The power of Ben O’Connor on the break. He is sure to be a very influential figure as Newtownshandrum bid to avenge a first-round defeat at the hands of CIT in the quarter-final of the county senior hurling championship at Fermoy on Sunday next (2pm start).

SINCE the introduction of the backdoor system in 2000, no team has managed to recover from a first-round defeat and go all the way in the permanent tsb county senior hurling championship. But the odds on that happening this year wouldn’t be too generous now, given that Newtownshandrum and Blackrock are still in the hunt for the title, despite having gone under in their opening outings to CIT and Killeagh, respectively.

The Rockies, on the trail of a three-in-row and a fourth success in five seasons, finished second best in last year’s final to a Newtown side that had claimed county senior honours for the first time in 2000.

So, one has to go back as far as 1998, when Imokilly beat Blackrock in the decider to clock up a second consecutive triumph, to discover the last year that the title eluded both the Rockies and Newtown.

Although there was ample evidence in the 2003 championship to suggest that Newtown and Blackrock weren’t that far ahead of the chasing pack, it was generally accepted that they again deserved to head the ante-post betting on this year’s race for the crown.

And, with the field now trimmed to eight, the fact that they are both still standing will cause many to conclude that, for the very first time, the championship is going to be won by a team that didn’t go through the entire campaign unbeaten.

Newtown went on to garner Munster and All-Ireland club glory following their decisive county final victory over Blackrock last year. But less than two months after romping home against Dunloy, of Antrim, at Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day, to complete their historic march to the summit of club hurling, they were brought crashing down to earth when they suffered a shock defeat at the hands of CIT in the first round of the domestic championship.

That result brought an end to a run of 12 championship games without a loss for the North Cork men and it gave CIT their first ever victory in a county championship match.

Not a whole lot was read into it at the time, however, as Newtown, not surprisingly in view of the huge effort they put in to bring the national title to Leeside for the first time since 1988, looked a very tired team and there was every reason to suspect that they would have little difficulty in getting back to winning ways once the batteries had been recharged.

Sure enough, Newtown have since claimed the scalps of Delanys and highly-rated Erins Own, and the fact that they won both of those games by fairly decent margins without performing to their peak must surely augur well for their prospects of retaining the county title.

But CIT have confirmed in the meantime that they are very serious side and that, in contrast to previous years, they didn’t enter this championship just to make up the numbers.

Killeagh, hoping to build on their merited win over Blackrock, discovered that to their cost in the third round when they were edged out by the students in a memorable match played at a hectic pace from start to finish and containing quality hurling and top-class scores in abundance.

And the indications are that Newtown will need to be at their very best if they hope to turn the tables when they renew rivalry with CIT in what promises to be a fascinating confrontation at Fermoy next Sunday (starting time, 12 noon).

Make no mistake about, CIT will be determined to repeat their first-round win, 1-15 to 2-9, over the holders and it would be fair to say that they possess a depth of talent that would be envied by most club sides.

Courcey Rovers’ Vincent Hurley, Shamrocks’ Michael Prout, Ballymartle’s Rory Dwyer, Inniscarra’s Diarmuid O’Riordan, Ballyhea’s Maurice O’Sullivan and goalkeeper Martin Coleman, of Ballinhassig, are just some of the leading lights in a CIT squad that is laden with players of inter-county experience in one grade or another.

It’s going to be a very difficult assignment for Newtown and, while they are bound to be much more focused and better prepared than they were for the previous meeting, there is no guarantee that they will be capable of reversing the result.

At the same time, the fact that Pat Mulcahy, ruled out by injury for the first-round encounter, will be on hand to marshal the defence from centre-back has to be viewed as a major plus for Newtown.

Sidelined since the All-Ireland club final, Mulcahy returned to championship action for the game against Erins Own in mid-July and he showed no ill-effects following his lengthy lay-off.

The significance of Pat Mulcahy’s inclusion on Sunday cannot be overstated and it could be enough to ensure that Newtown, who will obviously be expecting big games from Cork senior stars, Ben and Jerry O’Connor, will have CIT’s measure this time.

Should such as Philip Noonan, Brendan Mulcahy, Alan T O’Brien, John Paul King, James Bowles, Ian Kelleher and goalkeeper Paul Morrissey also perform to their full potential, the odds are that the champions will advance to the semi-final stage for the fourth year in a row.

Preceded by their disappointing display in last year’s county final, Blackrock’s failure to Killeagh in the first round caused many to wonder if the slide had begun for a team that has contested five county finals since 1988.

But they have done all that has been asked of them since then, making fairly light work of dispatching Douglas and Muskerry, and they must be fancied to book a semi-final place at the expense of Glen Rovers at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday.

The Glen have already played five championship games this year, losing narrowly to Cloyne in the first round and getting the better of both UCC and Imokilly in a replay after that.

They certainly enjoyed the rub of the green last weekend at Páirc Uí Rinn where two fortuitous goals in the second half enabled them to come up trumps, 2-13 to 1-13, against an Imokilly side that played the better hurling for most of the hour.

Cork senior panelist, John Anderson, contributed ten points from frees to the Glen’s tally and it’s a fair bet that Blackrock coach, Timmy Murphy, will have taken that on board and will have instructed his defence to adopt a very disciplined approach on Saturday.

If that happens, and Anderson’s opportunities to display his free-taking expertise are kept down to the minimum, it would be hard to envisage the Glen forwards posing any great problems for a Rockies’ rearguard containing such accomplished and experienced performers as Wayne Sherlock — whose absence through injury was sorely felt in the game against Killeagh — John Browne and Fergal Ryan.

By contrast, such as Alan Browne, Brian O’Keeffe, Barry Hennebry and Colin O’Reilly, on their best form, should be capable of inflicting a fair amount of damage in attack for the Rockies, who are entitled to feel that Paul Tierney and Adrian Coughlan can give them an edge also at midfield.

On the face of it, Blackrock appear to hold all the aces and it would have to go down as a major surprise if the Glen manage to clock up their first championship win over their age-old city rivals since 1989.

The second quarter-final down for decision at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday, involving Cloyne and St Finbarr’s, looks a much more open affair.

Cloyne finished with two points to spare when they clashed with the ‘Barrs in the third round last year and they later advanced to the semi-final where they went agonisingly close to upsetting the odds against Blackrock.

It was Cloyne’s best run in the senior championship since they graduated to senior ranks in 1998, but they haven’t been particularly impressive in their two games so far this year against the Glen and Midleton.

Likewise, however, the ‘Barrs didn’t exactly set the world on fire when progressing at the expense of Midleton and Castlelyons and, even with Jimmy Barry-Murphy pulling the strings this season, they could be forced to bow to Cloyne again on Saturday.

Ronan Curran, Aidan Fitzpatrick, Kevin Murray, Rory McCarthy and Robert O’Mahony will spearhead the ‘Barrs’ bid for victory, while Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Maurice Cahill, Donal Óg Cusack, Conor Cusack and Victor Cusack will be the key men for Cloyne.

Without a county title since 1957, Sarsfields have been knocking hard on the door for the past two seasons, pushing eventual champions, Blackrock, all the way in the 2002 semi-final and taking Newtown to a replay, which was lost by just three points, at the same stage last year.

In light of those impressive credentials, the East Cork men are entitled to fancy their chances of advancing to the last four again when they trot out at Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday to take on a Na Piarsaigh side that, despite the presence of such inspirational players as Seán Óg Ó hÁilpín and John Gardiner, has lacked the balance to make a worthwhile impact in recent years.

The last of the quarter-finals in the permanent tsb county senior football championship goes ahead on Saturday in Skibbereen where 2003 runners-up, Clonakilty, fresh from a narrow win over Bantry Blues last Sunday, might be able to shade the issue against divisional side, Carbery.

Awaiting the winners in the semi-final are Mallow, who reached the penultimate stage of the competition for the first time by ousting Aghada at Páirc Uí Rinn last Saturday when Bishopstown and St Finbarr’s also progressed at the expense of O’Donovan Rossa and Duhallow, respectively.

This invests the championship with extra interest.

www.newtownshandrum.com
© newtownshandrum.com 1998-2004
e-mail info@newtownshandrum.com