Junior A Hurling Championship 2024

[Skinslad]

Donoughmore miles off it. Grenagh could improve this year. Balinora should still win Muskerry and be thorn in anyone’s side in county championship.

Avondhu should be won by Kilshannig. They have best team but care only for football. Ballyhooly, Clyda, LC Gaels and Harbour thereabouts. Am I the only one that thinks Group 2 will be straightforward? Kilshannig and Clyda

Newmarket should be clear favs in Duhallow.. Drom are weakened as previous poster mentioned. Chasing pack Millstreet, Castlemagner and Kilbrin. Banteer down a lot.

Would Tracton not be considered front runners for a county. Unlucky to be relegated last year and always competitive at the higher grade unlike the likes of Grenagh and Dripsey who got some hammerings. Both of those sides then went on to be a threat to Balinora in their division.

Killeagh to win Imokily with their cork minors from previous year. 3 is a lot and I expect them to cope with the physicality.

 

[Patman360]

Obviously anything can happen on a given day but I’d be optimistic about the future of Ballinora and certainly wouldn’t regard the current side to be anyway flaky or lacking bite, especially compared to other sides in Muskerry, there’s a bunch of young lads there who are used to winning across both codes and levels, many of whom are still under 23.

Several of the team that won the U21 football last week are already starting regularly with the Junior A hurling side, a few were in and around Cork minor/U20 panels across both codes, and two of those won All Ireland hurling medals also, which may not mean much in Premier Senior but it’s certainly noticeable in Muskerry Junior A. We’ve further young players who are and are likely to be on Cork panels moving forward so the future is bright! Same goes for camogie.

Considering the position of the club even in 2010 when we had to join Dripsey to field a minor team, it’s a breath of fresh air, I’ve seen some of our underage teams play brilliant against big clubs I’d never even seen set foot in Ballinora.

Grenagh definitely seem to be the closest at the moment, will probably kick themselves for not finishing Ballinora off last year when they were a man up. Was a bizarre game looking back, but a good battle, Dripsey will give it a right swing, I think Kilmichael are a bit back and Donoughmore seem to be coming but are a bit off yet. Second teams are an unknown at this stage, but I hope everyone does kick on as a competitive Muskerry is better for all clubs.

 

[HondaGaels]

Donoughmore miles off it. Grenagh could improve this year. Balinora should still win Muskerry and be thorn in anyone’s side in county championship.

Avondhu should be won by Kilshannig. They have best team but care only for football. Ballyhooly, Clyda, LC Gaels and Harbour thereabouts. Am I the only one that thinks Group 2 will be straightforward? Kilshannig and Clyda

Newmarket should be clear favs in Duhallow.. Drom are weakened as previous poster mentioned. Chasing pack Millstreet, Castlemagner and Kilbrin. Banteer down a lot.

Would Tracton not be considered front runners for a county. Unlucky to be relegated last year and always competitive at the higher grade unlike the likes of Grenagh and Dripsey who got some hammerings. Both of those sides then went on to be a threat to Balinora in their division.

Killeagh to win Imokily with their cork minors from previous year. 3 is a lot and I expect them to cope with the physicality.

I wouldn't be too quick to write off Dromina. They've two transfers in from Ballyhea, one of them was starting for Ballyhea seniors 2 years ago. Bit of an issue with the high stool apparently. They've Johnny Murphy who started for the Cork minors last year and in my opinion Chris Dunne is the one who'll be more a threat at junior level out of the minors they have coming through. I do think Kilshannig will qualify out the group but I wouldn't be so sure about Clyda.

 

[leeside_rebel]

Forgot tracton are now junior, they should be good at that level. I know they are down due to poor showings last year but they surely have a bit of fight to try get back up

 

[Jon Hurling]

Will be very interesting to see how Tracton get on as they would have been considered one of the better teams in Premier Junior. They lost to Ballygiblin in that grades county final only a couple of years ago. Kingston coaching there too after McCarthy's sh1t show last year.

Killeagh will take some stopping with Barry Walsh in the forwards. But he will be playing Minor at the same time of year so they may just fall short. Would be great to see a Killeagh v St Ita's East Cork Final.

Balinora must build on their experience in the county last year only just losing to Nemo. If they really want to progress they should be beating the likes of Grenagh and Dripsey handy.

Not sure how Glanworth, Newmarket and Dromtarriff are fixed this year.

Nothing threatening down West no matter how much people want to big up Clon.

 

[East Muskerry Devil]

How would Dromtarriffe be fixed? I know they've fallen short last few years but have been knocking on door while.
Obviously Conor O Callaghan is their main man but they do have other good hurlers and have been well represented on the Duhallow divisional team last few years who have given a good account of themselves in the divisional championship

 

[Crankycorner]

How would Dromtarriffe be fixed? I know they've fallen short last few years but have been knocking on door while.
Obviously Conor O Callaghan is their main man but they do have other good hurlers and have been well represented on the Duhallow divisional team last few years who have given a good account of themselves in the divisional championship

I remember they looked really good 2/3 years ago. Hammered Dillons out in Ovens. Tomás Howard looked like a serious player. I’m surprised they haven’t been able to push on.

 

[Patman360]

They gave us a good beating out in Coachford too a few years back. They’re still not far off it but I think Newmarket have caught up and possibly overtaken them for the most part, looked very good a few years back and will probably view that final with Ballygiblin as the missed chance as they looked like winning it at times. Think they were the front runners that year but other teams have now caught up.

This grade can be brutal as your looking at 70 teams overall and some vary massively in quality from year to year, no one mentioned Erin’s Own at all at the start of 2022 and they ended up with a very strong team out, seems to make the recent Junior A champions more than ready for the Premier Junior grade currently.

 

[NorthCorkGAAPanda]

I wouldn't be too quick to write off Dromina. They've two transfers in from Ballyhea, one of them was starting for Ballyhea seniors 2 years ago. Bit of an issue with the high stool apparently. They've Johnny Murphy who started for the Cork minors last year and in my opinion Chris Dunne is the one who'll be more a threat at junior level out of the minors they have coming through. I do think Kilshannig will qualify out the group but I wouldn't be so sure about Clyda.

Dromina with a few additions alright, but theit style of play is a tough, tough watch. They slow the game down at every opportunity, every puck out is belted as far as possible, and any free past their own 45 is an attempted shot at the posts. Their discipline also regularly lets them down. League final last year, which Clyda won, they resorted to all of the above.

Clyda with a disappointing year last year, for the second year in a row. No external coach this year. It will be interesting to see how they fare. After the last two years, potentially in the long grass.

I can’t see Kilshannig being as strong as previous years. Reen is over their footballers. I can‘t see him accommodating too much hurling. No point in lying, they are in the cusp of promotion to Senior A, I think hurling will be neglected.

 

[NorthCorkGAAPanda]

Forgot tracton are now junior, they should be good at that level. I know they are down due to poor showings last year but they surely have a bit of fight to try get back up

A lot of hurt within after their disastrous 12 months or so. Kingston getting involved enforces that. They will be eager to bounce back. But nothing for granted, Belgooly will be eager to mount a bid for retention, whilst Kinsale are also disappointed after a poor year on both fronts last year.

Kinsale with two impressive additions on the sideline for the year ahead, well respected in the locality. Whilst I’m hearing Belgooly have retained the services of their duo that brought the SE to Belgooly.