Premier IFC: Aghabullogue seek to bounce back - their own history offers solace

While recent history across the reformatted football grades in Cork would suggest that the odds are against Aghabullogue this weekend, they can at least drawn upon positive experiences of their own.

The restructuring at the beginning of 2020 has made for equitable grades, where more teams have a chance of making an impact - but, in tandem with that, it has led to stronger and more consistent showings from title contenders.

In the knockout days, one bad outing might lead to an early elimination in a given year and a five-year graph of a club’s showings might look quite zig-zaggy; now, however, with three group games feeding into the knockout stages, the best-equipped sides tend to come to the top, even allowing for a misfire in one of the early fixtures.

That, in turn, has led to a fairly common occurrence of repeat finalists, teams bouncing back the year after almost going all the way only to be beaten at the last hurdle. Unfortunately for quite a few of those sides, that has not always translated into a reward of victory at the second attempt.

Or even the third, as Nemo Rangers found in the McCarthy Insurance Group Premier SFC final at the weekend, defeat to St Finbarr’s coming on the back of losses to Castlehaven in 2023 and 2024. That is so far the only instance of an unwanted ‘threepeat’ in the football since the move to the group stages five years ago, but there are quite a few more examples of teams losing a pair of deciders on the bounce.

In the Premier IFC, the grade where Aghabullogue face Uibh Laoire on Sunday, the Coachford side are the third team to have lost a final and then made it back at the first attempt. Kanturk were beaten by Knocknagree in the 2020 final, played in August 2021, and then returned to the same stage three months later only to lose the 2021 decider to another Duhallow outfite, Newmarket.

A year on and Kanturk were again back in the final but this time it was a case of third-time lucky, beating Bantry Blues. Bantry in turn managed to channel their disappointment into another final appearance in 2023 but, unfortunately for them, they fell to Cill na Martra on that occasion.

At senior A level, nobody has lost two finals in a row, though of course Knocknagree, who beat Cill na Martra last Sunday to achieve promotion to premier senior less than a decade after soldering at junior A, had been beaten in two of the previous three.

Their ability to win the competition a year after a final defeat, and that of Kanturk in the Premier IFC, is what Aghabullogue will be looking to match - and they have the experience of doing so themselves, at intermediate A.

That grade also has a tale of woe, though. In the 2020 and 2021 editions of the fourth tier, Mitchelstown were the beaten finalists, losing to Rockchapel and Uibh Laoire respectively.

Then, in 2022, Aghabullogue made it to the final and were bettered by Kilshannig - as would prove to be the case in last year’s Premier IFC. By the time the 2023 IAFC final came around, it was clear that one recent finalist would at least get some joy as Aghabullogue found themselves facing Mitchelstown.

The flipside of that was the there would be more heartache for the losers and it proved to be Aghabullogue’s day as David Thompson scored 1-2 with Cialan O’Sullivan also netting in a 2-13 to 1-15 triumph.

Having won the IAHC two weeks previously, it gave them a double triumph. They are back in the IAHC again too, taking on Bandon in November. They will hope that the stars can align again.