BALLYDUFF

Titles: 25 (1891, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2017)

Championship 2017: Champions after seeing off Lixnaw in the final after a replay, 4-13 to 1-19

Manager: Ger Manly (1st year) Captain: Paud Costello Key man: Mikey Boyle Players in: John Hussey Players out: Ally O’Connor & Cathal Kearney First Round: versus Abbeydorney

What they say: “Ballyduff have some great hurlers as they showed last year by winning the county. There’s five or six teams capable of winning it. It’s a very even championship. I don’t know what we expect this year, I wasn’t down for the league matches, but I’m just hoping like they did last year that we improve as we go along. It seems when the championship comes around the Ballyduff lads rise” – manager Ger Manly

Overview: The reigning champions command respect. On their day they’re just devastingly effective, a match or more for everybody else in this competition. Early on in the race for the Neilus Flynn, however, they can be somewhat vulnerable. Last year they looked nothing special in the opening rounds – they lost out to Lixnaw in the winners round – but the deeper they go into the competition the more dangerous Ballyduff became. We’d expect a similar pattern to develop this year. That said they do have a slighty ageing side – Gary O’Brien and Liam Boyle can be expected to play important roles again this year. It’s possible time will catch up with these guys, but if we were managing any of the other seven sides we wouldn’t necessarily be holding our breath for that to happen. There’s been a lot of talk about other clubs this year – Lixnaw are a coming force as we saw last year, Causeway and Crotta O’Neills also – meaning that Ballyduff are going in ever so slightly under the radar. That might just suit them down to the ground, all the better if they struggle through the opening couple of rounds. Powder dry for the real stuff later on.