Avondhu join Duhallow in withdrawing from PSHC
Avondhu's Liam Óg Hegarty tries to get past Ronan Heffernan of Duhallow last year - both divisions have withdrawn from this year's championship without playing a game. Picture: Larry Cummins
And then there were three.
While the initial expectation was that five sides would take part in the unseeded first phase of the Co-op SuperStores Divisions and Colleges Hurling Championship, Avondhu have joined Duhallow in being forced to withdraw from the competition.
At the outset of the campaign, the draw for the first set of games pitted Avondhu against a Seandún side returning to hurling action for the first time since 2021, with Duhallow down to play Muskerry.
It was confirmed at last Tuesday night’s monthly Cork County Board meeting that Duhallow would not be able to fulfil their fixture, the result of which meant that Muskerry advanced directly to the seeded section, where UCC and Imokilly enter the competition.
Then, late on Monday night this week, Avondhu had to conceded a walkover to Seandún. The city side will now take on Carbery next week, with the winners of that match playing Muskerry at the start of August in a semi-final tie while Imokilly battle with UCC on the other side.
The winners of those two games will meet in the final, with the triumphant side earning the Denis O’Riordan Cup and a place in the quarter-finals of the competition proper.
Avondhu’s withdrawal will strike a note of concern in terms of the longer-term viability of divisional side as the north Cork team had developed well in the last half-decade.
While they did not participate in the Covid-19-affected seasons of 2020 and 2021, they were back in action in 2022 and beat Carbery, Muskerry, Duhallow and Avondhu to reach the divisions/colleges final.
There, they lost by 15 points against a rampant Imokilly team but a year later, having overcome the same four sides to get to the decider, they were only beaten by five points, 0-25 to 0-20.
That was the highest point of their progress – in 2024, they had a bye to the second phase and were drawn against Imokilly at the semi-final stage, beaten by 5-24 to 0-12. Last year, Avondhu beat Carbery and Duhallow in the unseeded first phase to progress to the second part of the competition, but again a semi-final with Imokilly was their fate and the East Cork side won by 2-32 to 1-17.
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