The Ciarán Joyce conundrum: How do Castlemartyr get the most out of their main man?

It is a problem most clubs would happily accept, but a problem nonetheless.

For a Premier Intermediate hurling team, having a player of Ciarán Joyce’s calibre in your ranks is an obvious advantage.

But it also brings with it a question that is not easily answered. How do you extract the maximum influence from a player who can shape a game from almost anywhere on the pitch?

There are options, each arriving with their own compromise.

Assign him the role of man-marker and remove an opponent’s key threat, but risk muting his wider impact on proceedings. Push him to midfield, he’ll give you legs and presence. Deploy him in attack to generate scores and create chances. Or, leave him where he has made his name, the beating heart of the defence at centre-back.

It is a balancing act that Castlemartyr joint-manager Donal Burke will be tasked with trying to get right this season, because their success will hinge on it.

“In the Ballinhassig game last year, we made a decision to put him up front,” Burke begins. “And on the day in general it worked, I thought he'd done well.

“He played well, got a couple of scores and won a lot of frees off of his opponents. For me, with the year going forward, he's a centre-back. He's a centre-back for Cork and he just really has to mind his own house.

INVOLVE

“But we'll have to play it through him and involve him in the game a bit more,” he says. “Sometimes the game can pass him by, so it's up to us really to try and figure out a plan, but it's difficult with an inter-county player.” 

Difficult, too, because Joyce’s presence is not exactly a secret. No matter where Castlemartyr station him, opposing teams will be making their game plans with him in mind.

“Everybody kind of has a focus on him,” Burke explains. “And it's the same for other teams as well, it'll be the same for Lisgoold now with Duds Healy, we’ll be focussing in on those players, and maybe Dungourney with Jack Leahy.

I would imagine he'll be playing in the centre-back position. 

"Unless, we decide to go down a man-marking route with some players again – which is not beyond the bounds of possibility – especially with some of the quality teams that we're playing.

“We'd have to close them down to some degree.” 

How Castlemartyr navigate those decisions will go a long way towards deciding how their 2026 championship pans out. The immediate target will of course be to emerge from a competitive group, packed with east Cork teams.

In an effort to reshuffle the management ticket and get a little more out of the group, Burke will share managerial duties with James Barry for this coming season.

“It was purely that I'd be very much a player-focused manager and it was felt that James [Barry] would come in and I would just assist a little bit more and with the pitch stuff,” Burke outlines. “We have Eoin Cashman as our coach so I'll be doing some of the coaching with Eoin as well on the pitch this year, which is slightly different from last year.

“We just need to freshen up a little bit now, especially with the challenges that we have ahead, we need to really focus in on us and try and get the most out of our sessions.”