IT’S quarter-finals and relegation deciders on the Cork football scene this weekend as the evenings get shorter and the stakes get higher.
The action kicks off on Friday evening with a couple of tasty openers to a busy weekend. In the premier senior, St Finbarr’s take on Ballincollig in Páirc Uí Rinn while in a senior A clash at Macroom, Dohenys will face a stern test against Cill na Martra. I think Cill na Martra may have a little too much for last year’s beaten finalists. Carrigaline will account for Bishopstown in the other senior A quarter-final to join Kanturk and Knocknagree in the the last four.
Moving on to the premier senior encounter, I did receive a couple of messages from friends in Ballincollig – although they may be former friends after my comments last week! – noting how dismissive I was of their chances. We have to be real, though, and nobody but nobody outside of the remaining teams in the quarter-finals is looking beyond the Barrs, Castlehaven and Nemo Rangers at this stage. In the seven years since Carbery Rangers finally made it to the summit of Cork football in 2016, Nemo have won four titles, the Barrs two and Castlehaven finally got there again last year. Only Duhallow (twice in 2018 and 2019) and Clonakilty in 2021 have broken their stranglehold to even make a final in that timeframe. To put it simply, The Big Three are currently utterly dominant in the county.
The Barrs have been in four county finals in that period, however they will have to see off Ballincollig before they can start thinking about beating Castlehaven to try and make it to another. The Barrs were the bookies favourites before the season began, however they showed some vulnerability in the early rounds this year with an unconvincing win against Douglas followed by a surprise defeat to Mallow. Their first-ever group stage loss forced them into a must-win clash with Valley Rovers which they navigated comfortably in the end by virtue of bagging four goals. It’s possible that the Mallow defeat and the lessons learned from that game proved a blessing in disguise for the Barrs management group, with minds now focused and perhaps a realisation that evolution to their tried and trusted game-plan is needed.
The Barrs have built their success on a strong defence, big men around midfield surrounded by runners, all designed to supply Steven Sherlock with the chances he needs from play and frees. It is a formula that has stood them well, however in the semi-final last year Castlehaven’s more defensive game plan largely stifled them. We watch with interest on Friday night to see if there is enough evolution to the Barrs’ set-up to allow them to go all the way this year again. On the basis of the performances of this year so far and with key defenders absent, they look to have some way to go.
Ballincollig have settled well after some early-season struggles, including relegation from Division 1 in the league, and come into this game as underdogs with little expectation on their shoulders. A decent crop of young prospects allied to a few survivors from 2014 ensure they will be no pushovers for the Togher men. Should Liam O’Connell be available again, that will help the cause immeasurably as the old Flower Lodge venue is made for his pace and athleticism. Ballincollig will sit deep and hope to make life difficult for the Barrs, before using their youthful legs to counter attack. They will need goals to take the honours, but I don’t think it will be enough and The Barrs will renew their rivalry with Castlehaven again in two weeks’ time.
The remaining premier senior contests will take place on Sunday with the TG4 cameras making the trip beyond the Viaduct for the battle of two of the Cork football aristocrats when Clonakilty take on Nemo Rangers. Luckily, there doesn’t seem to be any terrible weather fronts on the horizon so the two teams will get the chance to show their abilities far better than in last year’s monsoon conditions when less than ten points were shared between the two sides. Nemo prevailed by a point (0-5 to 0-4) and are favourites to advance again.
We know what Nemo are about at this stage and while this team doesn’t inspire the same awe as some of the Nemo teams of the past, they have won five titles since 2015 before losing out in the final last year to Castlehaven. With Luke Connolly no longer involved, Nemo need youngsters Ross Corkery and Brian Hayes to lend support to Paul Kerrigan, Mark Cronin et al in order to regain ultimate honours. The Trabeg side emerged from their group with the minimum of fuss without setting the world on fire just yet. Traditionally, the longer the season goes the stronger they get, so they will expect to up a gear or two now for the knockout stage.
Clon found their form in a do-or-die encounter with St Michael’s, kicking 2-18 in the process. Clon are a similarly settled and familiar side at this point with the same key players backboning their efforts for a number of years now. Most positive for Clon is the emergence of Conor Daly and Darragh Gough as serious forwards now at Cork’s highest level. I will be very interested to see the match-ups for this contest, potentially we could see Kerrigan v Thomas Clancy, Maurice Shanley v Alan O’Donovan, while Sean White for Clon and Kevin O’Donovan for Nemo will hope to provide attacking threat from deep. There are plenty of fine footballers on both sides, but I can’t back against Nemo making yet another semi-final.
Nemo Rangers' Steven Cronin is challenged by Clonakilty's Conor Daly during the 2023 PSFC quarter-final at Bandon.
Mallow take on Muskerry in the third quarter-final to decide, assuming results go the way we expect, who the final four gatecrashers for this season will be. I saw Muskerry in action in the divisional final against Duhallow and they have some very dangerous forwards with Chris Óg Jones the obvious spearhead for the attack. Defensively, they coughed up numerous opportunities when they came under pressure in the second half of that game and I expect the more cohesive club side to prevail in this one, especially with so many Uibh Laoire players in action the day before also.
Before we get to the relegation play-offs, looking quickly at the West Cork interest across the other grades, Bantry will face Uibh Laoire in the aforementioned premier intermediate quarter-final. The two sides are familiar foes at this point, with Bantry claiming the honours in 2022 and ’23 en route to two successive finals. This could be another cracker and I hesitate to make a call, but perhaps the law of averages suggests that Uibh Laoire can get a measure of revenge for those two defeats. Also on Saturday, Gabriel Rangers take on Mitchelstown in the intermediate A championship, much will depend here again on the presence or otherwise of AFL player and former Cork star Mark Keane. If he is available and Cathail O’Mahony hits form, it might be a big ask for the Ballydehob boys.
Looking at the relegation games, my main concern will be Carbery Rangers up against Éire Óg in the second game in Bandon on Sunday. It’s not a nice position for either team to be in but neither can have any complaints, the new format decides everything completely on merit and whoever does lose this game will deserve to lose their premier senior status. It’s one win each in the recent encounters at the same venue. Clyda Rovers will face Kiskeam in the senior A decider and it’s another toss of a coin job for this one, however maybe the loss of Conor Corbett will be too much for Clyda to overcome.
Ilen Rovers face Macroom hoping to avoid their third relegation in four years, however given how heavy their defeats were in comparison during the group stage (Ilen had a scoring difference of -41, Macroom just -15), the Muskerry men start as slight favourites in this one. City rivals Na Piarsaigh and St Vincent's clash at intermediate A and I expect it will be fiery but give the nod to Vincents here. St James take on another northside city team in St Nick’s, and I will back the Ardfield men in this one.
