SINCE 2020, three Carbery clubs have competed in the county junior A hurling championship.

In eight games between Ballinascarthy, Clonakilty and Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas, there have been just two victories for Carbery clubs. Both of those wins were over Carrigdhoun sides, as Clon defeated Kinsale in 2020 while Bal saw off Valley Rovers’ seconds in 2022.

The last time a Carbery club reached the final of the junior A county was Mathúnas themselves in 2008, while Barryroe were the division’s last winners in 2007.

Mathúnas will be hoping to beat Seandún champions Whitechurch in the county quarter-final in the weeks ahead.

‘It’s a very exciting challenge,’ Mathúnas star Kevin O’Donovan said.

‘We played Whitechurch a couple of years ago in a challenge match and it was a close game. Hopefully, it’ll be the same this time and that we’ll give a good account of ourselves.

‘We’ve been on the go a good bit now since the start of the championship, so it’s good to let the hair down for a night or two and get back into it then towards the end of the week.’

To continue training into the winter is a positive and gives their locals something to look forward to in the next few weeks.

‘It’s great to have another two weeks of training. It’s exciting to go outside the Carbery division and to play more hurling,’ their forward Caolán O’Donovan explained.

‘There’s always a great standard of hurling outside of Carbery. We’re really looking forward to that. We’ll celebrate our win and then we’ll worry about the county after that.’

The club has momentum now too. After an opening day defeat to Bandon, they won their next five games with sides such as Ballinascarthy, Kilbree and Clonakilty falling by the wayside.

The confidence is coursing through Mathúnas.

‘We hugely underperformed the first day against Bandon and left ourselves a lot of work to do. We had to beat Clon and Randals the two days in the group stage or else we would have been out,’ Caolán O’Donovan added.

‘Once we got a couple of games under our belt, you get a bit of confidence. It was a great win against Mary’s and we’re delighted.’

For the time being though, the club from Castletownkenneigh and Coppeen are enjoying the good times. Their first Carbery championship victory was in 2001, with that team being honoured at half-time of the 2026 decider.

The club now has seven titles after winning two of the last three Carbery crowns. These are times to be savoured.

‘For ourselves, we had a barren spell there for a really long time, but it’s great to be back up with the better teams in Carbery again. We just have to keep our heads down and try to make it last as long as we can,’ midfielder Kevin O’Donovan noted.

‘This was what we wanted,’ added manager Pat Lucey after clinching their seventh divisional title.

‘What happens after this now is bonus territory. Look, we’ll do our best to represent Carbery as best we can,’ the manager said as Mathúnas’ season extends for a bit longer.