Huge hurling weekend lies in store.

After a near three month lay off, the County Senior hurling championship resumes this weekend with games fixed for Fraher Field, Cappoquin, Lemybrien, Carriganore and Walsh Park.

Just three teams, Fourmilewater, Lismore and De La Salle at this stage are through to the quarter final stages of the championship and all the other nine teams still have the change of reaching the last eight of this years championship. The end result should be, some exciting and very competitive games fought out.

The permutations going into this weekends round of games are not worth thinking about as doing so could well mean that one or more could easily be forgotten about. What is important however is that teams collect the full quota of points on offer to them. For most teams nothing less than two points will be good enough.

Where two teams finish on the same amount of points, the team that wins the head to head between the two sides is the team that finish’s higher up the table regardless of score difference between the teams involved. In the even that three or more teams was to finish level on points, then the head to heads are forgotten about and its score difference that will decide the final placing’s.

Each game may last all but sixty minutes plus any stoppage time that needs to be played, but there is an awful lot of hurling to play in this time and it’s a distinct possibility that some twists and turns to happen.

Ballyduff Upper and Abbeyside clash at Cappoquin on Saturday evening. When the two sides clashed at Fraher Field last year, the side from the far west of the county caused a major shock by beating Abbeyside convincingly. Both sides have lost players this year due to immigration and it remains to be seen how many if any of these will make it home this weekend. Adrian Power would be a massive lost for Ballyduff if he does not make it home. His absence would possibly all but end any change Ballyduff would have of reaching the last eight. When Ballinacourty played Senior Football recently, they were short a number of players and if they were to miss this game as well it would be a blow to their side. I would expect Abbeyside to have too much for Ballyduff in this game and win a place in the quarter finals.

At Lemybrien, Passage and Dungarvan clash. As things stand, Dungarvan are things stand sit second from the top of group one and Passage are second from the bottom of the group. Dungarvan have one leg in the final and in other years at this stage of the championship that they have crossed the line but not this year. Passage are a side that can blow hot and cold. When they are good they can be very good, but the reverse is also through. With players like Eoin Kelly and Noel Connors to call upon they have great leaders and I would expect both to play a huge roll in this game. For me here, Passage are going to win and in doing so, they will join Dungarvan on five points and in the processes knock the Old Boro out of the championship winning the head to head between the sides.

The final game in group one is the meeting of Ballygunner and Lismore in Fraher Field. It’s well documented that Lismore have never beaten Ballygunner in Championship Hurling. Despite the fact that they are through to the last eight and up to this stage of the competition, Ballygunner despite been County Champions they have struggled somewhat this year. They have had some injuries to cope with and other players have left these shores in search of employment. I expect that some of those that left earlier this year will be back for this must win game for ‘The Gunner’s’ and win they will.

Fourmilewater are the form team in this years championship with four wins from four games. However, it is from here on in that I think things will get interested for the lads operating out of the Mill Field. Tallow were in last years County Final but up to this stage of this years championship, this is something that you would never have imagined as they have looked rather poor this year. However, in saying that, the same could be said of the Bride-siders for much of last year. It was from this stage of the championship that they started to put some good results together and they will be hoping to do so again this year. I expect Fourmilewater in this game will keep their 100% record in this years championship in tact and will enter the quarter finals as the only unbeaten team in this years championship.

De La Salle and Dunhill meet at Carriganore on Sunday. On paper its only possible to see one outcome to this game and if De La Salle were not to win, it would go down not just as the biggest shock in this years championship, but one of the biggest in a long number of years. Yes, Dunhill have done well in this years championship and the fact that they are in with a chance of reaching the last eight of the championship going into the last round of league games in their first season back playing senior in a number of years speaks volumes for them. While they have some good players, you cant but ask do they have enough players that are up to the standard of what De La Salle have in their panel.

Mount Sion and Roanmore clash in Walsh Park and this could well be one of the games of the weekend. Both sides are in the bottom half of group two but a win here for either side would be good enough to secure their place in the last eight. Mount Sion last time out put in their best performance in this years championship to beat Tallow in Fraher Field. This win should give them confidence and if they can put in another performance like that one, they should have it in them to win this game, especially if they are disciplined and therefore restrict the amount of chances Gavin O’Brien will have to shoot at goal from frees over the hour.

To sum things up, for me, its wins for Abbeyside, Passage and Ballygunner in group one on Saturday evening and on Sunday afternoon its wins for Fourmilewater, De La Salle and Mount Sion, which will mean that the quarter finals of the championship will see Fourmilewater, De La Salle, Mount Sion and possibly Tallow (on score difference over Roanmore) that will advance, while in group two, Lismore, Ballygunner and Abbeyside could all finish on six points and thereofr score difference will come into the equation, while Mount Sion should advance as the fourth team in group two. It would also mean that Ballyduff Upper and Dunhill would be left to fight out to see which would drop to the intermediate ranks next year.

Fixtures for Saturday – Group One

Ballygunner V Lismore in Fraher Field at 6-30pm

Abbeyside V Ballyduff Upper in Cappoquin at 6-30pm

Passage V Dungarvan in Lemybrien at 6-30pm

 

Fixtures for Sunday – Group Two

Fourmilewater V Tallow in Fraher Field at 3-30pm

Dunhill V De La Salle in Carriganore at 3-30pm

Mount Sion V Roanmore in Walsh Park at 3-30pm.

 

League table for Senior Hurling Championship Group One

 

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Points For	Points Against	Points Diff	Points
Lismore	4	2	0	2	78	69	9	6
Dungarvan	4	2	1	1	81	71	10	5
Abbeyside	4	1	1	2	65	66	-1	4
Ballygunner	4	2	2	0	58	61	-3	4
Passage	4	1	2	1	76	81	-5	3
Ballyduff Upper	4	1	3	0	65	75	-10	2

 

League table for Senior Hurling Championship Group Two

 

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Points For	Points Against	Points Diff	Points
Fourmilewater	4	4	0	0	78	46	32	8
De La Salle	4	3	1	0	105	52	53	6
Tallow	4	1	2	1	62	85	-23	3
Roanmore	4	1	2	1	50	89	-39	3
Mount Sion	4	1	3	0	71	82	-11	2
Dunhill	4	1	3	0	65	77	-12	2