Premier SHC: No such as thing as good bye - yet, anyway

The scheduling of the Cork county championships means that, come September and October, each code is largely on a fortnightly footing.

For dual clubs still involved in both, the week-on-week action can provide momentum as a win in one gives a bounce in the other; equally, if they are eliminated in one, they can benefit from the greater preparation time in the other.

But, of course, there can be such a thing as too much time on the training field, dulling the competitive instincts when the real action comes around – all the more so against a team hopping off the ground after a morale-boosting win in the interim.

Such is the scenario facing the teams who have enjoyed such good results in the group stage that they bypass the quarter-finals and get a bye straight to the semis. Come back after the four-week gap and win to get to the final and the rest did them good against weary opposition; lose and they were rusty against a side primed and ready.

Obviously, there is an ocean of nuance between those two extreme narrative angles, but how do the statistics bear out in the modern era?

In the Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC, we have five years’ worth to go on – in the other grades, two teams advance directly to the last four but in the top flight, the presence of a division or college in the quarter-finals means there is just one golden ticket available.

In 2020, the first year of the new system, Glen Rovers were the team to have the best group-stage record. In the semis, they took on an Erin’s Own side that had beaten Sarsfields, with the Glen winning and going so close in the final, only losing to Blackrock after extra time.

A year later, the boot was on the other foot for the Glen – they were the quarter-final winners advancing to meet a Sarsfields side that had advanced directly to the semis but the outcome was the same as the Blackpool side made the decider, though they would again suffer defeat, this time to Midleton.

Erin’s Own were the team to receive the semi-final bye in 2022 but, like their neighbours a year previously, they lost out. Blackrock were in the Glen role, making to the final by beating the side with the bye only to be beaten there, by St Finbarr’s.

Another new name progressed directly in 2023 – Midleton were the side in question and they at least ended the losing run of the bye teams as they dethroned champions St Finbar’s but in turn they fell to Sarsfields in the final.

And then, in 2024, Sars carried the feelgood factor from the previous year as they blitzed through their group to claim top seeding. In the semis, they repeated the 2023 final as they beat Midleton – but again there was defeat at the last stage, to Imokilly.

So, while the teams with the byes have won three out of five semi-finals, none of them have gone on to win the Seán Óg Murphy Cup – and neither have the teams that have beaten the teams with the byes.

It’s a record that Blackrock, or Midleton, will look to change.