Munster Senior Cup offers Cork sides a chance to build momentum for new season 

Opening night in the League of Ireland First Division is set for February, with January put aside for rehearsals and previews.

This time of year is usually reserved for smaller venues, away from the bright lights of Turner's Cross and St Colman's Park, where there's room to breathe and actually understand the coach’s vision.

In this case, there’s preseason friendlies and the Munster Senior Cup, which offers competitive action without the week to week pressures of league football. 

This is invaluable for the five professional sides in the tournament, as they take on intermediate teams like College Corinthians, Midleton, and Ringmahon Rangers.

For Cork City and Cobh Ramblers, along with Colin Healy's Kerry FC, this the closest they will get to an actual dress rehearsal before Opening Day on February 13th.

The Munster Senior Cup will allow the clubs room to experiment, before they step onto main stage in front of big crowds and the critics.

This is the tournament’s real place in the football ecosystem, as it runs through preseason and into the spring, with the final often taking place in May or June.

It also represents possibility. That itself can take on a life of its own, as it injects genuine excitement into some of the coldest months of the year.

Cork City know this, it’s what happened through January and February 2017 as the then FAI Cup winners returned to action with victories over St Mary's and Blarney United in the Munster Senior Cup.

The Rebel Army repeated the trick in 2018, and in 2023 they got ready for a return to the Premier Division by qualifying for the final by defeating Waterford FC at Ozier Park.

Cobh Ramblers felt a similar buzz three years ago under Shane Keegan, after spending the winter clamouring for a return to the pitch after making eye catching signings like the acquisition of Jack Doherty from Wexford FC and Wilson Waweru on loan from Galway United.

The club progressed through to the final, with days out at St Colman’s Park and Jackman Park heightening the feel good factor around the club as promotion push came together under Keegan.

The Ramblers repeated the trick last year after investing heavily into the squad over the offseason. 

The new additions announced their arrivals with a madcap 4-3 extra-time victory over Kerry at Mounthawk Park and a stunning defeat of Cork City at a packed St Colman’s Park, with the two results putting supporters into dreamland before an Opening Day meeting with Treaty United in Limerick.

Kerry did something similar just two years ago, by qualifying for their first ever final. 

The Kingdom even stopped Cobh from doing a hat-trick, with their quarter final victory followed by a 4-1 hammering of Treaty United in Tralee. These results went down as a sign of progress for the league newcomer, by creating a positive vibe around the squad.

That feeling can never be underestimated in sport, where off the pitch excitement can have very real consequences during game day.

Especially in the ‘graveyard’ in Irish football, where the goal of sometimes picking yourself off and going again on the back of a bruising and demoralising season in the Premier Division.

Others are picking up the pieces after going so far, and tripping at the final hurdle with just a small bit to go.

Then there’s Kerry FC under Healy, a club that came into the league in 2023 and came alive last year with a historic run to the semi-finals of the FAI Cup. 

The Cork City club legend oversaw everything that went on in Tralee, including a famous come from behind victory over Sligo Rovers at Mounthawk Park, and the coach wants more.

The Kingdom have already brought in Cian Murphy, who got ten goals and six assists last year for Cobh Ramblers. 

Jonas Hakkinen was recruited to give experience to their backline on top of this, and First Division veteran Killian Cantwell from Bray Wanderers.

There’s other teams out there looking to get that feeling going, while Treaty United wait in the wings after reaching last year’s promotion play-off final. 

The Shannonsiders got that far by getting the better of Cobh Ramblers, with the decisive leg of the two legged affair taking place at St Colman’s Park.

All they have at the moment is the Munster Senior Cup, just like Cork City and Cobh Ramblers.

The tournament might mean very little when measured against the league title and FAI Cup, but it has the power to start something.