Can't bye me love: Premier SHC sides can't convert advantage

Isn’t it amazing how sporting curses only ever seem to be cast on the teams that fall short of ultimate glory over a sustained period?

For instance, when Mayo reached the 1989 All-Ireland SFC final, there was no mention in the media of a curse; similarly, the lead-in to 1996 was devoid of such talk. On the other side of it, surely, given the power of piseogs in Kerry, someone in the Kingdom could have placed a hex on Dublin to stop them winning six All-Ireland football titles in a row?

Essentially, the curse is the last refuge for those who can’t otherwise make sense of a sequence of results. If the outcome remains the same over a prolonged period, it must be supernatural.

Is six years too short a time to invoke a curse? Or can we find a more plausible explanation for the fact that the team earning the bye to the semi-finals of the Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC has yet to go on to win the title?

In each of the other grades, at least one team has managed to regain enough momentum after bypassing the quarter-finals to finish up with the silverware; of course they have twice the opportunity as there are two byes compared to just one in the top tier due to the fact that a division or college comes in at the quarter-final stage.

Of course, the irony is that the first year of the new system, 2020, almost saw the top seeds go all the way.Glen Rovers were the team to have the best group-stage record and in the semi-finals they beat Erin’s Own before going to extra time against Blackrock in the final.

A year later, the boot was on the other foot for the Glen – they were the quarter-final winners advancing to meet a Sarsfields side that had advanced directly to the semis but the outcome was the same as the Blackpool side made the decider, though they would again suffer defeat, this time to Midleton.

Erin’s Own were the team to receive the semi-final bye in 2022 but, like their neighbours a year previously, they lost out to Blackrock, who were then defeated by St Finbarr’s in the decider.

Another new name progressed directly in 2023 – Midleton were the side in question and they at least ended the losing run of the bye teams as they dethroned champions St Finbarr’s but in turn they fell to Sarsfields in the final.

And then, in 2024, Sars carried the feelgood factor from the previous year as they blitzed through their group to claim top seeding. In the semis, they repeated the 2023 final as they beat Midleton – but again there was defeat at the last stage, to Imokilly.

Last year, Blackrock avoided the quarter-finals but could not rediscover the form that got them there as they lost to Midleton in the semis. The Magpies’ second final loss to Sars in three seasons meant another quirk – the team beating the side with the bye have never lifted the Seán Óg Murphy Cup either.

It may be entirely random, there may be some science around the four-week break halting a gallop; but it will be a statistic until it is not.

On Sunday, it will be the Magpies seeking to show that the longer gap between games was a benefit and not a hindrance – both they and their opponents, the Glen, will be keen to end the ‘curse’.

RESULTS OF TEAMS WHO CLAIMED PREMIER SHC BYES

2020: Glen Rovers beat Erin’s Own in semi-final, lost to Blackrock in final; 2021: Sarsfields lost to Glen Rovers in semi-final; 2022: Erin’s Own lost to Blackrock in semi-final; 2023: Midleton beat St Finbarr’s in semi-final, lost to Sarsfields in final; 2024: Sarsfields beat Midleton in semi-final, lost to Imokilly in final; 2025: Blackrock lost to Midleton.