How did East Cork become such a hurling stronghold?

[BlueSkies]

I'm genuinely puzzled by this. When I was growing up, the county team was dominated by city players, with a few from Midleton and North Cork thrown in for good measure. East Cork was full of junior hurling teams, and some pretty bad ones at that.
It all seems to have kicked off the year Imokilly won the county ('97 I think). Within a few years Killeagh, Cloyne and Castlelyons were all senior, and a large proportion of East Cork teams were competitive at Intermediate level.
Whatever caused this needs to be applied to the rest of the county.

[miahp]

I'm genuinely puzzled by this. When I was growing up, the county team was dominated by city players, with a few from Midleton and North Cork thrown in for good measure. East Cork was full of junior hurling teams, and some pretty bad ones at that.
It all seems to have kicked off the year Imokilly won the county ('97 I think). Within a few years Killeagh, Cloyne and Castlelyons were all senior, and a large proportion of East Cork teams were competitive at Intermediate level.
Whatever caused this needs to be applied to the rest of the county.

Spill-over from Waterford ?

[redrebel]

cos ye are all puffs in the city, and its too hard to play hurling...

[BlueSkies]

I'm from East Cork myself actually.

[KolaKubes]

Because while you'll hear an awful lot of guff about the likes of West Cork with their sausages and the city with its bluffers, East Cork is the heartland of the county.

[BlueSkies]

Insightful.

[KolaKubes]

Insightful.

You know what they say about asking stupid questions.

[BlueSkies]

You know what they say about asking stupid questions.

The answers are disingenuous?

[Rebelred]

I'm genuinely puzzled by this. When I was growing up, the county team was dominated by city players, with a few from Midleton and North Cork thrown in for good measure. East Cork was full of junior hurling teams, and some pretty bad ones at that.
It all seems to have kicked off the year Imokilly won the county ('97 I think). Within a few years Killeagh, Cloyne and Castlelyons were all senior, and a large proportion of East Cork teams were competitive at Intermediate level.
Whatever caused this needs to be applied to the rest of the county.

Hard work at underage level and a hell of alot of commitment.

I'd go back slightly further than 97 for the origins of the rise of East Cork hurling. The East Cork Junior Championship was without question, the hardest competition to win in the county from about 1994 to 1999. Win that and you were nearly nailed on to go and win the Junior County. I remember going to alot of games around then that would have put senior matches to shame. It was just ultra competitive.
From 94 onwards, Carrigtwohill,Killea gh,Castlelyons and Bride Rovers all went on to win junior counties after winning east cork, the only slip up was when Fr. O'Neills lost to Argideen one year.
Castlelyons won the Intermediate in their first year up, and reached the quarter final of the senior the year after, going 2 and a half years undefeated at championship level, not bad for a club that won the Junior B county in 1990. Cloyne won it the year before that (97) and since then, Killeagh, Bride Rovers and Carrigtwohill have joined senior ranks, with Catherines regaining senior status after a mere 1 year absence.

None of these clubs are big clubs, what they have is a desire to be the best they can be, with everyone pulling in the one direction and aiming for the one goal.

[Lamps]

East Cork is the heartland of the county.

:lol!:

[Lamps]

Interestingly I think I pulled up some Cork teams from 20 years ago and 30 years ago and there were the same number City players on each team , roughly 5 or 6.

I think East Cork should enjoy its time in the sun though, it won't last forever.

And finally, does anyone think we should be getting more from East Cork as regards conuty players?

[Rebelred]

Interestingly I think I pulled up some Cork teams from 20 years ago and 30 years ago and there were the same number City players on each team , roughly 5 or 6.

I think East Cork should enjoy its time in the sun though, it won't last forever.

And finally, does anyone think we should be getting more from East Cork as regards conuty players?

Not really, I don't think the current selection is based on where players are from at all. If anything, the South east is a little under represented. The lad Corry from Ballymartle is certainly worth a run with the seniors in the league.

As for east Corks day in the sun not lasting forever Lamps, both premier minor finalists this year are from... yep, east cork ;)

[Lamps]

Not really, I don't think the current selection is based on where players are from at all. If anything, the South east is a little under represented. The lad Corry from Ballymartle is certainly worth a run with the seniors in the league.

As for east Corks day in the sun not lasting forever Lamps, both premier minor finalists this year are from... yep, east cork ;)

U16 from mallow and the city, Carraigaline also really up and coming but i take your point.

Not saying the players are over-represented, but when you look at how strong hurling is, how many outstanding players are coming through or are already there from that part of the County.

On the current county team, Kola won't like to hear this and its open to argument, but i would say that the key players aren't from East Cork.

Tom, Ben and Jerry. Sean Og, GAA, Curran.

[Superdave]

I remember losing a Sciath Na Scoil Final in 1991 to Cloyne. We weren't bad, most years making the final, then this cloyne side came out of no where one year. The score in the final? 4-15 to 1-0! tough to take when you're 12!

[Rebel Yell]

I believe we have always had the heart and the real passion for the game in East Cork...football has never really gotten a look in...

From the days of our very own Cloyne great...Christy, we have produced some greats...more recently John Fenton and Joe Deane...

one of the factors in the upturn in fortunes of East Cork hurling can be traced back to the Midleton CBS hurling nursery of the late 80's / early 90's....a lot of excellent hurlers rolled off that conveyor belt...Brian Corcoran, David Quirke, Donal Og, Sully, Deano, Mark Landers, Mickey O'Connell to name the best of them....a lot of credit has to go to the most exceptional bunch of coaches/background team I have ever encountered in that school around that time...there was a brigade of them and we probably did not appreciate it enough at the time, but they could teach Staunton and co a lot about man- management and coaching...

[RonnyB]

Not really, I don't think the current selection is based on where players are from at all. If anything, the South east is a little under represented. The lad Corry from Ballymartle is certainly worth a run with the seniors in the league.

As for east Corks day in the sun not lasting forever Lamps, both premier minor finalists this year are from... yep, east cork ;)

I've always thought (maybe with a little bit of bias) that the SE had poor representation on the county panel. Seanie Mc & Brendan Sull were the last guys from the division to play senior championship with the county that I can think of. Plenty of these guys have played underage but never got the chance at senior.

Corry is a class hurler & will have to be given a chance looking at other fellas on the panel this year & the oppertunities they got.

[Lamps]

I've always thought (maybe with a little bit of bias) that the SE had poor representation on the county panel. Seanie Mc & Brendan Sull were the last guys from the division to play senior championship with the county that I can think of. Plenty of these guys have played underage but never got the chance at senior.

Corry is a class hurler & will have to be given a chance looking at other fellas on the panel this year & the oppertunities they got.

they were a very good partnership for cork.

[RonnyB]

they were a very good partnership for cork.

As the fella says 'they'd plenty cutting in them!"

[Rebelred]

As the fella says 'they'd plenty cutting in them!"

how we could do with that now to counter the Kilkenny high tackle brigade!

[Rebelred]

I believe we have always had the heart and the real passion for the game in East Cork...football has never really gotten a look in...

From the days of our very own Cloyne great...Christy, we have produced some greats...more recently John Fenton and Joe Deane...

one of the factors in the upturn in fortunes of East Cork hurling can be traced back to the Midleton CBS hurling nursery of the late 80's / early 90's....a lot of excellent hurlers rolled off that conveyor belt...Brian Corcoran, David Quirke, Donal Og, Sully, Deano, Mark Landers, Mickey O'Connell to name the best of them....a lot of credit has to go to the most exceptional bunch of coaches/background team I have ever encountered in that school around that time...there was a brigade of them and we probably did not appreciate it enough at the time, but they could teach Staunton and co a lot about man- management and coaching...
would agree with that.

Of the 20 odd clubs in East Cork, you currently have 9 Senior Hurling Clubs (including Carrigtwohill), this may go back to 8 if Castlelyons are relegated.
You then have another 5 at Intermediate level.
It's a massive representation all the same