HAVING put this column on hold last week to celebrate Jerry’s first birthday with a couple of days away, let’s start this week by congratulating the Cork minors on their superb All-Ireland final success against Tyrone.

Manager Keith Ricken has shown, again, how good he is at working with young players, and I must give my old buddy and former team-mate Maurice Moore his dues as well.

Mossy has worked his way up through the Cork underage ranks with a number of years and has enjoyed great success, adding the U17 All-Ireland to the U20 title claimed in 2019. His CV is building nicely. Who knows, perhaps some bigger jobs await.

For now though, all involved get to enjoy the well-earned moment in the sun. As usual, there was a nice sprinkling of West Cork and Beara among the playing group also, with Rory Twohig already on his way to being a star in the No. 1 jersey.

Conor Downing of Adrigole manned the No. 6 jersey with aplomb, while his neighbour even further to the west in Urhan, Kieran O’Shea, was a crucial performer for Cork all season. O’Shea was partnered at midfield by the industrious Barryroe man with a famous West Cork football name, Conrad Murphy, emulating his namesake from Clonakilty in winning a minor All-Ireland with Cork.

Up front, Tom Whooley from Clonakilty kicked 0-2 and caused no end of trouble for Tyrone, while Kevin O’Donovan from Skibb and Donncha O’Mahony of Newcestown both featured from the bench. Fionn O’Donovan of Clon and another fellow Ross man, Luke O’Neill also featured in the 24-man squad. Luke has another year at minor and is a fine prospect for club and county. Cathal Murphy of Valley Rovers and Riley O’Donovan from Barryroe were other panelists from west of the Viaduct in what was a geographically diverse panel with 29 different clubs represented.

Lastly, I must give my congratulations to the Miskellas, with Joe an outstanding captain all the way through this campaign. His father Johnny, mother Claire and brother Danny are, no doubt, very proud. Joe and Danny were the smallest passengers on our team holiday to South Africa after the All-Ireland in 2010, and now they are making their own way for Cork in the red jersey. Time sometimes does seem to fly!

Castlehaven's Eamonn O'Donovan gets to grips with Newcestown's Samuel Long during the U21 A FC quarter-final in Clonakilty.

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With Cork’s involvement in the All-Ireland series over, the club leagues finished and the club championships a couple of weeks away yet, the U21 footballers in Carbery got their championships underway last weekend.

Carbery, to be fair, are trying to bring back summer football for the players at this age group, while other divisions have deferred their competitions until later in the year.

Dohenys, Clon, Castlehaven and Carbery Rangers secured wins in the A grade to set up a pair of exciting semi-finals – Dohenys versus Clon and the Haven against Ross. The B grade is similarly interesting and it is notable that the grade has only seven teams, which includes Clonakilty B and a pair of amalgamated teams who failed to advance beyond the first round.

Ahán Gaels (St Mary’s and Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas) were beaten by seven points by St Colum’s while Kilmacabea/St James were comfortably beaten by Kilmeen. Kilmeen will now face favourites Bandon, while St Colum’s will face Clon B. In the C grade, Kilbrittain take on Muintir Bháire after they beat Caheragh and Randal Óg respectively, while the St Oliver Plunkett’s and Ballinascarthy combo beat Clann na nGael and will face the winners of Urhan versus Gabriel Rangers.

The presence of Urhan as sole representatives for Beara and the increasing proliferation of amalgamations highlight the difficulties facing so many clubs in rural West Cork while other famous and long established clubs endured heavy defeats also. The amalgamations tend to divide opinion somewhat, but I would be very supportive.

We are lucky in Ross to have very good playing numbers and our neighbours in Clon have enough for two teams to compete, but we are among the exceptions to the rule. The young players in clubs that either cannot get the numbers to field a team, or would not be competitive if they did, deserve the chance to play a proper standard of competitive football.

While we might have edged Ibane Gaels this time (2-9 to 1-10), but we have lost to them more than once in recent years. It might lead some to think I would be against their inclusion, but far from it. When properly managed, amalgamations are a positive for football in Cork and Carbery. Last weekend, one of the four amalgamated teams won their quarter-final, so they are hardly taking over.

Football would struggle greatly in many of these clubs without the combinations, I expect they are here to stay and we will see more of them, not less, in the future. The semi-finals are scheduled, by my understanding, for the second weekend of August, and we can look forward to some great games.

It’s not entirely clear when the final or the county section might be played, but in what is a very difficult conundrum, I think this is one the Carbery board have got right. These players are getting to play football in good conditions, and it’s a damn sight better than playing in February or November as we did in recent years. The healthy crowd in Rossmore on Monday evening was testament to the appetite for these games at this time of year. Credit where it’s due.

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The more things change, the more they stay the same. After what has been a most exciting and apparently open All-Ireland championship, we come down to Kerry plus one yet again in the All-Ireland final. The Kingdom’s guests this year will be Cork’s conquerors, Mayo, and very few are expecting anything but Sam Maguire to make its way to the south-west.

The main source of hope for this Mayo side comes in the form of their exciting new full-forward line, where Ryan O’Donoghue is in Footballer of the Year form, Kobe McDonald in the frame for the young footballer version and Darragh Beirne making a strong push for an All-Star. Those three tyros are carrying what is an otherwise serviceable Mayo team in their latest quest to end Irish sports longest running curse/joke.

Kerry, though, can see that trio and raise them the Cliffords, the Geaneys and Seanie O’Shea, while also having the All-Ireland medals and All-Stars galore all over the pitch. Jason Foley may well tag O’Donoghue and that has the makings of a great battle. Kerry boss Jack O’Connor will hope that Tom O’Sullivan will have enough training done to be an option for the final because he would be an upgrade on either Dylan Casey or Paul Murphy.

Briain Ó Beaglaioch’s return is also welcome, and while Gavin White was not at his best and was called ashore against Dublin, he would have the athleticism and the experience to follow young McDonald around the vast expanses of Croke Park. His man-of-the-match performance in last year’s final is still fresh in the memory.

Two in a row to bring up title No. 40 versus the perennial bridesmaids looking for a first championship win since 1951, plus the memories of the heavy beatings the westerners took against the green and gold in 2004 and 2006, there will be no prizes for guessing who’ll be getting my nod this time around. I met a shrewd GAA man months ago who said the Kerry/Limerick double was his bet of the year. While I agreed with him, I didn’t part with any cash myself.

The votes aren’t quite fully cast and counted just yet, but he is looking good from where I sit. We all like to see an underdog story from time to time, but the big dogs don’t do sentiment when it comes to these matters. I expect a Munster double over their Connacht counterparts, albeit the hurling should be a closer run thing this weekend.

The footballers and hurlers of Cork are at home preparing for the county club championships that are just around the corner. We will be looking to those in the next couple of weeks also, plenty to keep us busy and entertained ahead.