Club formats are working

IN ALL FAIRNESS

So, the main County Club Hurling Championships are done and dusted for 2025, so what have we learned from the campaign gone by.

First of all, it goes by in the whirlwind with the split season, however it is much better than it was before, even when club championship games were interspersed through the inter-county season. It’s fourteen weekends since the divisional championships started on the last weekend in July until the last weekend in October for the hurling finals, interspersed with five rounds of football with two weekends still to run. That’s a consistent run of games when the club players now know they will be playing.

The inter-county players also benefit as they can focus on one team at a time rather than trying to serve two masters, which is difficult to do. Yes, it was a tough ask for Tipperary players who went straight into club championship action a week after their All-Ireland heroics, but that won’t always be the case as it was this year. In that respect, the championships delayed by two weeks ran off rather smoothly which is encouraging for the future.

It helped that the Munster Council played their part with a provision baked into their club championship formats that the representatives of the All-Ireland finalists get a bye to the semi-finals of their respective competitions, which gave both Tipperary and Cork the added time to complete their club championships without having to rush them off, the same for Kerry and Limerick in football.

They also deserve credit for granting a weeks delay to the Munster senior club football quarter final for the Tipperary champions following the tragic passing of Philly Ryan which led to the postponement of the county semi-final involving Clonmel Commercials which has been refixed for next Saturday against Upperchurch/Drombane, who off the back of their premier intermediate hurling championship success, could create a headache for the Munster Council if they go on and win a first senior football title, as the refixed Munster quarter final v Cork champions St Finbarr’s would be on the same weekend they are scheduled to play the Munster intermediate hurling semi-final against Ballinhassig of Cork.

Not a bad problem for Upperchurch/Drombane to have, and off the back of their priority hurling success, they can play with an added freedom against a Commercials side who will have their fallen colleague very much on their minds, but that can be as much of a burden as it is inspiration if it is not channelled in the right way.

But back to the hurling championships, you want the best teams to lift the silverware come the end, and that is largely what we got. Loughmore/Castleiney might have gotten off to a slow start with a Mid Championship loss to Moycarkey/Borris but it shook them straight and from the day they devoured neighbours JK Brackens in front of national eyes on TG4, they were very much the team to beat and while all-comers gave them their best shot, none were able to best them.

Such is the competitiveness of the Tipperary senior championship, they are the first club to successfully retain Dan Breen since Thurles Sarsfields completed a four in a row from 2014-2017. Back then, the number of contenders weren’t as large as there were this time round. The standard has certainly risen and I would base that on my involvement with a Lorrha side who were relegated this year despite playing better hurling overall than twelve months ago but it wasn’t enough to retain senior status.

That’s a good sign that the structures of the county championship are working; the standard is rising, and hopefully will be reflected long term in how our champions compete in the provincial championships which has been a blot on the copybook.

So just as Lorrha took Upperchurch/Drombane’s place at senior level in 2023, the roles are reversed with the Mid club making a quick return to the top tier with a deserved win in the premier intermediate decider over Carrick Swan, who tasted bitter final defeat for the second year in a row.

Upperchurch/Drombane’s success was born out of a toughness and ability to improve game on game. In the dying seconds of their final group game against Ballina, they were trailing by two points and on the verge of an early exit. In a last gasp throw of the dice, a free from seventy-five metres by Gavin Ryan floated all the way to the net to snatch victory, and with it top spot in the group and progression to the knockout stages from which they never looked back. Talk about fine margins!

It was the same in the intermediate grade where just one point separated neighbours and great rivals Golden Kilfeacle and Knockavilla-Donaskeigh Kickhams in an absorbing final. It is a first title in thirty years for Golden who had to wear the burden of favourites right from the start of the championship, but managed to get their hands on the Michael Maher Cup, and won’t be out of place in the second tier next year, making it even more competitive than it already is.