Tipperary Intermediate Hurling Power Rankings: 16 Teams Ranked Before the County Quarter-Finals
The group stages are gone. The preliminary quarter-final is gone. Two teams have secured their Intermediate status for 2027, two more are still staring at a relegation final, and eight clubs remain in the hunt for the Michael Maher Cup.
This is also the point where power rankings become more revealing than the championship table.
These are not reward rankings. Simply reaching a quarter-final does not automatically move a team above an eliminated side. We are looking at the entire body of evidence, scoring output, scoring from play, defensive performance, quality of opposition, trends through the championship, individual scorers, knockout form and what the numbers suggest about where each team actually stands right now.
That distinction matters.
Shannon Rovers are already eliminated despite scoring 86 points-equivalent in three group games. Newport are gone despite producing one of the better defensive records in the competition. Carrick Davins remain only 14th despite winning their last two county championship games because the opening two rounds were so poor.
At the other end, Kilsheelan/Kilcash have built numbers that nobody else has been able to touch.
They scored 102 points-equivalent in three group games, an average of exactly 34 per game, and finished with a +39 scoring difference. Portroe were next best on +19. That is not a small statistical edge. It is an enormous one.
The quarter-finals begin today. Ballingarry face Clonakenny in Templetuohy at 2.00pm before Kilsheelan/Kilcash meet Cappawhite in Golden at 4.00pm. Tomorrow, Arravale Rovers play Portroe in Borrisoleigh at 1.30pm while Borrisokane and Skeheenarinky throw in at the same time in Dundrum. Those fixtures have been confirmed by Tipperary GAA.
Eight teams remain.
But all 16 still have a place in our latest rankings.
16. Clonoulty/Rossmore
Previous ranking: 16
The numbers are brutal.
Across their four championship matches, Clonoulty/Rossmore have scored the equivalent of 69 points and conceded 129.
That is an average attacking return of only 17.25 per game, but the bigger problem is the other number.
32.25 conceded per game.
Nobody else in the grade is remotely close to that defensive average.
The group campaign was particularly grim, three defeats, 49 points scored and 108 conceded. Their scoring difference after those three games was minus 59.
Portroe exposed the scale of the problem in Round 3.
Clonoulty/Rossmore were only six points behind at half-time. What followed was extraordinary. Portroe outscored them 2-20 to 0-02 in the second half.
That is not simply losing a game. It is losing control of one.
There was at least a response in the relegation semi-final against Carrick Davins. Clonoulty/Rossmore produced 1-17 and were beaten by only a point, 1-18 to 1-17.
That should matter psychologically before the relegation final.
But it did not change the outcome.
They are still fighting for their Intermediate status.
The personnel have changed throughout the championship as the wider demands on the club have taken their toll, but the numbers cannot be explained away entirely by availability.
Four games.
Four defeats.
A minus-60 cumulative scoring difference.
One match now separates them from relegation.
No team in the grade is under more pressure.
15. Ballybacon/Grange
Previous ranking: 14, down one
There is a strange contrast around Ballybacon/Grange.
For considerable periods of this championship, they looked better than their results.
They were competitive against Moyle Rovers. They made Borrisokane work in Round 3. The return of Paul Cummins gave them a reliable scoring presence that had been missing.
Yet the bottom line is now unavoidable.
They are in another relegation final.
Their championship totals stand at 70 scored and 103 conceded across four matches, an average of 17.5 for and 25.75 against.
Paul Cummins has carried an enormous load.
His championship total has reached 0-31, which accounts for more than 44 per cent of Ballybacon/Grange’s entire scoring output.
That is remarkable individual production, but it also exposes the structural problem.
If Cummins is restricted, where is the 20-plus score going to come from?
Shane Ryan has provided goal threat. Oisín Ryan has contributed. But the attack has remained too dependent on one principal scorer.
Even Brendan Cummins getting on the scoresheet for his first point of the campaign could not rescue them against Holycross/Ballycahill in the relegation semi-final. Holycross/Ballycahill won 2-24 to 1-15 and sent Ballybacon/Grange into the final.
Ballybacon/Grange have developed an almost extraordinary habit of finding themselves in these situations and surviving.
They have one more escape act to produce.
This time, it is Clonoulty/Rossmore.
One game.
One place in the Intermediate Championship for 2027 at stake.
14. Carrick Davins
Previous ranking: 15, up one
No team has produced a more dramatic change in trajectory.
After two rounds Carrick Davins looked finished.
They conceded 6-18 to Shannon Rovers in Round 1.
They followed it by scoring only 0-08 against Clonakenny.
Their combined attacking total after two games was just 1-14, worth 17 points-equivalent.
Then they scored 52 points-equivalent across their next two matches.
Think about that swing.
First two games: 17 points-equivalent.
Next two games: 52.
The first explosion came against Arravale Rovers.
Carrick Davins scored 5-16 and inflicted Arravale’s only group-stage defeat.
There were obvious caveats. Arravale had already qualified, some players were absent and others were being managed.
The question was whether Carrick Davins had genuinely turned a corner or merely taken advantage of a dead rubber.
Their relegation semi-final answered it.
They beat Clonoulty/Rossmore 1-18 to 1-17.
Ray Cooke played a central role, and suddenly the team that appeared in enormous danger after Round 2 had won two championship games in succession and guaranteed its Intermediate status.
Their final record is two wins and two defeats.
Their total scoring numbers, 69 for and 103 against, are still poor.
That is why they remain 14th.
But power rankings are supposed to capture direction as well as the total body of work.
Carrick Davins are travelling in the opposite direction to the two teams beneath them.
Survival achieved.
Season rescued.
13. Holycross/Ballycahill
Previous ranking: 13
For a team promoted from Junior A, the first objective was obvious.
Stay in Intermediate.
Done.
Holycross/Ballycahill’s championship began with an alarming 0-22 to 0-11 defeat against Cappawhite.
There were legitimate questions at that point about whether the step up in grade would prove too large.
Everything thereafter was better.
They produced 4-12 against Skeheenarinky in Round 2, drew the match and suddenly showed a goal threat that had been completely absent in the opener.
Against unbeaten Ballingarry they were competitive again, losing 1-19 to 1-15.
Then came the game that actually mattered to their status.
Holycross/Ballycahill beat Ballybacon/Grange 2-24 to 1-15 in the relegation semi-final.
Their cumulative figures across four matches are now 79 scored and 86 conceded, which is far healthier than their opening performance suggested.
That is an average of 19.75 scored and 21.5 conceded.
More importantly, the trend improved as the stakes increased.
Eoghan Hickey, Luke O’Mara, Jamie Woods and others all contributed meaningful scores through the campaign, rather than the attack being built entirely around one source.
They finish 13th, exactly where they were before the relegation semi-final.
But the meaning of 13th is completely different now.
They are not staring at the trapdoor.
They are safe.
The 2025 Junior A champions will play Intermediate hurling again in 2027.
12. Moyle Rovers
Previous ranking: 12
The disappointment for Moyle Rovers is not simply that they were eliminated.
It is that 2026 looked like a season in which they should have consolidated the progress of the previous two years.
They won the Junior A championship in 2024.
They reached an Intermediate quarter-final in 2025.
This year ended in the group stage.
Moyle Rovers finished with one win from three, 58 points-equivalent scored and 68 conceded.
That works out at just 19.33 scored per match, one of the weaker attacking averages in the championship.
Their opening loss to Borrisokane was not disastrous. Their victory over Ballybacon/Grange kept qualification alive.
Everything came down to Newport in Round 3.
Moyle Rovers lost 1-20 to 0-16.
That seven-point defeat ended the campaign.
Dara Ryan finished as their leading scorer with 1-18, while John Cronin, Anthony Phelan, Daire Luttrell and Rian Quigley all contributed at different stages.
But they never developed the consistent 25-plus-point attack needed to live with the better teams in the grade.
Twelve feels right.
Not a disastrous season.
But certainly a step backwards.
11. Knockavilla-Donaskeigh Kickhams
Previous ranking: 11
This remains one of the great disappointments of the championship.
The 2025 county finalists are gone before the quarter-finals.
And strangely, the overall numbers do not look terrible.
Kickhams scored 80 points-equivalent.
They conceded 79.
A scoring difference of plus one.
Their attacking average of 26.67 per game is actually better than Ballingarry, Borrisokane, Cappawhite and several clubs still in the competition.
Stephen Browne accumulated 0-24 overall and remained one of the most reliable forwards in the grade.
Shane Buckley scored 0-10 from play. Elliott Thompson produced 2-05 from play, while Cormac Carr also offered goal threat.
The issue was not an absence of attacking production.
It was game management and defensive reliability.
They lost the opener to Portroe by a single point.
They allowed Clonoulty/Rossmore to score 3-16 in Round 2 even though Kickhams won the game.
Then Kilsheelan/Kilcash ended their championship.
That is the difference between aggregate numbers and championship effectiveness.
Kickhams scored enough across three games.
They did not win enough of the moments that mattered.
For a team that was sixty minutes from winning the Michael Maher Cup twelve months ago, an exit at this stage represents significant regression.
10. Shannon Rovers
Previous ranking: 10
If these rankings were generated purely by a spreadsheet, Shannon Rovers would be considerably higher.
Their group-stage attack ranked third in the entire championship.
86 points-equivalent scored.
That is an average of 28.67 per match.
Only Kilsheelan/Kilcash and Arravale Rovers scored more.
Shannon Rovers also finished with a +17 scoring difference, identical to Borrisokane’s group-stage figure.
Borrisokane are fourth in these rankings and unbeaten.
Shannon Rovers are tenth and eliminated.
That illustrates how thin the margins were.
Conal Moran finished with 2-30, worth 36 points, joint-highest among the scorers listed in the supplied championship data.
He was also far more than a free-taker. His from-play contribution reached 2-10, worth 16 points-equivalent.
Eamonn Hough contributed 3-05.
Austin Tierney scored 3-02 from play.
Andy Byrne and John O’Meara added further depth.
The defeat that will haunt Shannon Rovers is Arravale Rovers.
They pushed the West champions to the absolute limit, took the lead late and were beaten by an injury-time goal.
Then came Clonakenny.
Shannon Rovers trailed by eleven points, fought all the way back to level and still lost.
That is why they are out.
Not because the attack was weak.
Not because the underlying profile was poor.
They lost the two decisive matches by small margins.
Shannon Rovers may be the strongest attacking team not playing this weekend.
9. Newport
Previous ranking: 8, down one
There are exits, and then there are exits like this.
For the second consecutive year, Newport’s championship ended in a preliminary knockout game decided by penalties.
Skeheenarinky prevailed 8-7 in the shootout after the teams remained level through normal time and extra time. Tipperary GAA confirmed Newport had scored late to force extra time before the sides still could not be separated.
The defeat is cruel because Newport’s statistical profile is strong.
Including the preliminary quarter-final, they scored 93 points-equivalent across four matches and conceded 80.
That is an average of 23.25 scored and exactly 20 conceded.
During the group stage alone they conceded just 56, the third-best defensive total behind Borrisokane and Ballingarry.
They also won two of their three group matches.
Colin Floyd finished with 2-26, worth 32 points, third on the overall scorers list supplied.
Newport were not relying solely on him either.
Charlie Tobin accumulated 0-10 from play. Conor Floyd hit 0-08 from play. Pa Ryan, Conor McLaughlin and several others contributed.
The scoring spread that impressed us in Round 1 never disappeared.
And yet there will be no quarter-final.
That is why Newport stay ahead of Shannon Rovers despite the latter’s more explosive attacking data.
Newport won two group matches, defended consistently and came within a penalty shootout of the last eight.
There is plenty to build on.
But there will also be considerable frustration.
Two seasons at Intermediate.
Two preliminary knockout exits.
Still waiting for a county quarter-final.
8. Skeheenarinky
Previous ranking: 9, up one
Finally.
Skeheenarinky are back in the county quarter-finals for the first time since 2022.
Their path has been anything but straightforward.
They came through a very competitive Group 3 without winning a game.
They lost to Ballingarry.
They drew with Holycross/Ballycahill.
They then scored 3-18 against Cappawhite but still failed to take the victory they needed for direct qualification.
Because they are South champions, they received the preliminary quarter-final route.
Newport awaited.
Normal time could not separate them.
Extra time could not separate them.
Penalties eventually did.
Skeheenarinky won the shootout 8-7.
That is the result they needed psychologically as much as statistically.
The player data tells us why Skeheenarinky are dangerous despite the negative overall scoring difference.
Darragh Brennan leads the entire Intermediate Championship in scoring from play with 1-21, worth 24 points.
Bobby Bergin is next on 22.
Barry Kehoe is on 20.
Mark Kehoe is on 19.
Brennan is ahead of all of them.
Beside him sits Tomas Vaughan.
Vaughan has accumulated 1-33 overall, worth 36 points, joint-top of the overall standings. His open-play total is much lower, which shows just how valuable his placed-ball striking has been.
That combination is awkward.
Brennan provides elite production from general play.
Vaughan punishes indiscipline.
Now comes Borrisokane, officially fixed for 1.30pm tomorrow in Dundrum. The clubs also met in the 2022 championship, when Skeheenarinky won 1-23 to 2-15.
Borrisokane are stronger statistically.
Skeheenarinky are dangerous enough to make the quarter-final uncomfortable.
And after getting through the Newport shootout, they will not arrive lacking belief.
7. Cappawhite
Previous ranking: 7
Cappawhite have drawn the number-one team.
That tells us most of what we need to know about the challenge ahead.
Kilsheelan/Kilcash have scored 102 points-equivalent in three games.
Cappawhite scored 74.
Kilsheelan/Kilcash finished +39.
Cappawhite finished +10.
The raw numbers point heavily towards the South champions.
But Cappawhite possess enough individual scoring to make this far from straightforward.
Dara McCarthy accumulated 1-26 across the group stage, worth 29 points.
Only Conal Moran, Tomas Vaughan, Colin Floyd and Paul Cummins sit above that total in the supplied overall scoring standings, and two of those four played an additional knockout game.
The important development is support.
Darragh O’Hora has begun to find more scores.
Conor Martin has become increasingly influential and hit 1-04 from play against Skeheenarinky.
Cappawhite need that balance.
A one-man attack will not beat Kilsheelan/Kilcash.
The tactical issue is obvious.
Cappawhite have to turn this into a game in which Kilsheelan are defending.
Kilsheelan’s attacking numbers are spectacular, but they have conceded six goals in three group matches, two per game.
There is opportunity there.
Cappawhite themselves scored only three goals across those three matches, so converting that opportunity is a different issue.
The sides met in the 2023 county quarter-final, when Kilsheelan/Kilcash won by five points.
Today’s meeting in Golden has a similar feel.
Kilsheelan deserve to start favourites.
Cappawhite’s route is to disrupt their supply, force turnovers high up the field and attack the spaces that appear when Kilsheelan commit players forward.
If they allow the Kehoes to receive clean ball, the afternoon could become very long.
6. Portroe
Previous ranking: 6
Portroe may be number six.
They are not behaving like a team that feels lucky simply to be here.
The North champions finished their group campaign 2-1.
They scored 80 points-equivalent and conceded 61.
That +19 scoring difference was the second-best group-stage figure in the entire championship.
Only Kilsheelan/Kilcash were better.
That is significant.
The one ugly result was the 4-20 to 2-14 defeat to Kilsheelan/Kilcash.
Either side of it, Portroe have shown a great deal.
They beat Knockavilla-Donaskeigh Kickhams in Round 1.
They then destroyed Clonoulty/Rossmore in Round 3, finishing with 3-29.
The second half of that game was almost absurd.
Portroe 2-20, Clonoulty/Rossmore 0-02.
That is a 24-point second-half swing in scoreboard value.
Their player data also looks increasingly dangerous.
Mikey Creamer has 3-04 from play.
Sam Madden has accumulated 0-12 from play.
John Sheedy has 0-20 overall.
Robert Byrne continues to provide leadership and stability.
Portroe therefore have scoring, physicality, experience and a recognised free-taker.
Tomorrow’s quarter-final against Arravale Rovers is fascinating because the statistical profiles are almost opposites.
Arravale scored nine more points-equivalent through the group stage, 89 to 80.
Portroe conceded 21 fewer, 61 to 82.
So the question almost writes itself.
Can Arravale turn the game into a shootout?
Or can Portroe make it a structured championship battle?
Arravale remain our No.2 team.
But of the four seeded sides, they may be the one the unseeded teams most wanted to draw.
Portroe will genuinely believe they can win in Borrisoleigh.
5. Clonakenny
Previous ranking: 5
This may be the most dangerous fifth-ranked team we have had in these power rankings.
Clonakenny have scored 79 points-equivalent across three matches, an average of 26.33.
They have conceded 68, an average of 22.67.
Those are good numbers.
The more interesting numbers belong to the individuals.
Bobby Bergin has scored 2-16.
Every single one of those scores has come from play.
That is worth 22 points-equivalent without a free, 65 or penalty score contributing anything.
Only Darragh Brennan has produced more from open play across the championship.
Cian O’Dwyer gives Clonakenny the opposite type of weapon.
He finished the groups with 0-29 overall.
His open-play contribution is 0-08, meaning his placed-ball accuracy has supplied much of the remaining total.
Then there is Michael John Carroll.
His return of 3-04 from play, worth 13, means Clonakenny are not merely a Bergin and O’Dwyer operation.
That matters enormously against Ballingarry.
Ballingarry have the second-best defensive record from the group stage.
A defence that conceded only 55 points across three games can focus considerable attention on one forward.
Clonakenny have three serious scoring sources.
The Mid champions also arrive with two consecutive wins after losing their opener to Arravale Rovers.
The trajectory is upward.
And that is why we think this afternoon’s first quarter-final is very close to a coin toss.
Ballingarry are ranked higher because of the unbeaten record and defensive consistency.
Clonakenny may possess the more explosive individual attack.
If Bergin gets enough clean ball, this can turn very quickly.
4. Borrisokane
Previous ranking: 4
Borrisokane do not generate the same noise as some of the teams above them.
They just keep turning up.
This will be their seventh county quarter-final in nine years.
They were semi-finalists in 2025.
They won all three group matches this year.
And they produced the best defensive record in the grade.
52 points conceded.
17.33 per game.
Nobody did better.
That is the foundation.
Borrisokane are not built around outscoring opponents in 30-point shootouts.
They are built around preventing the opposition from ever getting there.
Mike Heenan’s influence around centre-back gives them an experienced defensive anchor.
Further forward, Oisín Larkin supplies reliability.
His group-stage return was 1-26, worth 29 points, and he produced 1-12 from play, worth 15.
Jack Larkin has also been in excellent form, while Borrisokane have managed to spread enough production around the attack to prevent the burden becoming completely concentrated.
Tomorrow’s assignment is clear.
Darragh Brennan.
Tomas Vaughan.
Brennan cannot be allowed to establish himself early.
His open-play return is the best in the championship.
Vaughan cannot be given cheap frees.
His total scoreboard contribution is joint-highest in the grade.
That makes the contest tactically fascinating.
The best defence meets one of the most unusual attacking partnerships in the competition.
Skeheenarinky also have positive history in this fixture after beating Borrisokane in the 2022 championship.
But the current evidence points one way.
Three wins from three.
Best defence in the competition.
Semi-finalists last year.
Borrisokane have every opportunity to be back in the last four.
3. Ballingarry
Previous ranking: 3
Three games.
Three wins.
A perfect group stage.
Ballingarry scored 70 points-equivalent and conceded just 55.
Their attacking average of 23.33 is lower than every other quarter-finalist except Borrisokane and Skeheenarinky.
Their defensive number is what changes the equation.
18.33 conceded per game.
Only Borrisokane were better.
That is why Ballingarry keep winning.
They beat Skeheenarinky.
They beat Cappawhite despite playing with 14 men for most of the contest.
They then completed the group campaign against Holycross/Ballycahill.
They have repeatedly found different ways to win.
The attack has also become broader.
Dylan Walsh finished the group stage on 2-16 overall.
Tommy McGrath has 2-06 from play, worth 12 scoring points.
Jack Cahill remains hugely influential.
Simon Blackmore’s return to fitness gives them another attacking option at precisely the right stage of the championship.
The player-depth point matters today because Clonakenny’s attack may force Ballingarry to chase the game at some stage.
Their defence will be asked questions it has not faced since perhaps the Cappawhite game.
Bobby Bergin is producing 22 points-equivalent entirely from play.
Cian O’Dwyer has 0-29.
Michael John Carroll has three goals from general play.
Ballingarry cannot simply win one individual defensive battle and assume the problem is solved.
That makes today’s 2.00pm quarter-final in Templetuohy one of the best tactical games of the weekend.
The case for Ballingarry is consistency.
Three championship games.
Three victories.
Second-best defence.
The case against them is that Clonakenny may have more individual scoring weapons than any opponent they have faced so far.
This could be decided in the final five minutes.
2. Arravale Rovers
Previous ranking: 2
The Carrick Davins result cannot simply be ignored.
Arravale Rovers had already secured top spot.
They were able to manage personnel.
The game had no qualification consequences for them.
All of that is true.
They still conceded 5-16.
And because Carrick Davins subsequently beat Clonoulty/Rossmore in the relegation semi-final, the performance looks less like a freak result and more like evidence that Davins genuinely improved.
Arravale must put it behind them.
The attacking case remains extremely strong.
They scored 89 points-equivalent through the three group rounds, second only to Kilsheelan/Kilcash.
That is an average of 29.67 per game.
Sean O’Mahony has accumulated 2-20 overall.
His open-play contribution stands at 2-12, worth 18, fifth-highest on the supplied from-play table.
Orrin Jones has scored 0-26 and gives Arravale enormous reliability from placed balls.
Jaye Cilvinas has produced 1-09 from play.
There is no shortage of ammunition.
The defence is the issue.
Arravale conceded 82 points-equivalent in three group games.
That is 27.33 per match.
No other quarter-final qualifier conceded at a higher average during the group stages.
That is not a small warning sign.
Portroe’s attack has Mikey Creamer making goal chances, Madden contributing from play and Sheedy capable of punishing fouls.
If Arravale begin slowly tomorrow, Portroe can put them into immediate trouble.
There is also a rhythm question.
Portroe have been through the group pressure.
Arravale had already qualified before their last game and have had a considerable break before the quarter-final.
That can be ideal preparation.
It can also produce rust.
Adam Ryan and David Ryan have had additional recovery time, which could strengthen Arravale significantly.
At full strength, Arravale remain one of the two teams we trust most in this championship.
But they are considerably more vulnerable defensively than the team above them.
That is the difference between No.1 and No.2.
1. Kilsheelan/Kilcash
Previous ranking: 1
Nothing has changed.
Until somebody beats Kilsheelan/Kilcash, they remain the standard.
The statistical gap is extraordinary.
102 points-equivalent scored in three games.
34 per game.
63 conceded.
+39 scoring difference.
Portroe were second-best on scoring difference at +19.
Kilsheelan/Kilcash were 20 points better.
And this was not generated by one ridiculous outlier.
Round 1: 4-26, worth 38.
Round 2: 4-20, worth 32.
Round 3: 1-29, worth 32.
Their worst attacking performance produced 32 points.
For context, only a handful of teams in the entire championship managed to reach that figure even once.
Kilsheelan did it every time.
Then we get to the individual numbers.
Barry Kehoe has 1-17 from play, worth 20.
Mark Kehoe has 3-10 from play, worth 19.
Those figures rank third and fourth respectively in the championship’s open-play standings.
Martin Gibbs has accumulated 0-21 overall.
Senan Butler has contributed 2-05 from play.
Jamie Roche, Mikey Maguire, Paul Maher and others have also found the net during the campaign.
That is the nightmare for Cappawhite.
Who exactly do you stop?
Take Barry Kehoe out of the game and Mark Kehoe can hurt you.
Collapse onto Mark and space opens somewhere else.
Foul the runners and Gibbs can punish the free.
Allow Kilsheelan to run and several players can attack the goal.
There is one legitimate weakness.
Their open style leaves opportunities at the other end.
They conceded six goals in three group matches.
Cappawhite have enough quality to punish those spaces if the ball goes in quickly and accurately.
That is why this is not a foregone conclusion.
It is also worth remembering the 2023 quarter-final between the teams, when Kilsheelan/Kilcash won by five.
Cappawhite know they can live in the contest.
But the current Kilsheelan numbers are on another level.
No other team has combined this attacking ceiling with this consistency.
No other team has two players inside the top four for championship scores from play.
No other team is remotely close to +39.
The group stages have answered every question asked of them.
Today provides a different question.
Can all of that survive knockout pressure?
That is what separates a brilliant August from a county championship.
For now, though, there can only be one team at the top.
Kilsheelan/Kilcash remain No.1.
The quarter-final fault lines
The fascinating part of this weekend is that all four games present completely different statistical arguments.
Ballingarry against Clonakenny is defence against attacking star power. Ballingarry conceded only 55 points during the groups, while Bergin, O’Dwyer and Carroll give Clonakenny three completely different scoring threats.
Kilsheelan/Kilcash against Cappawhite is about whether anybody can slow the championship’s most explosive attack. Kilsheelan average 34 points-equivalent per game, but their six goals conceded show Cappawhite will get chances if they can move the ball quickly.
Arravale Rovers against Portroe may be the most interesting contrast of all. Arravale scored 89 but conceded 82. Portroe scored 80 and conceded only 61. One team wants chaos, the other will fancy a more controlled contest.
Then there is Borrisokane against Skeheenarinky. Borrisokane bring the best defence in the competition. Skeheenarinky bring the championship’s leading scorer from play in Darragh Brennan and a joint-leading overall scorer in Tomas Vaughan.
That is knockout hurling.
The rankings tell us where the teams stand entering the weekend.
They cannot tell us what happens when one ball drops around the square with two minutes remaining.
By tomorrow evening, four of the eight remaining teams will be gone.
And the rankings will have to be torn up again.