To be a contender you must get to semis, says Haven boss

IT’S a question James McCarthy has been asked many times, but as yet he doesn’t have the answer: what do Castlehaven need to do to win their first Cork Premier SFC title since 2013?

This season marks a decade since the Haven’s last county senior triumph, and while they have been the most consistent West Cork club in recent years they have come up short.

In 2020, Castlehaven lost the county final to Nemo Rangers, and in the last two seasons the Barrs have knocked McCarthy’s men out after epic semi-finals. They’ll start as one of the fancied teams again this season, but McCarthy insists he is not looking beyond Carbery Rangers in their Group A opener this Friday night in Clonakilty (8pm).

‘First off, we need to get there,’ McCarthy replied when asked what must Haven do to take the next step and win the title.

‘We are not a contender at the moment. To be a contender you need to get into the semi-finals, and then you can start talking about that. It’s a minefield in the group stage. Look at the quality of teams in the premier senior now.’

Carbery Rangers’ James O’Riordan and Castlehaven’s Mark Collins pictured at a McKeever Sports jerseys photoshoot this week. Both clubs are supplied by McKeever Sports.

He points to the ‘West Cork Group of Death’ that sees Castlehaven and Carbery Rangers joined by 2021 finalists Castlehaven and Valley Rovers. McCarthy predicts there won’t be ‘a kick of a ball’ between all teams, but since the championship was revamped in 2020 his side has beaten all these clubs when they’ve met. Castlehaven defeated Carbery Rangers in the group stage in ’20 (0-14 to 0-9) and ’21 (1-9 to 0-11), and beat Valleys (1-14 to 0-10) in a quarter-final in ’21. In the group stage last year Haven beat Clon 0-10 to 1-5. No surprise so that Castlehaven will start Group C as favourites to finish in the top two and advance to the knock-out stages.

The availability of Cork hurlers Damien and Conor Cahalane, who had been hurling in America, is a plus. McCarthy said: ‘They’re back with a week, they made the call to come home and it’s great to have them.’ But the Haven boss was more reluctant on the fitness of Cork footballers Brian Hurley and Rory Maguire for the opening game against Carbery Rangers.

‘The bodies are shook after the inter-county season, it’s running repairs and we won’t know about them until closer to the game; they haven’t trained or played with us since they finished up with Cork. They are after a long, hard season with Cork, and they just need a chance to recover,’ he said.

Ideally he wants a full-hand for the derby with Ross, two teams that don’t need any introductions, as McCarthy also says, and this applies to all grades, he wouldn’t rule out anything happening in this weekend’s opening round of games.

‘There is no form at all to go by. Zero form,’ he says.

League form isn’t a reliable indicator either, McCarthy adds. His side finished fourth in Division 1, losing four of their last five games, but he adds important context.

‘I’d take the league with a pinch of salt this year. Everyone approached it differently, including ourselves. We targeted the first three or four games and we were lucky enough to win them. After that there were fellas on holidays, Leaving Certs, fellas coming back from injuries so. Once we were safe we didn’t take it too seriously then. It was a chance to give young lads a chance,’ he says.

He’s been around long enough to know too that the serious business starts this weekend.