A capacity crowd is expected at Charleville on Saturday evening for what promises to be a full-blooded encounter between Newtownshandrum and Ballyhea in the permanent tsb county senior hurling championship.

Ballyhea have watched with envy as Newtown progressed steadily up the rankings following their county intermediate triumph in 1996, reaching the very top three years ago.

And, needless to say, Ballyhea will relish this opportunity to dent the reputation of their North-Cork neighbours.

The extra element of uncertainty surrounding every local derby game will cause many to conclude that Ballyhea aren't without a chance of pulling off a famous victory, but all the concrete evidence tends to suggest otherwise.

Since lifting the county title for the first time in 2000, Newtown have remained very close to the top, bowing out to Imokilly at the same semi-final stage in 2001, and to Blackrock in last year's decider.

Ballyhea, for their part, have been unable to make a worthwhile impact, and they shipped an eleven-point drubbing in last year's quarter-final from an Avondhu side that fell by 12 points to Newtown at the penultimate hurdle. Taking account of those two results, it's hard to envisage anything other than a Newtown victory on Saturday night.

Beaten by Cloyne in a first round replay this year, Ballyhea, with Neil Ronan,as always, doing the bulk of the scoring, came up trumps against Castlelyons after that.

But they will be taking a step up in class against Newtown, who, with so much pride at stake, can be relied upon to raise their level of performance from that which saw them limp to victory over Midleton in the first round.

The bottom line is that Newtown, parading four Cork senior panelists in Ben O'Connor, Pat Mulcahy, Jerry O'Connor and goalkeeper Paul Morrissey, are the better-balanced and more accomplished outfit. And, assuming that they will be ready to meet Ballyhea's determined challenge head-on, they would have to be regarded as a good bet to book a place in the last eight for the fifth consecutive year.