SINCE Argideen Rangers won the Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship in 2005, the Timoleague club has won one quarter-final.

That was in the 2012 intermediate championship against Kilworth, with the club’s record including seven knockout ties and just one victory.

It’s a record Christy Crowley’s men want to put right in their Co-Op Superstores premier junior knockout clash against Ballygarvan this Sunday (3.30pm) in Ballinspittle.

‘This is where we want to be. We’ve never got past the quarter-finals in the premier junior grade, so we’re trying to take that next step and get to the semi-final. Ballygarvan are a very good outfit, putting up big scores in their three championship games so far,’ Crowley told The Southern Star.

‘Getting to a semi-final is a massive motivating factor. We want to be in the latter stages of competitions. We’d love to win them too, but that’s not always the case.

‘We made the quarter-final last year and got knocked out by Cloughduv. In an ideal world, we’d like to make an extra step this year and at least get to the semi-final. It’s going to be a big task but we’re up for the challenge. There’s no point just resting on your laurels and being happy with a quarter-final.’

Since moving to the premier junior grade, then known as lower intermediate in 2021, they have reached the knockout stage four times. On the previous three occasions, they fell to Ballygarvan (2021), Russell Rovers (2022) and Cloughduv (2025).

The disappointing thing from Rangers’ perspective in their 3-18 to 1-14 loss to Cloughduv last year was that they didn’t perform.

They were 1-12 to 1-3 down at half-time, giving themselves a mountain to climb. Given their wins over Mayfield (2-16 to 1-8) and St Finbarr’s (4-16 to 2-13) in the group stages, those results should give them the confidence to start faster this year.

‘The Barrs’ game was a solid performance. With Ballygarvan, we know that’ll be up another level. Just like all the other teams in the knockout stages, there’s very little between any team. Any team could knock out another team. We were particularly happy with the two wins to date. Good performances throughout, but not for the full 60 minutes. We will need a full 60-minute performance. If we bring that, then we should be in with a good shout,’ Crowley added.

‘Bouncing back from the Barryroe defeat was key. Obviously, we knew a draw was enough to put us through against the Barrs, but we still wanted to bounce back and get to the quarter-final in style.

‘A quarter-final is where we want to be. We’re under no illusions how difficult it will be. Ballygarvan are a very good team. They were narrowly beaten by Kilbrittain last year. They’re probably aggrieved by that result too.’

Goals win games and Argideen have struck them at crucial times too. Think back to their victory over the Barrs – all their goals came in the first half and gave them a platform.

In the Mayfield game, the goals came just before half-time and at the start of the second period. One of those goal-getters has been Seán Walsh, who has hit 3-8 so far, including 2-5 from play against the Barrs.

‘We seem to get goals at big moments. Against the Barrs, it was nip and tuck for the first 15 minutes and then we got three quick goals and the game was in our control then. Hopefully, there’ll be a few more goals this weekend,’ Crowley explained.

‘Seán has had a good championship so far and hopefully he continues that form the next day. There were some other great performances as well. The likes of John Michael (O’Callaghan) are contributing as always and Finbarr Butler is too. There’s a load of fellas you could mention but it’s a team effort. We just can’t be relying on one or two individuals.’

Their other key scorers include the evergreen O’Callaghan (1-11), Philip Flynn (0-8), Charlie Twomey (0-6), Darragh O’Donovan (1-2) and James Crowley (0-5).

A big loss, though, is their captain Matthew Lawton, who is still unavailable after missing the Barryroe and St Finbarr’s games with a cruciate ligament injury.

‘We’ll see if Matthew needs an operation now or not but he won’t be fit for the weekend. Besides that, we’re not in a bad place. From the start of the championship, we’ve had a different team to what we’d usually have but, still, we’ve more than enough to be very competitive,’ Crowley said.