BOTH West Cork schools in Corn Uí Mhuirí Group 1 face important tests as they look to strengthen their hopes of reaching the knockout stages.

Hamilton High School Bandon and Mount Saint Michael Rosscarbery played each other in round one in Clonakilty, with the Hammies coming out on top, 2-13 to 1-9.

St Francis College Rochestown beat Intermediate School Killorglin in the group's other opening-round match. Next Wednesday, Hammies face Killorglin while Michaels take on Rochestown.

If Hammies and Rochestown win, both will qualify for the quarter-finals with a game to spare.

For the Bandon school, it’s a great position to be in, but they did lose to Killorglin in last year’s competition, 3-10 to 1-10, a result that brought an end to their campaign.

Manager Paddy Lordan realises the massive challenge ahead.

‘We always punch above our weight, in lots of ways. With Killorglin, we came up against them last year. We thought that we were getting comfortable in the game. The next thing, they hit us with two quick goals and we were out. That’s how cut-throat this competition is,’ Lordan said.

‘There wasn’t a whole pile in that Killorglin game. We felt that we got a foothold in the game. Next thing, they came back at us with everything. That’s just how it goes then. That’ll be very tight. There’s always only a couple of points in it, a couple of plays.’

Lordan added: ‘We played Rochestown a couple of weeks ago in the Simcox Cup quarter-final. They’re a good side. They were down a couple of bodies on the same day and beat us by six (2-9 to 0-9). Look, we’ve a lot of work to do. We’re under no illusions of what we have to do. The goal has to be to get out of the group and to be ultra-competitive. We regrouped after the first game. We had our mid-term. That was a chance for us to get a couple of good sessions under our belts. Who knows where it’ll take us then.’

One of the Bandon school’s stars is Cork minor and Newcestown player Donncha O’Mahony, who shone at centre-back in their recent victory over Mount Saint Michael.

Valley Rovers’ Cathal Murphy and Bandon’s Aidan O’Driscoll are also strong defensive options, while Paul Deasy (Argideen Rangers) and Olan Kelly (Newcestown) provide the ball-winning presence around midfield.

‘Donncha had a brilliant year with Cork. Cathal Murphy in the back-line was on that squad as well. To have them two lads with that experience is super. I can even see the difference in Donncha and Cathal in a year after a long campaign with Cork,’ Lordan explained.

‘They got great training under Keith Ricken and you can see the real difference in the lads. They are huge leaders for us. Donncha is very vocal on the field. He put in a great shift at centre-back against Mount Saint Michael. He'll only improve from that game too.’

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Mount Saint Michael have to get a result against Rochestown if they are to have any chance of qualifying for the knockout stages in their first season at this level.

Rochestown also face Skibbereen Community School in the Simcox Cup semi-final at the end of the month.

‘You can see that in the school there is excitement over the last couple of weeks. There’s a lot of interest in Rosscarbery, Leap and over in Ardfield and Rathbarry as well. Those are the areas our three main clubs come from,’ Mount Saint Michael boss Mike Keohane said.

‘We’re delighted to be up here in this grade. This is what you want to do: you want to be up against the big schools and the top teams. I think we gave a great account of ourselves against Bandon. We were disappointed as we felt we could have gotten something out of that game but it wasn’t to be.’

Despite losing by seven points in their opening game, Mount Saint Michael had some bright sparks.

Luke O’Neill of Carbery Rangers, part of the Cork minor panel, scored 0-6 against Hammies, including two two-point frees in difficult conditions. His midfield partner Milo Kinsella (Kilmacabea) also stood tall.

‘Luke had a very good game and scored well. You look through the team. David O’Brien at wing-back had a great game and Seán Murphy was excellent at centre-back – they’re two fourth years. Killian Fitzpatrick in the corner as well, another fourth year, was impressive in the first half. There were positives there,’ Keohane noted.

‘There’s something to build on for the future. We have two tough games coming up against Rochestown and then Killorglin. Once we got back onto the training pitch, we put the first game behind us and looked for the positives. There were a lot of positives there. Let’s see if we can get a result in the next game.’

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Clonakilty Community College have put themselves in a great position to qualify from Group 2, but face a huge challenge against one of Kerry’s best, St Brendan’s College Killarney next Wednesday.

Micheál O’Sullivan’s team beat St Flannan’s College Ennis last time out, 1-16 to 2-11, but were nine points ahead with a few minutes remaining before conceding two late goals.

Cork minor Tom Whooley impressed in the opening round, notching 1-2. Goalkeeper Rory Twohig and James Maguire were other standouts.

Clon beat St Brendan’s last year by 0-15 to 0-11 so have experience of a big performance against the Kerry giants.

Twohig, Whooley, Maguire, Howard O’Donovan, Conrad Murphy and Mike Collins are a few on this year’s Clon team who played last year so that will stand to them too.

Elsewhere in the group, St Flannan’s face Presentation Secondary School Miltown. Both sides are looking for their first win of the campaign.