Castlemartyr the latest victims of the unforgiving Premier Intermediate HC

A season that ends in a relegation play-off after just three group games will almost always be framed as a failure. That much is unavoidable.

And yet, when Castlemartyr’s 2025 is examined in full, the picture is not nearly as bleak as the bare outcome would suggest.

That is where the Premier Intermediate Championship complicates the verdict. There is no grade in Cork that punishes a slip-up quite as ruthlessly as the PIHC.

The east Cork side finished with one group-stage win, but, it came against Ballinhassig, the eventual champions.

It would prove to be Ballinhassig’s only defeat of the campaign. The other side to emerge from that group, Ballincollig, also marched all the way to the final.

The consequences of finishing third were also severe. Kilworth, who exited alongside Castlemartyr, had been finalists in 2023 and ended up contesting a relegation play-off the following year.

In a grade shaped by such miniscule differences, there was little room for error. Excuse the overused cliché, but it feels unavoidable here.

Fine margins.

Nonetheless, it was a disappointing outcome for Donal Burke, who will share the managerial role with James Barry in 2026.

“I suppose just going back to last year, we were disappointed with two performances,” Burke begins. “That would have been Kilworth and obviously hugely disappointed with the Ballincollig performance.

“The first day out, Barry Lawton's injury was a factor below in Youghal against Kilworth. But Kilworth were the much better team on the day. They were hungrier, they wanted it more than us.

The Ballincollig game then we just, I felt after ten minutes we were never going to win the game.

“We were just hugely disappointing. We played well against Ballinhassig, and results didn't go our way then it was so tight marginally. We ended up in the relegation final against Mallow and those things take a life of their own.

“In fairness, we stood up on the day and played probably played our best game of hurling for the whole year, I would imagine.” 

While last year’s group carried the feel of a ‘group of death’, Castlemartyr’s task in 2026 is hardly any lighter. This time though, quality isn’t the defining factor, but instead, the 43km from Castlemartyr through to Cloyne, Lisgoold and finishing in Dungourney.

And in Burke’s view, simply escaping the group will represent a huge achievement.

“It's going to be no different for the year coming, especially with all these east Cork derbies,” he remarks. “I’m not saying this now to be political, but after being in the relegation playoff last year, I'd say we'd have to consider ourselves at number four in that group now.

I don't think we'll be favourites, certainly not against Dungourney and Cloyne, because they've progressed a lot more than us.

“But it's going to take on a life of its own, it's like an East Cork Championship now to get into the next round.” 

There will be little in the way of predictability. Good luck picking the top two to come through.

“It's impossible, it's impossible [to call]. They're all exceptionally good teams,” Burke says. “We're probably, and I say this genuinely, I do think we're probably at the back of the pack, but not by much.

“If we can put the performances together, we have the players to do it. But, they've been on the road now a long time a couple of them, and it's not getting easier.

“We’d an involvement with six or seven players with Imokilly last year, and that, from time to time, can be a bit of a distraction as well within the club. On weekends that we’re resting, they're back out playing again, so there's a huge demand on the players.”