O’Rourke: Carbery sees the value of divisional teams

BY GER MCCARTHY

AIDAN O’Rourke hopes the Carbery division will continue to buck current trends and field football and hurling teams in their respective county premier senior championships.

The Carbery GAA Chairman is aware of how important the divisions and colleges sections of the Cork premier senior football and hurling championship are to local players. That’s why news of Beara (football), Imokilly (football) and Carrigdhoun (hurling) withdrawals from this year’s county championships has come as a blow.

Creditably, Carbery will field both football and hurling representative teams in 2024 and beyond, with the hurlers in action against Muskerry on Tuesday night. Still, losing close neighbours Beara from the football championship is something that has saddened O’Rourke.

‘It certainly is very disappointing and none more so than for the people of Beara themselves,’ O’Rourke told The Southern Star.

‘They are football people in Beara. They have been a fantastic competitor down through the years, always produced brilliant players and won championships. I am very disappointed that they won’t be able to field a football team this year.’

The Carbery GAA chairman understands the increasing difficulties of fielding one let alone two divisional teams. O’Rourke is proud that Carbery strives to field representative sides in both codes. Yet, an increasingly tight club fixtures schedule appears the biggest challenge to the divisions and colleges competition’s sustainability.

‘To be fair, we are continuing to do our best here in Carbery to field both hurling and football teams,’ O’Rourke added.

‘It is not easy because the club championship is so condensed. That’s what’s making it increasingly difficult to get clubs and players to commit. In fairness, I must say that the Carbery clubs have come on board with us. Hopefully, we won’t have any injuries that might upset our preparations this year. We look forward to the divisions and colleges’ competitions with positivity.’

A rich history of the Carbery division winning Cork football and hurling championship titles is another reason O’Rourke feels the rural region should maintain their interest. 1994 saw Carbery see off Midleton for the region’s solitary senior hurling championship title. In football, successes in 1937, 1968 and 1971 were followed by 2004’s famous 1-11 to 0-7 win over Bishopstown at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

‘There is history, particularly on the football side of things, but we also won a senior hurling county championship back in 1994. ‘We would dearly love to win another couple of those!’ O’Rourke quipped.

‘If you take a junior player that gets a chance to play at that (premier senior) level, it can only improve them. The speed of the game is much faster. The standard is much higher. We have junior players here in the Carbery division that are well capable of playing senior football and senior hurling. It is fantastic to be able to give those lads that opportunity.

‘I would say to any club that might be apprehensive about releasing their players, let them at it. One game of competitive football or hurling at that level would do them nothing but good.’