By Eoghan Cormican
Beara, Carbery, Duhallow, and UCC will each enter a team in this year’s Cork Premier Senior football championship, while Imokilly and UCC are headed straight for the final of the colleges/divisional hurling section given the vast majority of divisions are opting not to put forward a hurling team.
The eight divisions in Cork, along with UCC and CIT, have this week been debating whether or not to enter teams in the respective premier senior county championships.
When contacted by this newspaper, officers in Avondhu and Seandún confirmed they would not be fielding a divisional hurling or football team in 2020. The Irish Examiner also understands that CIT will not be participating in either the hurling or football championship.
At a meeting of the Muskerry executive this week, officers were split 50-50 as to whether Muskerry should enter hurling and football teams in the county championship. The executive has now sought feedback from managers in the division, but it is thought that Muskerry too will opt out for 2020.
The Carrigdhoun board is to decide in the coming days if they will enter a hurling team, with one officer saying it is far more unlikely than likely that they will be involved. Duhallow and Carbery’s involvement in the hurling championship is still up in the air.
If neither decides to put forward a team, the colleges/divisions hurling section will become a straight final between UCC and four-in-a-row chasing Imokilly. These two sides last met in the 2018 county semi-final, a game Imokilly won 3-21 to 1-15. Imokilly will not be entering a football team.
The colleges/divisions section is scheduled to be run off during the break week in club action. Semi-finals, which will be needed in football, will be played on Wednesday, August 19. The finals in either code are pencilled in for the weekend of August 21-23.
On UCC’s decision to enter both competitions, the University’s GAA development officer John Grainger said: “I think it is important we get teams out in hurling and football. If you look at the records, we are one of the oldest football clubs still playing in the Cork football championship and there or thereabouts with hurling.
“Whether we will have players from other counties lining out for us, I don’t know. It’ll come down to where their clubs are in the championship, whether they are dual players, and their schedule of games. What I will say is that there has always been goodwill amongst the students to play for UCC in the Cork county championship.”
Seandún secretary Mick Buckley said it would be “unfair” on players to expect them to line out for their division while also attempting to negotiate a busy schedule of games with their club.