Carbery and Muskerry battle to lift the new Derry Gowen Cup in Cork divisional football final

Victors on Friday night at Páirc Uí Rinn will lift the trophy and then progress to a clash with UCC

Action from Carbery's meeting with Muskerry last summer. Picture: Denis Boyle

To move within one hour of involvement in the Cork PSFC quarter-finals is the prize on offer for both Carbery and Muskerry in Friday's colleges/divisions seeded section decider (Páirc Uí Rinn, 7.30pm).

Whoever emerges victorious in this clash will secure themselves a date with UCC in August, a fixture that will determine who takes the sole county quarter-final spot available to divisions and colleges in Cork.

For Muskerry, the turnaround is incredibly swift. They opened their campaign on Tuesday of this week, overcoming by 3-17 to 3-12 an Avondhu outfit that already had three competitive outings banked from the earlier rounds of the section.

Conor Dodd, Mark O'Brien, Liam O'Connor, and Liam Twohig will again be important figures for the Conor Hurley-managed division. 

Cork footballer Chris Óg Jones did not feature in Tuesday's victory. It remains to be seen if he will significantly bolster the Muskerry attack come 7.30pm Friday evening.

Carbery came through their semi-final on Tuesday of last week. They bested last year's winners of the divisions/colleges section, Duhallow, on a 3-18 to 1-23 scoreline.

Damien Gore top-scoring with 0-9, including a pair of orange flags, would mark him out as the forward to curtail in Muskerry's reargaurd planning. Cork senior Ruairí Deane and Olan Corcoran are two more that will be central to Carbery's bid to maintain a path towards a first county quarter-final appearance since 2022.

When this pair clashed 12 months ago in the semi-finals of the seeded section, Muskerry triumphed 7-11 to 1-18.

The late Derry Gowen, former Cork County Board president. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The winners of the McCarthy Insurance Group Cork County Divisions/Colleges Premier Senior Football Championship final will collect the Derry Gowen Cup for the first time.

The new trophy will be presented in honour of the late Derry Gowen of Fermoy, who served his club, his division, Avondhu, and the county with distinction across various roles over many years. He was the father of the current county board treasurer, Diarmuid Gowen, who will present the trophy.

The Tadhg Crowley Cup, previously awarded for this competition, has been repurposed and is now awarded to the winners of the County Football League Division 5 competition. The cup was presented to Mitchelstown last week following their win in this year's final.