Memorable 2023 season will be regaled in West Cork for years to come

As a new year begins, TOM LYONS reflects on the 2023 season – Carbery’s best football year since 2003

TIME was when there was no disputing that West Cork was the heartland of Cork football and all the rest of the county looked on enviously as we produced footballers and football teams of the highest quality in all grades.

Of course, we had to give way to the city now and again, especially at senior level with a team named Nemo Rangers seriously denting our record, but when it came to picking Cork football teams, the eyes naturally turned west on the lookout for more talent.

County titles rolled in but that did not define the area as our own junior football championship was of a standard that would safely grace the senior grade today with Clon being the only senior club team in the division and the rest competing at junior level. Those were the glory years of the 1960s, 70s and 80s that culminated in West Cork teams dominating the senior grade in the 1990s with Bantry, Castlehaven, O’Donovan Rossa and Clonakilty all bringing back the Andy Scannell Cup in that glorious decade.

O'Donovan Rossa captain Lisa Harte is lifted by teammates Fionnuala O'Driscoll, left, and Sharon Stoutt after their All-Ireland junior club final win.

The beginning of the new millennium saw the success continue with Carbery and the Haven landing senior titles and 2003 probably proved to be the apex of football success when West Cork made a clean sweep of football titles in the county.

Castlehaven led the way at senior level, beating Clonakilty in an all-west final, Ilen Rovers beat Carrigaline in intermediate, Carbery Rangers beat Cill na Martra in junior A and Muintir Bháire beat Rathpeacon in junior B. West Cork sat proudly atop the football mountain in Cork in that glorious year and we thought we’d never see another poor football day. However, nothing lasts forever and so it was with West Cork’s domination.

During the past 20 years, since 2003, the county titles have dwindled in all grades except junior B. While six county senior titles – in 2004 (Carbery), 2009 (Clonakilty), 2012, ’13 and 2023 (Castlehaven) and Carbery Rangers in 2016 – would be seen as prime pickings by some divisions in the county it is dwarfed by 13 for the city, a statistic that does not sit well here in West Cork. The story is worse at intermediate and junior levels. At intermediate, only four titles have been won, Carbery Rangers (2006), Newcestown (2010) and (2023), and Bandon (2016), while in junior A only Bandon (2015) and Gabriel Rangers (2016) have brought home county titles.

The story at junior B level is much brighter with eight clubs bringing home 11 titles. These include St Mary’s (2004), Clann na nGael (2006), St Oliver Plunkett’s (2007 and 2023), Argideen Rangers (2008 and 2017), Kilbrittain (2009), Diarmuid Ó Mathúna (2012 and 2022), Kilmeen (2015) and Randal Óg (2021).

But while our prime position in the county was being seriously threatened, the underage scene in the division was truly thriving thanks to the great voluntary work being done by countless underage mentors in the clubs and the effort put in by GDAs James McCarthy and Paudie Crowley and their band of helpers with the development squads.

All the while, great work was being done in the primary schools at Sciath na Scol level and in the second-level schools, where the absence of a Corn Uí Mhuirí title is the only black spot. The result of all that work was finally clear to see in 2023 and football supporters in the area enjoyed a cracking season.

Firstly, at premier senior level, the group of death involving Castlehaven, Clonakilty and Carbery Rangers provided tremendous entertainment and the crowning glory was the Haven going on to win their sixth title after so many narrow misses in recent years. That they beat Nemo Rangers in the final made it all the sweeter. The Haven then added the Munster title, the division’s first senior provincial crown since 1997, and an All-Ireland semi-final awaits. The senior A championship provided a great highlight for West Cork football when Newcestown and Dohenys clashed in the final, the men from St John’s taking the title to complete a rare county double. The premier intermediate grade saw Bantry Blues in their second successive final but it was heartbreak with a late, late defeat to Cill na Martra, who later showed their quality by winning the Munster title. There was no county joy at intermediate A, premier junior or junior A, although Barryroe’s capture of their first-ever Carbery junior A title was a great football highlight of the 2023 season. It was almost a great double at junior B – St Oliver Plunkett’s taking the confined B county title while Goleen were unlucky to lose the open B final.

While it wasn’t total domination of the football scene in Cork, as in 2003, it was certainly enough to claim that 2023 was the year in which West Cork regained its rightful place at the summit of the football mountain in Cork.

We haven’t forgotten, either, the great successes of our ladies football teams in 2023, with Castlehaven winning the county senior B, their fifth county title in a row, and Skibbereen winning county, Munster and All-Ireland junior titles. The successful hosting of two inter-county ladies senior games in Clonakilty added lustre to a thriving football scene. It is something the male county board would do well to imitate in 2024.

The secret now is to continue the good work and to enforce the claim in 2024 that West Cork is indeed the heartland of Gaelic football in Cork.