John Horgan on hurling: Divisions not as strong as before yet Imokilly look the real deal
Avondhu's Darragh O'Reilly clears his lines under pressure from Imokilly's Darragh O'Brien, during their Cork Premier SHC Divisions clash, at Fermoy. Picture: David Keane.
BACK in the 1990s, the Cork County SHC was dominated to a fairly large extent by divisional teams, four of them ending up with the Sean Óg Murphy trophy.
Carbery were probably the biggest surprise of the four, defeating a star-studded Midleton team in the 1994 final. That side didn't feature any household names but you had some wonderful club players like Pat Kenneally, Gerry Ryan, the late Michael Holland, Dan O'Connell and Geoff O'Connell, Jim Sullivan and many more.
Avondhu arrived in the winner's enclosure in 1996 and they were followed by Imokilly in '97 and '98. Quite a few of that Imokilly team in those years subsequently played a key role in Cork's tremendous All-Ireland victory in '99.
The East Cork divisional side have been a consistent, impressive presence in the SHC down the years and were three-in-a-row victors in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
There are differing opinions about the presence of divisional sides in the championship, some of the opinion that they have an unfair advantage over a club team, being able to select the best players who are not participants themselves in the senior championship with their clubs.
In the past that might have been the case but it's much changed now and some players don't make themselves available anymore to the divisional management.
Some divisions don't enter a team anymore, Carrigdhoun and Seandun not fielding this time and there have been withdrawals by teams midway through the colleges/divsions campaign. MTU, formerly Cork IT, are no longer involved either.
Last weekend the colleges/divisions had the stage to themselves, the two hurling semi-finals being played, Muskerry against UCC and Imokilly taking on Avondhu.
It ended up with Muskerry getting the better of UCC by a couple of points but it was an entirely different story in the Imokilly, Avondhu encounter, the East Cork team making a significant statement of intent by absolutely trouncing the North Cork selection.
Considering that Avondhu made it through to the final of the section last season, losing to Imokilly by five points, the margin of victory this time for the East Corkmen was a big surprise.
So we now have a final between the men from Mid Cork and the men from the east and there is the potential for a decent game.
Imokilly will be the big fancy to to make it through to another Cork SHC quarter-final but to be fair, former top referee, Diarmuid Kirwan has been putting in a big effort with Muskerry and when you can draw from strong intermediate clubs like Ballincollig, Aghabullogue and Eire Og, you have a strong enough platform.
Despite having so many clubs involved in the Premier and Senior A championship, Imokilly's resources continue to be deep and it's that squad depth that continues to make them genuine title contenders on a yearly basis.
If the aforementioned absentees return to the fray, one can only imagine the role that they might play in this championship.
If one can recall last season, they were desperately unlucky to lose to eventual champions Sarsfields by a point after extra-time. But for team boss, Denis Ring, another one of those great hurling people, it will be first things first and that is getting past the challenge of Muskerry.
UCC are rarely able to choose from their strongest hand because of club commitments in other counties and players not yet being back in the country after a summer in the US.
However, they never fail to participate and under the guidance of Development Head Officer, John Grainger the effort is always made but they have not been title challengers for a long time now.
And despite the array of talent from the hallowed halls of the great academy down the years, only two titles have ended up on the Western Road, the last one being in 1970, a team that featured Ray Cummins, Seamus Looney, Mick Crotty, Dr Paddy Crowley, John Kelly and many more future intercounty stars.
There will be a lot at stake in this colleges/divisions section final with a place in the last eight of the competition on the line.
Muskerry haven't reached that stage for quite some time but the unit that Diarmuid Kirwan and his selectors have constructed is a fairly formidable one with some fine hurlers like Matthew Bradley, Jamie Dwyer, David Kirwan and Charlie Grainger backboning the side.
They'll put in a big effort before taking on the challenge of Imokilly.
There is a wealth of experience in this Imokilly team and four players that lined out again last Sunday in Fermoy deserve extra special mention.
They are Lisgoold's John Cronin, Youghal's Bill Cooper, Aghada's Michael Russell and St Ita's Ciaran O'Brien. What service this quartet have given to the Imokilly cause down the years, including the three-in-a-row.
Players like them are worth their weight in gold and they are still doing the business at the top end of the game in Cork.
The blend of youth and experience in this Imokilly side is striking and Dungourney's Jack Leahy continues to impress at all levels of the game. After delivering 15 points for his club in the championship against Ballinhassig, he put 10 more on the board last Sunday night.
Castlemartyr's Michael Kelly belted in a brace of goals and there was a significant contribution from the Watergrasshill contingent on the side, Daire O'Leary, Sean Desmond and Adam Murphy. It certainly was a good week for them after playing a key role for the Hill in their tremendous comeback against Carrigaline in the Cork County PIHC.
After the blitz of the opening weekend on the club championship front at all levels in the county, it's a calm before the storm will rage again when the second round of the group stage of the various competitions get underway.
For those on the wrong side of the scoreline in round one, their next assignment is make or break and another loss ends their title ambitions. Worse still, it would bring them closer to getting sucked into the relegation equation.
So, without doubt, there's a lot of work being put in on the training ground in trying to iron out the problems of day one.
And for some clubs, there's a huge amount to be done after being so far off the pace in their previous encounter.
No need to mention them.
