THE change in opposition is what Carbery Rangers’ second-team boss John Hayes is most looking forward to as they begin their county league Division 7 campaign at home to Liscarroll/Churchtown Gaels this Saturday (2pm).

Nine of the ten teams in the league operate at junior A level, but exploring new territory adds a dash of excitement for the Rosscarbery side that won the junior A county league last year.

‘You can get a little bit stagnant when you seem to be playing a lot of the same teams around West Cork all the time, so playing different opponents, from the city and from North Cork, is great,’ Hayes told The Southern Star.

‘Obviously we have St James in our group, so we still have that little bit of a local derby to look forward to as well. There are so many different propositions in front of us that we will definitely improve from, and have a greater variety in our games and in our opponents.’

It goes without saying that Rangers’ senior team, in Division 1, are the club’s flagship side. For the second team, this campaign offers an opportunity for younger talent to shine.

‘It will be a real mix of players. The only players we can’t use are the 15 seniors that are named. When the club names their 15, those players will be unavailable to us. The games are on the same weekends so the seniors get priority,’ Hayes explained.

‘The seniors, at different times, take another three, four or five players that they’ll need. It will depend on injuries and availability. I’d expect us to use 25 to 30 players throughout the league campaign. That way, depending on how many the seniors use, all our guys should get game-time and preparation for the junior championship.’

Hayes has a mix of youth and experience in his squad, and all should get game-time in the months ahead.

‘Over the course of the year, I expect a lot of young players to play games. We’ll obviously try to give priority to the guys who are training with the seniors. The seniors have a big panel training, so the guys who are training deserve game-time but also, with a junior team, you need a core of maybe five or six experienced guys who maybe aren’t training anymore.

‘There’s the likes of Mike Mennis, Seán O’Neill and Mick O’Donovan – those guys can help us out at different times during the course of the league campaign, and that’ll be worth a lot to us,’ Hayes added. It is also worth noting that the two Division 7 league finalists last year were West Cork clubs Kilmacabea and Argideen.

This year’s competition also includes sides from Seandún (Nemo Rangers’ thirds, Passage and Mayfield), Muskerry (Inniscarra and Donoughmore), Avondhu (Liscarroll-Churchtown Gaels), Carrigdhoun (Ballygarvan) and Duhallow (Castlemagner).

‘As much as the standard in West Cork is good, I think we’ll get more different tests. Teams who have their own different styles. We won't know much about them. We won’t know much about the opponents or their players so we'll have to learn as we go in that respect,’ Hayes added.