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Newtown, Na Piarsaigh and Erins Own form my short list for the 2005 County SH C’ship
OVER the past ten years Blackrock, Newtownshandrum and Na Piarsaigh are the only clubs to have gone all the way in the permanent tsb county senior hurling championship.
The Rockies lifted the title in 1999, 2001 and 2002, Newtown did the business in 2000 and 2003, while Na Piarsaigh came from nowhere to bridge a nine-year gap last season.
Divisional sides, Avondhu (in 1996) and Imokilly (in 1997 and 1998), claimed the other three titles up for grabs in this period.
Looking ahead to 2005, Blackrock, Newtown and Na Piarsaigh are bound to be rated among the leading contenders for ultimate honours again and, based on last year’s form, Imokilly would appear to be the only divisional side in with a realistic chance, albeit an outside one, of scaling the summit.
Along with Muskerry, Imokilly emerged from the divisional section in 2004 before going under narrowly to Glen Rovers in a fourth round replay.
Muskerry, for their part, suffered a humiliating defeat at Blackrock’s hands at the same stage and it’s most unlikely that they will make any sort of an impact this year.
Holders, Na Piarsaigh, will begin their campaign against the losers of the only preliminary first-round fixture involving Killeagh and St. Finbarr’s.
Since stepping up from intermediate ranks in 2001, Killeagh produced their best display in the top flight when getting the better of Blackrock in the first round last year. And they were a bit unlucky not to secure a place in the quarter-finals, losing out to the students of CIT, who grabbed a last-gasp goal to take the spoils in one of the best games of the 2004 championship.
The Barrs did manage to progress to the last eight, but they were by no means convincing when advancing at the expense of Midleton and Castlelyons and they fell down badly in their third outing against Cloyne.
In the circumstances, Killeagh are entitled to feel that they are in with every chance of delivering the goods against the Barrs, who, if they do falter in their first test, will hardly be brimming with confidence when they attempt to keep their championship aspirations alive against Na Piarsaigh.
Blackrock have been handed a very difficult opening assignment against 2004 runners-up, Cloyne. But, while there have been definite indications over the past two years that the Rockies (well beaten by Newtown in the 2003 decider and by Na Piarsaigh in last season’s semi-final) are a team in decline, it would be foolish to dismiss them as a completely spent force just yet.
The return to the fold of Alan Cummins, who spent a year in Australia, is an obvious boost to the team and, all things considered, Blackrock might just be good enough to handle a Cloyne side that, despite making a historic appearance in last year’s final, remains severely handicapped by a shortage of genuine quality in attack.
The losers of that game won’t have it easy in the second round against either CIT — victors over Newtown in the first round last year and unlucky to bow out when the sides crossed paths again in the quarter-final — or UCC, two teams capable of putting it up to any opposition when they perform to their full potential.
Newtown should have little difficulty in coming through their first test against Castlelyons, whose only win in the championship since they edged out Na Piarsaigh in a quarter-final replay in 2001 was recorded against Delanys last year.
But, assuming that Castlelyons are forced to bow to Newtown, they wouldn’t be out of their depth against either Douglas or Midleton in the second round.
In fairness, Douglas showed encouraging form in the first round last year, staging a tremendous second-half comeback to get within an ace of flooring hotly-fancied Sarsfields.
But Sars, semi-finalists in 2002 and 2003 when they proved quite a handful for eventual champions, Blackrock and Newtownshandrum, respectively, were hugely disappointing last year, making a very tame exit at the quarter-final stage to Na Piarsaigh.
It would hardly be too wide of the mark to suggest that Sars’ slump in 2004 had its origins in the remarkable decision to dispense with the services of team coach,Teddy McCarthy, who certainly got the best out of the team in the previous two championships.
And now that the new man at the helm this year is Tadhg Murphy, who, like McCarthy, served the Riverstown club with huge distinction during his playing days, it’s a fair bet that Sars will be a force to be reckoned with again.
Providing they have their act together, Sars should be able to handle Bride Rovers — who, in their first season operating at senior level fell to Na Piarsaigh and Midleton last year — in the first round.
Glen Rovers, ousted by Blackrock in a quarter-final replay in 2004, will be strongly fancied to account for last year’s premier intermediate champions, St. Catherine’s, while Erins Own will be expected to make light work of dispatching Delanys.
Irrespective of how the clash between Erins Own and Delanys works out, however, both sides will by-pass the second round losers’ group if Na Piarsaigh win their first-round game against Killeagh or the Barrs.
Perhaps the four club teams consigned to the championship scrapheap after two rounds will be the Barrs, Castlelyons, St. Catherine’s and UCC, who failed to win a game last year, going under to narrowly to both Erins Own and, in a replay, Glen Rovers.
After putting in a huge effort to bring the All-Ireland club title to Leeside last March, Newtownshandrum were always going to find it difficult to summon up the drive and enthusiasm required to mount a successful defence of their county crown in 2004.
But they made a fair stab at it at the same time, qualifying for the semi-final in which the inability of ace midfielder, Jerry O’Connor, to line out because of injury was a major blow to their prospects against Cloyne.
With the batteries recharged and Bernie O’Connor back at the helm, Newtown are sure to take a lot of stopping this year.
So, too, are Na Piarsaigh, even if they will be forced to plan without Aussie Rules hopefuls, Setanta and Aisaki O hAilpín — both of whom contributed handsomely to last season’s success — for the early part of the competition, at the very least.
And Erins Own, boosted by a second county u-21 triumph in three seasons, must surely come into the equation as well, especially since Brian Corcoran, who was making the first tentative steps in his comeback when the team fell to Newtown in the third round last year, is again firing on all cylinders, and the younger players in the squad are maturing all the time.
At any rate, Newtown, Na Piarsaigh and Erins Own comprise my short list for ultimate honours in 2005, with Blackrock, Sars, Cloyne and, to a lesser extent, Killeagh and Glen Rovers the other teams worthy of considerable respect in my book.
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