RELEGATION in the championship is not a pleasant prospect for any team but for some it becomes a reality.
What sets the new-style group championship apart from the old knock-out style and the backdoor system is the prospect of promotion and relegation. Time was when a club could lose in the championship year after year and still opt to remain in the same grade. It was the reason the new system was introduced, to reward the winners and penalise the losers. It was meant to put a real bite into every game and to raise standards. A single point won at any stage of the group section could mean survival in the grade and avoiding relegation.
This season’s Carbery junior A football championship contained 16 teams. Unlike the county senior and intermediate championships where it’s one up and one down in every grade, the number of teams to be relegated from junior A depends on the lower junior B championships, and also the higher premier junior championship. The winners of the county confined junior B championship and the open county junior B championship are automatically promoted to junior A and they could be two teams from Carbery. That would mean two teams being relegated from junior A. As well, if a Carbery team is relegated from premier junior, then a place has to be found for them in junior A and that means another team being relegated to junior B. It isn’t decided even then because the winner of the Carbery junior B championship also has the option of upgrading to junior A, which means another relegation. That means in any one season a total of four teams in the Carbery junior A championship could be relegated to junior B.
This season, 2023, saw St Oliver Plunkett’s winning the county confined junior B championship, which meant automatic promotion to junior A with one team due for relegation. Goleen would have followed them in the open county junior B but lost the final to Douglas. However, Goleen did win the Carbery junior B so that gave them the option of upgrading to junior A. They eventually decided that they would remain in junior B for 2024 to try to win the elusive county final, having lost four finals since 2019. As no Carbery team was relegated from premier junior, it meant only one team would be relegated from the Carbery junior A championship this season.
According to the championship regulations, if one team is to be relegated, there is a play-off between the two bottom teams from the group games. Those two teams this season, on zero points from three games, were Diarmuid Ó Mathúna and Bandon’s junior team. The play-off game could not be fixed until after Goleen had played their county B final, so it was scheduled for Sunday last at 2.30pm in Newcestown, one of the few playable pitches in the division at present.
The winner would remain in junior A for 2024, while the loser would be relegated to junior B. So, there was a great deal at stake in this one game.
Unfortunately, Bandon were unable to get a team together to play and disappointingly conceded the game to Mathúna’s at the late time of 1.30pm, with some supporters already having travelled to the venue. It was a disappointing way to complete a championship that had given great entertainment to GAA followers in West Cork during the months of August, September and October.
The seedings for the 2024 championships can now be completed and the draws will be made in late January.
