Cork GAA: Castlehaven, Nemo and Barrs strike for biggest winning margins
Cathal Maguire, Castlehaven with possession against St Finbarr's during the Cork County Senior Football Championship semi-final at Pairc Ui Chaoimh in 2021. Picture: Larry Cummins
Last week, we looked at the most lopsided results across each stage of the Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship under the new format.
This week, the focus shifts to the Premier Senior Football Championship, a competition that doesn’t quite share in the hurling equivalent’s reputation for balance. Since Carbery Rangers’ sole title win in 2016, only three clubs have lifted the Andy Scannell Cup: Nemo Rangers, Castlehaven and St Finbarr’s.
Since the 2020 restructuring, just one final hasn’t featured two of those three – Clonakilty’s appearance in 2021, where they fell to the Barrs by a single point. That remains the narrowest final margin to date since the top grade became the PSFC.
Every final under the new format has been competitive, decided by margins ranging from one to five points.
Nemo’s 1-16 to 2-9 win over the Barrs in 2022 is next at four points, while in 2020, the Trabeg outfit’s county win over Castlehaven saw the teams separated by three points, 3-7 to 0-13. A reversal of that result in 2023 saw the Haven win by two points over Nemo, 0-11 to 0-9.
The margins stretch slightly more at the last-four stage. Out of ten semi-finals, the biggest win belongs to Nemo Rangers, who beat Ballincollig 1-16 to 0-9 in 2022, a difference of 10 points. Their 2024 victory over Mallow is a close second, as the Trabeg outfit won 2-11 to 1-5 against the north Cork side, the two separated by nine points.
Two semi-finals have been decided by penalties, both involving Castlehaven and St Finbarr’s, unsurprising given they’ve met one another at the final four stage in each season under the new format. Their 2020 and 2021 clashes were decided by the shootout, the Barrs caming out on top in the latter, but the Haven winning the former.
Quarter-finals are typically tight – seven of the 15 have been settled by three points or fewer. The standout exception was Duhallow’s 3-11 to 0-10 win over Douglas in 2023, a 10-point victory. Prior to defeating the southsiders in that quarter-final, Duhallow set the benchmark for the biggest Divisions/Colleges final win, as they beat UCC 2-14 to 0-14, the six-point margin the largest of the new era.
While the narrowest quarter-final result came just last year, with Nemo edging Clonakilty on penalties in Bandon after a thriller.
The heaviest defeats of all have occurred in the group stages. Castlehaven appear twice among the top five, while Carrigaline feature just as often – but on the receiving end.
The most lopsided group stage result in five years of the Cork PSFC came in 2021, when Nemo Rangers defeated Carrig on a scoreline of 6-17 to 1-9, a total difference of 21 points.
Astonishingly, that would be Nemo’s only championship win in 2021, as they were pipped to group stage qualification by Valley Rovers and Douglas. Carrigaline, despite conceding 12-44 across three group games, avoided relegation, too. They beat Ilen Rovers by a goal in the playoff.
In fact, the second highest margin of victory involved Ilen, after they were defeated 4-19 to 2-4 by Castlehaven the season prior. It was a 21-point win for the Haven.
The third biggest margin of victory again came from Castlehaven, a 2-18 to 0-5 drubbing of St Michael’s in last season’s group stage, a 19-point win.
Valley Rovers are the only non-county champions to feature among the top five biggest wins as the side dishing out the punishment. In 2021, they crushed Carrigaline 5-12 to 0-8 in their final group game, a 19-point margin.
The fifth spot belongs to St Finbarr’s, who opened their 2023 campaign by dismantling Mallow 4-15 to 0-9. The Barrs cruised through the rest of the group stage and into the semi-finals, only to be stopped by eventual champions Castlehaven.
Five relegation play-offs have been played, almost all close contests. The exception was the very first in 2020, when Ilen Rovers beat Bishopstown 0-18 to 1-6 – a nine-point win, still the biggest of its kind.
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