Ranking Cork's top 60 football clubs: Mallow, Cill na Martra and Knocknagree moving up

Tue, 26 Nov, 2024 - 15:25

Stephen Barry

It’s five years since Cork GAA published its club-by-club rankings which formed the basis of the county championship restructure.

Having examined the changing trends in hurling’s top 60 last week, we turn to football.

Who are the most improved teams? And who has suffered a tumble down the rankings?

The 2019 gradings rated the top 52 clubs’ performances over the previous four seasons and divvied them up across the top four grades we know today: Premier Senior, Senior A, etc. A fifth tier, Premier Junior, was added two years ago, expanding the pool to 60 teams.

Our 2024 rankings are based on this year’s championship outcomes. Group-stage performance is used as the tiebreaker between losing semi-finalists, quarter-finalists, third-, and fourth-placed teams, just as it determines seeding for the knockout stages.

Castlehaven's Conor Cahalane and St Finbarr's Ciaran Doolan tussle for the ball. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Castlehaven, of course, take top spot as champions – up four places since 2019 – ahead of Nemo Rangers who were the number-one team when the championships were rejigged. They also overtook Carbery Rangers (third in 2019) as the uppermost side in the Carbery division.

The biggest increase in that time frame belongs to Kilshannig. The 2019 Junior A champions made the cut as the 52nd and last team into the county-wide championships.

They have experienced remarkable occasions since then. They won the 2022 Intermediate A title and Premier Intermediate followed this autumn. They earned the right to host Rathkeale and Austin Stacks in Munster Championship clashes at home in Glantane and a shot at Senior A football next year.

That puts them 25th in the rankings, up 27 places in five years.

Their extra-time semi-final classic against Uibh Laoire proved the decider between Cork’s most improved clubs.

The Inchigeela side existed outside the top 52 when the championship was restructured but made quick inroads with back-to-back Junior A and Intermediate A crowns in 2020 and ’21. They finished the year in 28th spot.

The third team to make a leap of more than 20 places in the rankings is Knocknagree. John Fintan Daly refuses to call it a ‘fairytale’ but it has been a remarkable rise for the Duhallow side.

The sorting hat had them towards the bottom of the Premier Intermediate grade, as the 35th-ranked side, five years ago. They won that competition at the first attempt and have had two cracks at the Senior A decider, falling narrowly short against Carrigaline last month.

That slots them in at 14th, up 21 places. They have also surpassed Kiskeam as the top-ranked side in Duhallow versus 2019.

Another side to rise to the top of their division is Mallow. Rated 18th five years ago, they have twice made the top-tier knockout stages either side of a relegation scrap. They finished as the most-improved side at Premier Senior in fourth, up 14 places.

Fermoy had previously been the top-rated Avondhu team in 2019, one place ahead of Mallow.

JUMP

Another major leap from outside the cut five years ago belongs to Boherbue, who rose to 38th place as Intermediate A runners-up. They won the Junior A title in 2021.

There are a handful of other double-digit risers. Up 13 places are Kanturk (15th) and Cill na Martra (17th). Premier Intermediate runners-up Aghabullogue (26th) have climbed 12 spots. Up 11 are St Michael’s (9th) and Adrigole (39th), while Intermediate A champions Glanmire have completed a 10-place jump to 37th.

Kanturk are unquestionably the most upwardly mobile across both codes. They are the only club to match a double-digit football rise with the same achievement in hurling, where they rose 15 places to fourth.

Killian O'Hanlon, Kilshannig, battling Barry O'Leary, Uibh Laoire. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

On the other end of the scale, football has also seen a couple of major fallers.

St Nick’s (16th) and Ilen Rovers (10th) were towards the top end of the county in 2019. However, Nick’s suffered triple-relegation from Senior A to Premier Junior (down 43 places to 59th) and Ilen tumbled three grades from Premier Senior to Intermediate A (down 26 places to 36th).

Na Piarsaigh (down 19 places to 48th) and St Vincent’s (down 15 to 47th) were the other Northside clubs to suffer a decline, while Mayfield dropped into Junior A football in 2020.

Millstreet decreased 17 spots to 57th as part of the introduction of the Premier Junior grade.

Cork GAA’s 2019 system of ranking clubs has proved highly accurate in other cases.

Four clubs have retained the exact same position five years later: Newcestown in 8th, Nemo Rangers’ second team 31st, Castletownbere 33rd, and Glanworth 42nd.

Another seven have fallen just one place: Nemo in 2nd, St Finbarr’s 3rd, Ballincollig 5th, Valley Rovers 7th, Carrigaline 13th, Dohenys 16th, and Dromtarriffe 45th.

CORK CLUB FOOTBALL RANKINGS

Castlehaven: 1 (Rank at the start of 2020: 5).

Nemo Rangers: 2 (1).

St Finbarr's: 3 (2).

Mallow: 4 (18).

Ballincollig: 5 (4).

Clonakilty: 6 (9).

Valley Rovers: 7 (6).

Newcestown: 8 (8).

St Michael's: 9 (20).

Douglas: 10 (7).

Carbery Rangers: 11 (3).