27 out of 32 senior and premier intermediate clubs still hurling after ten weeks of quality games; Harty Cup draws announced.
It was a weekend for calculators, score differences and nervous glances at league tables as the late-summer sunshine provided the backdrop to a bonanza feast of hurling. With the group stages drawing to a close, permutations seemed to multiply by the hour, leaving players, supporters and pundits alike scrambling to work out who was safe, who was through and who was staring into the abyss.
Yet, when the dust finally settled on a whirlwind seven weekends of action spread across roughly ten weeks, one remarkable statistic stood out above all else: only five clubs out of 32 are actually finished hurling for the year. Just five.
After a relentless programme of divisional clashes and county championship round-robin action across the senior and Premier Intermediate grades, only five sets of camáns have been put away for the winter. The rest remain locked in battle, with silverware, survival and championship dreams still hanging in the balance.
And when all the heaving, shoving and number-crunching was finally done, the senior championship picture began to emerge.
Thurles Sarsfields, Moycarkey-Borris, Cashel King Cormacs and JK Bracken’s have earned the luxury of a direct route to the FBD Insurance County Senior Hurling Championship quarter-finals. Each won all three of their group games, each has impressed, and each has deservedly sidestepped the danger and drama of the preliminary quarter-finals.
Curiously, however, none of those four sides currently carries the favourites’ tag for the Dan Breen Cup. That distinction still appears to rest somewhere between Holycross-Ballycahill and Loughmore-Castleiney.
Loughmore-Castleiney are definitely heading for the preliminary quarter-finals, while Holycross-Ballycahill may yet join them depending on how the draw falls. Holycross produced a magnificent second-half surge against Upperchurch-Drombane to secure their second victory of the campaign, rescuing their championship momentum while consigning the newly promoted ‘Church to the white heat of the relegation battle.
Loughmore-Castleiney, meanwhile, were equally impressive against Clonoulty-Rossmore. There was an intriguing twist to their set-up, with Noel McGrath deployed at centre-back and brother Brian pushed into a more advanced role, operating closer to John, who was in sparkling form. The positional switches raised eyebrows, but they worked a treat. Loughmore looked sharp, composed and dangerous as they powered past Clonoulty-Rossmore, sending the West champions hurtling towards the relegation battle — unless, of course, they can somehow turn the entire championship on its head and march all the way to Dan Breen Cup glory. That is the delicious complexity of the situation.
The group runners-up are Holycross-Ballycahill, Borris-Ileigh, Kiladangan and Nenagh Éire Óg, and the preliminary quarter-final draw promises to be a fascinating one. Holycross, Kiladangan or Nenagh Éire Óg could find themselves paired with either Loughmore-Castleiney or Clonoulty-Rossmore. You can be certain that draw will be watched with more than a little interest.
At the other end of the table, the relegation battle is shaping up to be every bit as compelling. Upperchurch-Drombane are there despite playing some superb hurling in patches throughout the campaign and will still wonder how they failed to get over the line against Kilruane MacDonagh’s. Roscrea, meanwhile, were agonisingly denied by Drom-Inch in Round 2, while Toomevara — county senior finalists as recently as two seasons ago — now find themselves dragged into a fight for survival. Clonoulty-Rossmore complete the current line-up, unless their championship adventure takes an extraordinary turn and they go on to win the Dan Breen Cup outright.
And therein lies another twist. The relegation series cannot begin until Clonoulty-Rossmore’s involvement in the championship finally comes to an end — whether that is in the preliminary quarter-finals, the quarter-finals, the semi-finals or, remarkably, the final itself. Should they make it all the way to Tipperary hurling’s biggest day, the other three relegation candidates could be left kicking their heels until October. Hardly an ideal scenario.
The margins have been razor-thin throughout. Toomevara finished level on points with Mullinahone in their group, but the South side’s scoring tally — 70 scores for compared to Toomevara’s 59 — proved decisive and allowed Mullinahone to escape.That is how fine the dividing lines have been.
The battle for survival will be just as fierce in the Premier Intermediate Championship, where Carrick Swans, county finalists in each of the past two seasons, find themselves in deeply unfamiliar territory. They are facing the prospect of a relegation fight alongside Templederry, Ballina and Silvermines — unless, just like Clonoulty-Rossmore in the senior grade, they can somehow turn their fortunes around and win the championship outright.
At the top end of the Premier Intermediate championship, Moyne-Templetuohy, buoyed by the return of Gearoid O’Connor, have topped their group, alongside Killenaule, Lorrha and Golden-Kilfeacle.
The runners-up are Sean Treacy’s, St Mary’s, Moneygall & Boherlahan-Dualla.
The preliminary quarter-final picture is beginning to sharpen, with Éire Óg Annacarty, Sarsfields and Silvermines set to face either Sean Treacy’s, Moneygall or Boherlahan-Dualla. There is still plenty to be decided, and with Gortnahoe-Glengoole already gone from the championship — joined by the shock absence of Carrick Swans from the knockout picture — the closing stages promise to be unpredictable and fiercely contested. This is as open a championship as there has been for a few years.
For those clubs whose championship is already over, there is a strange mixture of emotions. There is, naturally, a degree of relief. No relegation battle. No more weekends spent staring at fixtures and calculating survival scenarios. The camáns can, at last, be put down.
But that relief is inevitably accompanied by disappointment. The season is over, the championship dream is gone and everyone else marches on. This championship has already delivered drama, tension, high-quality hurling and meaningful games almost every weekend. Despite the low number of eliminations, there has been little dead rubber fare and precious little room for complacency. The calculators may have been working overtime, but the hurling has done the real talking. And with the knockout stages now looming, the sense is that the best — and perhaps the wildest — is still to come.
Four Tipp schools in Harty Cup groups
With the schools heading back to the classrooms this week, there will be a returned focus on colleges hurling. And, the Dr Harty Cup draw tops all other competitions as far as the Premier County is concerned withTipperary having an interest in three of the four groups. Cashel Community School and Thurles CBS are in the same group 1; holders Nenagh CBS are in Group 2; Our Lady’s, Templemore are in Group 3; and we have no representatives in Group 4. So, four Tipperary schools – quite a representation indeed – and something for new Tipperary U20 Manager James Woodlock to keep a close eye on
Of course we have further representation across all the other schools competitions as well and as they begin the work with their teams, acknowledgement should be given to the many teachers who will give of their free time to look after the teams throughout the school year. There is more and more involved each year, so take a bow in advance, one and all.