John Horgan on hurling: Young guns get their chance on new-look Cork panel

Apart from being crowned Premier Senior champions, the second tier, the Senior A championship probably carries the biggest prize on the Cork hurling championship front.

Yes, of course, all the grades, all five of them are of huge significance for the team that emerges as champions, being elevated to a higher grade for the following season but it’s every club’s ultimate ambition to play at the highest level.

And participation in the Senior A championship provides that opportunity for the club that ends up on top of the pile, it’s the realisation of everything that they strive towards.

Bride Rovers and Castlelyons were the last two still standing when all was said and done in that quest. They still are after last Saturday’s final at a bitterly cold SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh failed to provide a resolution.

In fact, this final is turning into a bit of a saga where both teams are concerned and following an earlier postponement because of inclement weather and the draw a couple of nights ago, it all means that for a third week on the trot, they are preparing for a county final.

Their season has been extended and we are still no nearer to discovering who will replace Erin’s Own at the top table of Cork hurling.

COMPELLING

No goals were delivered in the drawn encounter, it wasn’t a classic, but it was compelling fare all the same for the most part and to fair, both teams probably deserve another shot at becoming a Premier senior club on Leeside.

The stakes are always high in a county final irrespective of the status of the grade involved but when you have two very close neighbours contesting for the bragging rights, it become all that bit more important. And where Bride Rovers and Castlelyons are concerned, the neighbourhood rivalry is as close as it gets.

The long winter has been shortened for both clubs, they are hurling now into the month of November and despite the initial postponement and the subsequent draw, they will take that situation with a heart and a half.

But for now, we must reflect on the events of last Saturday night, what team will be more regretful than the other that they didn’t carry home the big prize.

That would probably be Bride Rovers who got off to a far more positive start, putting six points on the board without a reply from Castlelyons, they led throughout and their close neighbours never led throughout the 60-plus minutes.

They were level on just the one occasion, deep into stoppage time when Alan Fenton exhibited nerves of steel to land a monster of a point to tie it all up.

Over the course of the game neither goalkeeper was forced into a save of any great significance and both defences were, for the most part, not found wanting.

It might be right to suggest that both teams were slightly nervous which, of course, was perfectly understandable given what was on the line and at the end of it all both were probably satisfied to have another day out.

Bride Rovers will reflect on not having a more substantial advantage at half-time, all the more so when they had that positive opening nine or 10 minutes when they led by six points but for the next 20 or so they only added three more.

They missed some scoreable frees but the strong wind had to be a factor with both teams going into double figures on the wide count.

The pre-match prediction was that little or nothing would divide them at the finish and that was certainly the case.

When a game has to be replayed it all becomes a case of whoever learns that bit extra from the drawn encounter and no doubt both management teams will take their own learnings. The one thing that we did learn from last Saturday night was that there’s very little between these close neighbours and there should not be either in the replay.

OPTIONS

And, of course, the replay provides the new Cork hurling management with another opportunity to throw their eye over the few players that they might be thinking of in terms of the extended Cork panel.

When a new management team takes the reins, changes to the panel from the previous campaign are inevitable. And it’s only right-and-fitting that they should want to put their own stamp on things.

And have no doubt, from the moment Ben O’Connor was appointed to succeed Pat Ryan, he got down to business immediately along with his brand now selection committee.

They would have been out and about looking at players. Ronan Curran, was team coach of Ballincollig who lost the Premier IHC final to Ballinhassig and he would have taken note of the players he came across on that journey.

Right up to the final of the Premier Senior championship, it would be fair to say that Patrick Horgan and Conor Lehane remained two of the most conspicuous forwards in that grade. Horgan, however, called time on his glittering career in the aftermath of the Glen’s loss to Midleton and Lehane’s season was ended with an injury that he sustained in his side’s county semi-final win over the Rockies.

The injury, as we learned, was going to sideline him for some time which may have contributed to his reported departure from the Cork panel.

Another long-serving member of the Cork set-up, Luke Meade, is gone from the equation too. Always a player who made a contribution, his honest endeavour was there for all to see either as a starter or as a substitute.

There was a lot of experience in that aforementioned trio but time moves on for all players and the torch has to be passed on.

O’Connor will initially be operating with an extended panel, maybe as many as 40 or more and quite a number of those players will likely feature in the returning pre-season competition, the Munster League and the annual Canon O’Brien Cup game.

The squad will be reduced for the start of the NHL and for a lot of players, it will be a case of opportunity knocking in the month of January.

Watergrasshill duo, Daire O’Leary and Sean Desmond are believed to be included in the new management’s initial plans and we are likely to see Kanturk’s Brian O’Sullivan, Dungourney’s Jack Leahy, Sars' Cian Darcy, Killeagh’s Barry Walsh, Newmarket’s Hugh O’Connor and Ballincollig’s Brian Keating among others figuring as well.

Despite the crushing final defeat to Tipperary last July, there is a very solid foundation already in place for the new management. 

There’s no better man than Ben O’Connor to realise that it needs embellishment too.

And his tenure as the successful boss of the 2023 U20 All-Ireland winning team puts him in a very advantageous position to elevate players into senior ranks.

But as we continue to stress, the step-up is considerable but a start must always be made in the reset .