CARBERY Rangers had the ideal preparation ahead of the junior A championship campaign – they won the county junior A football league title and promotion to Division 7 of the county league for 2026.
It means the Rosscarbery club will have two teams in the county leagues next season – the senior team, managed by Seamus Hayes, will line out in Division 1, and their second team, led by John Hayes, will campaign in Division 7.
The upside for Carbery Rangers is more players playing county league games.
‘It’s something that crept us on a little bit,’ manager John Hayes admits.
‘A lot of us weren’t really aware of the county junior league when we started the Carbery league this year. It’s a new competition, and the further we went along, the more we realised it could be a big benefit to the club long-term
‘Next year our second team will have more regular games at a higher standard. This year in the Carbery league we had five games, whereas now we will be in Division 7 where, like the seniors, we will have a full league campaign with games every two weeks.
‘The seniors have a panel in the low 40s so not everyone can get game-time in the league, so this will give an opportunity to get more games into guys who are doing a lot of training. You have a small cohort of guys who just play junior and don’t train with the seniors, so it’s more games for those players too
‘To win any title is great, and to win a county league title in July is a good boost heading into the championship.’
The Carbery Rangers team that won the county junior A football league final against Donoughmore in Rosscarbery.
Rangers’ route to Division 7 started in their home division – they topped Division 1 of the Carbery-Beara Football League.
It was into the county section next, and Ross beat Carrigtwohill (2-15 to 1-11) in the quarter-final, Mallow (5-11 to 1-6) in the semi-final, and Donoughmore (2-12 to 1-13) in the final.
Conor Twomey scored a first-half goal for Ross, who led 1-7 to 0-5 at the break. Timothy Cullinane, who kicked 1-4, scored their second goal early in the second half to push the Carbery club ahead by seven, but Donoughmore rallied to cut the gap to two late on.
The Mid Cork side also hit the post with the last shot of the game, but Carbery Rangers held on – it’s the ideal boost ahead of the Carbery JAFC opener against St Colum’s in Drimoleague next Monday night (7.30pm). Games against Goleen and St Mary’s will follow.
‘The game against Donoughmore was as close as you get to a championship-style match,’ John Hayes says.
‘In fairness to Donoughmore, they were really up for it. It looked like it was game over when we were six points up in injury-time but they fought to the bitter end, and almost pipped us with the last kick of the game.
‘It’s brilliant preparation for us. We are playing on Monday night, with the seniors in action on Sunday, but we would be hopeful we could have a strong run in the junior as well.’
Carbery Rangers will now have two teams in Division 7 of the county league in 2026, as Ross join St James in the grade. Both Argideen Rangers and Kilmacabea were promoted from the division this season.
Carbery Rangers: Aaron O’Brien; Peter Óg Hill, Killian Eady, Caolan Hayes; Ciarán McCarthy (0-1), Paudie Hodnett, Niall Keane; Mike Mennis, Alan Jennings; Mike Maguire, Conor Twomey (1-2), Brian Shanahan (0-1); Ben Linehan, Jack O’Regan (0-4, 1f, 1tpf), Colm Hayes.
Subs: Timothy Cullinane (1-4), Sam Linehan, Mark Hodnett, Kieran Fitzpatrick, Chris O’Donovan, Jerry McCarthy.
