Carbery hurling clubs firm up management teams for 2024

CHARLIE Wilson will remain in the Newcestown hurling hotseat for the 2024 season, as Carbery clubs in the county championship firm up their management teams for the year ahead.

Senior A county champions Newcestown will be looking to build on their fabulous 2023 season as they mix it up with the big boys in the premier senior grade. Wilson returns as manager this season, as the red and yellow aim to put Carbery hurling back on the map. His selectors are Brian Moloney, Niall O’Sullivan and Seán Twomey. St Finbarr’s, Blackrock, and Fr O’Neills await Newcestown in the group stages. 

Elsewhere, Bandon hurlers will begin their season with Pat Barry at the helm, and Joe Burke as a selector, as they campaign in the lower intermediate division for 2024. The town side will be looking to make their way back up through the grades after suffering consecutive relegations in the past two years. Bandon will be in a group consisting of Blackrock, Erins Own, and Kildorrey.

There are three Carbery clubs in the premier junior championship, again, this season. Jamie Wall, who led Kilbrittain to a county final in 2020 against Castlemartyr, has decided to step down, leaving the door open for former selector John Considine to take over. Considine confirmed with The Southern Star that he’ll have no selectors this year but is in the process of selecting coaches. Kilbrittain fell at the hands of Glen Rovers in the quarter-final last year after a penalty shootout. They will meet familiar faces in Barryroe and Ballygarvan, with junior A county champions Nemo rounding off the group. 

Changes too in the Argideen Rangers management as former manager Paul Holland has swapped teams and codes. He will take over the Douglas senior footballers this season, leaving new manager Jim Foley a strong team at his disposal who were unfortunate to miss out on the knockout stages in 2023 via points difference. Selectors are Diarmuid Corcoran, Declan Crowley and Michael Walsh. Argideen Rangers will face off against Munster champions St Catherines, Glen Rovers, and St Finbarr’s. 

Elsewhere, Tipperary native Conor Walsh takes the reins of Barryroe this year as former Cork hurler Danny Murphy steps down. Walsh and his management team of Mark Mythen, Timmy Carroll and Jason Fleming will be looking to build on Barryroe’s first foray outside of the group stages, when they were beaten by eventual winners Erin’s Own in the 2023 county semi-final. They’ll meet Kilbrittain, Ballygarvan and Nemo Rangers in the group stages.