COLUMN: Tipperary stumble a godsend for divisional hurling competitions

The club action will swiftly come into sharp focus this weekend after the Tipperary senior hurlers exit from this year’s All-Ireland championship two weekends ago in Limerick.

Tipp’s lack of punch at the latter stages of the intercounty championship in recent seasons has been a blessing in disguise for the survival of the divisional championships and they will get underway in earnest in the North, Mid, and West Divisions with the South already ahead of schedule having played rounds in the past few weekends.

As will be the case again this year, there is a pretty big carrot for the teams to go all out to win their division as the winner of the divisional finals will be guaranteed a preliminary quarter-final place in the Tipperary club championship, but of course, the honour of divisional glory is still a huge honour for a lot of clubs in the respective competitions.

You need only look back to the Mid Championship last year where JK Brackens won their first-ever divisional senior hurling crown, and it meant an awful lot to the Templemore men, and they will be hoping to have another crack at defending their title for the first time.

They will begin the defence of their hurling title with a very tough yet mouthwatering fixture on Sunday, July 9 against Thurles Sarsfields in The Ragg at 6.30pm, while earlier the same day Drom & Inch and Loughmore Castleiney will meet in Templetuohy at 1.30pm.

Brackens will be without their leader Paddy Cadell who is still out of action after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury against Kilkenny back in February, but they will be a tough proposition for a Thurles Sarsfields side who had a decent league campaign, eventually losing out to eventual winners Kiladangan in the semi-final recently.

The weekend’s action gets underway on the Saturday though, with Holycross Ballycahill and Moycarkey Borris meeting in Boherlahan at 3.30pm with Upperchurch Drombane looking on with interest as they received a bye to the semi-finals in the draw.

The Mid Championship has been an incredibly competitive competition over the past few years and it promises to be a real appetiser of the action that will come down the road in the county club championships next month.

There is also action in the Premier Intermediate grade in the Mid Division this coming weekend, with Gortnahoe Glengoole and Moyne Templetuohy clashing on Sunday in Littleton at 6pm, while the action continues into next week with Thurles Sarsfields and Clonakenny facing off in the other semi-final on Killea on Monday evening.