Battle lines are drawn in Tipperary senior hurling championship

Ahead of the final round of games in the senior hurling championship this weekend, only one of the 16 competing clubs is out of the reckoning for county honours. It’s a remarkable statistic, one which testifies to the integrity of a championship that’s fiercely competitive and finely balanced.

Across all three major grades the battle lines are drawn and there’s jeopardy everywhere as final group positions are set to be decided. The winners will head to the knockouts, the losers will eye-up relegation and the inbetweeners will remain static for another season. A truly fateful weekend awaits.

I was glancing over the betting odds for the senior championship and noticed that only 15 teams were listed. Who was missing? Then the penny dropped. Of course, Roscrea are already out of contention, irrespective of the outcome in their final game against table-toppers, Cashel KC. For the North side it will be their third year in succession battling for survival at this level.

Roscrea’s experience highlights the gap that exists between the Premier Intermediate and Senior Championships. Ros’ won the Premier in 2022 and their initial momentum carried them to the county senior quarter-finals in 2023 where they were narrowly squeezed out by Loughmore. Since then, it’s been a struggle.

This year the team showed signs of significant progress in the North championship and were unlucky in the county series. They shipped an eight-point defeat to Kiladangan in the opening round but were caught late by Drom/Inch in round 2. Ros’ led by three approaching full time before a Tony Cahill goal levelled for Drom. Then, in a tense climax Cormac Fitzpatrick eventually hit the winning point for the Mid side.

Those two losses mean they can’t progress and will face the relegation play-off, though there’s surely sufficient evidence from their season to suggest they’ll survive.

Others too have found the step-up to the senior grade very challenging. Templederry Kenyons were promoted in 2021 but were immediately under pressure at the top level. In 2022 they survived a relegation final clash with Eire Og Annacarty. The following year an important win over Holycross kept them out of relegation but in 2024 they dropped back to Premier Intermediate when losing the relegation final to Lorrha. Last year they were again in relegation territory, just about holding their Premier status with a win over Burgess.

This year, following losses to Moneygall and Burgess (the latter by 15 points) they face a relegation battle, irrespective of the outcome in their final round against Lorrha. It’s been a steep decline for the Kenyons with a shortage of upcoming talent the major problem.

Lorrha too have found the step-up to senior very difficult to sustain. They won the Premier in 2023 with a replay victory over Thurles Sarsfields but were immediately on the backfoot at the higher level. In 2024 they survived the relegation final with a narrow win over Templederry but last year Mullinahone sent them packing back to Premier ranks once again. It’s been a yo-yo experience.

The list goes on. Mullinahone won promotion to the top grade in 2020 and have displayed remarkable survival instincts since then, including two relegation battles where they beat Templederry in the 2022 semi-final and Lorrha in last year’s decider. This year they drew with Toomevara before taking a heavy 12-point hit from Nenagh. Everything now rides on their final game against Brackens.

Even if they lose to the Templemore table-toppers in this weekend’s game, I wouldn’t be betting on Mullinahone’s senior demise. Resilience has been their trademark in the post-Kelly era.

All the evidence then would suggest that making the senior grade is tough but holding your status there is the ultimate challenge. Upperchurch/Drombane know the score. For a team that pushed ultimate winners, Kilruane MacDonaghs, close in the 2022 county senior semi-final, they know the ups and downs better than most.

2023 was a definite downer. After the peaks of 2022 when they chased the hurling/football double - losing the football decider to Clonmel Commercials - they hit a deep ravine in 2023. After winning just one game in their round robin, they lost the relegation final to JK Brackens. From senior championship semi-finalists to Premier Intermediates in twelve months was quite a fall.

The trauma seemed to last into 2024 when Cashel KC hit them for six in the Premier semi-final. Even the early phases of 2025 showed signs of a prolonged hangover from relegation. Their season hung by a thread before a late goal against Ballina ignited something that proved unquenchable. The rest is history.

Now, after two defeats in the 2026 senior series, the reigning All-Ireland Intermediate champions face yet another precipice. No team rises and falls as fast as Upperchurch.

In truth they’ve shown significant improvement as the 2026 season has unspooled. They were terrible in the Mid – enough said there. Against Sarsfields in the county they showed real spunk to pull back an 11-point deficit to the minimum before tailing off again at the end. Then they were desperately unlucky to lose to Kilruane’s late push. Their game with Holycross at the weekend will be engaging.

While most teams who win promotion to senior status struggle to stay there, the Cashel KC story is different. As Premier Intermediate champions, they earned promotion in 2024 and over two seasons now have consolidated their position. Last year was a settling-in exercise where they beat Mullinahone and Nenagh before losing to Sarsfields. Their subsequent quarter-final loss to Holycross was something of a jolt but, overall, it was a decent return to senior status after an absence of 14 years.

2026 has seen further progress. After losing the West to Clonoulty – again – their opening round win over Drom/Inch was noteworthy. Round 2 brought further endorsement when they swooped late to deny Kiladangan what would have been a deserved victory. Rallying from seven-down late in the hour was gutsy; Cathal Quinn’s late volley left the North side stunned.

Like Holycross, Cashel KC have drawn notice as a team on the up, one with significant potential. Unlike the Mid team, whose progress is firmly grounded on underage success, Cashel benefitted significantly from controversial transfers in 2021. All-Ireland senior winner Ger Browne has been in really sharp form this year, hitting 1-3 against Kiladangan. Aaron Browne has been outstanding in goal. Devon Ryan too has contributed handsomely and Nathan Ryan holds the full back slot. Without them Cashel would be a much weaker team.

The side also benefitted this year from the arrival of ex-Lattin and Cratloe player Shane Neville, an All-Ireland underage winner with Liam Cahill.

Alongside those you have the homegrown talent, which is of a high order. Eoghan Connolly has become the physical and spiritual leader of the group, with Oisín O’Donoghue starting to find his niche on the team recently, scoring 0-4 against Drom and 0-3 versus Kiladangan. Conor O’Dwyer too is impressing, among others. Of their younger cohort, Denis O’Callaghan is looking like a bright prospect.

Putting all the disparate parts together produces a rich tapestry. They simply need to gel as a unit, a process which appears to be evolving. They’re already guaranteed quarter-final action as table-toppers ahead of their game with Roscrea, which is effectively a dead rubber - a rarity in this championship.

So, a glut of passionate clashes is promised this weekend. In Group 1 JK Brackens are already through so the winner-takes-all collision features neighbours Toomevara and Nenagh Eire Og. Nenagh are rated higher at the moment – 7/1 versus 40/1 – but local dynamics might challenge that perspective.

Group 2, the so-called group-of-death – is fascinating. Loughmore/Castleiney badly need to break their losing sequence and could well do it against Clonoulty. However, they might still need other events falling their way to avoid finishing bottom and having to rely on their Mid win for a preliminary quarter-final. With three divisional winners in the section, it looks likely that nobody will be eliminated, though mathematically it could happen to Moycarkey.

In Group 3 there are no certainties and many permutations. Group 4 is straightforward: Cashel KC are through as table-toppers and Kiladangan versus Drom/Inch is a winner-takes-all fixture.

Finally, let’s finish on a big thank you to former Limerick hurler, Seamus Flanagan. On ‘Off the Ball’ he openly admitted that he continuously threw the ball, as do other Limerick hurlers. It’s no big news since we’ve known this for years, yet it’s so refreshing to hear such an honest admission. What a pity that others haven’t been so forthright and steps might have been taken sooner to remedy the situation.

Perhaps Derek McGrath might take a listen and then he might avoid making such silly claims about the modern “handpass”. Ditto Donal Óg. And maybe Michael Duignan might come around to the notion that Conor O’Donovan’s proposal is, at least, worthy of a trial. And PG John Meyler is tuned in to OTB.