Watch: ‘Imagine if we could get this for the next 10 years’ - Mark Landers on ‘remarkable’ Cork SHC
The final pieces of the jigsaw may have fallen into place because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but Mark Landers believes the current format of the Cork SHC shouldn’t be tampered with for the foreseeable future.
The All-Ireland winning Cork captain was speaking following the Irish Examiner’s live coverage of UCC’s win over reigning county champions Imokilly on Sunday night, throwing the 2020 competition wide open and setting up an exciting night of action next Saturday when the final round of group matches are played.
“It has been a remarkable championship so far and that’s the beauty of the Champions League style scenario, “ Landers said, speaking with Des Curran.
“At the top, middle and bottom, everything is at stake.
“For the last 20 years I’ve been banging on about having this type of a championship and all you kept getting back was ‘there will be dead rubbers’.
“There is no dead rubber in any of the five divisions. And that’s the message that needs to go out to the people that were in charge over the last 20 years.
“There has been lifeblood breathed into the championship in Cork this year.
“There's excitement around it. We’re talking about the championship and there’s a buzz around it. The three-in-a-row county champions are out so it’s anyone’s championship now.“
Landers is certain the added bite in this year’s competition will be of benefit to the performance of Cork’s inter-county stars.
“Imagine if we could get this for the next 10 years, the quality of our players will continue to rise, because there are no dead rubber games.”
The three groups in the Premier Senior competition are neatly poised ahead of next weekend’s matches. The top-ranked team across the three games earns a semi-final spot, with Glen Rovers, Sarsfields and Blackrock all on 100% records from the opening two matches.
Five more teams will qualify for the quarter-finals, joining Imokilly’s conquerors UCC. While the bottom two ranked teams across the three groups will face off in a relegation final.
“At the top you have the Glen, Blackrock and Sars. They all have four points. And all of them are fighting for the top position, whoever comes out as the best-ranked team gets a semi-final place.
“You’d expect Sars to win their game against Ballyhea but Ballyhea are fighting on the relegation side, so if they got a point out of the game, they may avoid the relegation final.
“Blackrock and the Gen have an all 11-point start on Sars, they’ll be keeping an eye on that.
“And the beauty is all the matches are on at the same time, so no team has an advantage over anyone else.
“Six matches played in this Premier Senior championship next Saturday at 7.30pm and everyone is going to be watching the scores from all over.”
There are two winner-takes-all clashes between Midleton and Douglas and Erin’s Own and Newtownshandrum. Landers believes those type of games are an essential ingredient of the new structure.
“Whether we have accidentally happened across this or not… three teams were meant to qualify from each group, but it's only two because of the pandemic.
“And I’d be hoping that into the future, it’ll only be two, because these games wouldn’t have the bite.
“In the third group, you have the Glen and Na Piarsaigh, a northside derby. Na Piarsaigh have three points, but if they win the game they top the group. That game takes on a different flavour as well.”
Heading into a final-round clash with Carrigtwohill, St Finbarr’s are the lowest-ranked team, with zero points and the worst points difference.
That means the new management team of John Cremin and Ger Cunningham need at least a draw this weekend to retain hopes of avoiding the relegation decider.
“The Barrs changed manager. It’s a serious situation when you change your manager. But barring they get a result against Carrigtwohill, they will end up in the relegation final.
“They were in the county semi-final last year. The question is why is Ronan Curran down in Kanturk having done a fantastic job with the Barrs over the last two years. I don't know the answer to that.”
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