Best of the west: More than bragging rights at stake between Bandon and Newcestown

Both Bandon and Newcestown have covered some amount of road since their last hurling championship meeting 27 years ago. The prize at stake on the afternoon of that 1991 clash in Ballinascarthy was the Carbery junior title. For the winners this evening, there is a place in the last eight of the SHC.

Newcestown manager Jim O’Sullivan lined out at right-half-back in that most recent meeting, a game they were fortunate to edge on a scoreline of 2-10 to 4-3. Bandon’s Paddy Cahalane, father of current Cork senior Michael, had a late free stopped on the goal-line while the subsequent ‘65 was sent wide.

From what I can remember, we were lucky to get out of there with a win,” O’Sullivan recalls. “If it was one point again on Saturday, we’d take it. As was the case back in ‘91, and is always nearly the case when we play Bandon, there’s never anything between us.

It wasn’t until 12 months after that Carbery decider that Newcestown shed their junior status, while it was 1999 when Bandon earned promotion to the intermediate ranks. The grade was split in 2004, with Bandon staying put and their neighbours being placed into the PIHC.

Bandon’s 2011 county final win over Fr O’Neill’s again put them back on level footing, but they’d continue to avoid each other. Newcestown jumped to senior in 2015, followed by the Lilywhites a year later. Despite them being ships in the night for so long, O’Sullivan says the rivalry has never dimmed.

“A lot of these lads would have gone to school together and would be good friends. That increases the rivalry,” O’Sullivan remarked.

Now, that’ll all be put on the backburner for the match and they can renew friendships afterwards.

The Newcestown manager added: “It is great for West Cork hurling to have two teams at this stage of the senior championship and it is great for West Cork hurling to bring it to Clonakilty. It is probably the first senior hurling match that far west. The board have to be complimented for bringing it down to Clon. It is great for the people of West Cork that they can go and see the likes of Mikey Cahalane, Mark Sugrue and Luke Meade playing a derby in their backyard.”

To guard against the derby element of the fixture distracting from the job at-hand, the Newcestown management have been harking back to their 2015 PIHC final win over Valley Rovers — the Innishannon club sitting every bit as close to them as Bandon — when preparing for this evening’s third round fixture. It was a game where the derby feel to proceedings didn’t last long, Newcestown scoring a 1-23 to 0-8 victory.

“The Valley Rovers game was a derby, yes, but it was also the biggest hurling game any of those players would have played. And they acquitted themselves very well.

We are probably looking back to see how they behaved themselves and moved into that game and hopefully, they’ll draw on that experience. That day in 2015, they put in a massive performance.

“As management, we wouldn’t have the experience these players have so we are trying to feed off them and are trusting them that they will be able to handle the occasion. A lot will hinge on which team handles the occasion the best.”

Both clubs reached the quarter-finals last year, with their respective first round wins over Na Piarsaigh and Blackrock back in April providing further proof they are more than comfortable sitting at the top table.

“The Barr’s are one of the kingpins of Cork hurling. They will always be one of the top teams. For a club like to ourselves to beat the Barr’s, it is a huge achievement,” O’Sullivan remarked.

“The players had the belief they could beat them, but people outside the club would not because they are one of the top teams in the county. They are known throughout the country.

“That is the nature of the championship, that there is such a gap between the first and third round. Everyone is in the same boat. We’ve all been playing league games. Our training has been going well and everyone is sharp. We are happy enough they way we going.”