IT’S not easy being an Urhan footballer. As the only junior A football team in Beara, since Garnish regraded to junior B in 2020, Urhan have no opposition and no divisional championship to compete in.
In recent seasons they entered the Cork Junior A Football Championship without playing a championship game. Hardly ideal.
They go into the competition, cold, rusty and untested against teams battle-hardened and in-form having won their own divisions. The odds are stacked against Urhan.
Before their county quarter-final against Carrigdhoun champs Kinsale on Saturday, October 22nd, Urhan had waited 333 days since their previous championship game, the 2021 Cork JAFC semi-final defeat to Boherbue.
Urhan don’t make excuses. They get on with it. They have no choice. Remarkably, in the past two seasons they have cleared the first hurdle both times, beating Bride Rovers in a 2021 JAFC quarter-final (Urhan’s first Cork JAFC win since 2007) and getting the better of Kinsale this season. That’s as far as they got though, coming up short in their semi-finals.
It gives Urhan the grand total of four junior A championship games in two seasons. For context, St James played six games to win this season’s Carbery JAFC title.
The good news for Urhan is that next year they will be guaranteed at least three championship games in the one season as they are one of the 12 clubs that will make up the new Cork Premier Junior Football Championship, the fifth tier of Cork club football.
This will be a game-changer for the Beara team. They will have those three group games, against teams of similar strength, and for the first time in years they will not be at a disadvantage. It also makes playing for Urhan more attractive as players know they will have games in the exciting group-stage format, and more matches together will help the team and players improve. The playing field has been levelled.
‘The new competition will give us more games, which will be a positive for the development of our players,’ said Urhan’s Martin McCarthy ahead of their tie with Kinsale.
Urhan will benefit from this new county championship more than most.
