw, their scoring difference of +3 falling short of Glen Rovers’ +6 and Charleville’s +11; equally, you can be sure that Imokilly aren’t doing cartwheels at the prospect of facing the Barrs.

Which probably goes to show that the structure of the draw is well-pitched – and whoever wins will be carrying plenty of momentum into a semi-final.