The destination of the 2015 Division title went down to the last weekend of the season as Cork County watched on as Co. Galway faced County Kerry at Lydican knowing that a win with full bonus points (5 points) for the home side would give them the title.
Due to the poor weather throughout the 2015 campaign, there was no opportunity for either side to face each other in the competition and so, as per the regulations, league positions had to be decided on percentage points gained from all completed games (excluding abandoned fixtures). With both County and Galway finishing their respective campaigns unbeaten it all went down to the the percentage points.
Cork County’s season finished unbeaten having amassed 123 points including 5 wins and 3 No Results equating to 98.4% points gained from points available. Going into their final game, Co. Galway required a win and full bonus points to win the league outright, 4 bonus points which mean it finished as a tie while 3 would mean County would edge ahead of them.
Galway’s 69 run victory over County Kerry on the final weekend of the season meant they collected just 3 bonus and so finished with 97.3% points gained from points available which meant they fell short by the closest of margins (1.1%).
The win means Cork County have clinched the Munster Division 1 and Senior Cup double but in the circumstances it was an unfortunate way to decide such a tight league competition. As the only unbeaten sides, both clubs had made attempts to refix their abandoned fixtures to help make the destination of the title a lot clearer.
Well done to Co. Galway who showed great consistency and competitiveness throughout the season and hopefully next season will bring better weather with the Division 1 league given more prominence in the fixture schedule.
