Imokilly target U15 and U18 teams to develop football pathway

Across the GAA, the focus on demographics and rural population decline tends to centre on how to keep clubs alive.

In Imokilly’s case, the issue isn’t extinction, it’s imbalance.

Decline exists in some corners, yes. But the wider trend in East Cork is growth. Growing towns, expanding catchment areas, new players coming through. And yet, through all that, one thing is missing.

Football.

A host of clubs in Imokilly simply don’t field football teams at minor level. It leaves U17s idle for an entire year, unable to play junior and with no competitive football at all. In 2025, just one club from the division – Youghal – competed in the Premier 2 Minor Championship, and they exited at the group stage. None featured at Premier 1.

The absence of a divisional senior team for the past two years hasn’t helped the picture either.

But efforts are being made to combat this. Aghada’s Colin Rooney is leading a charge to eintroduce Imokilly divisional football sides at U15 and U18, offering a route for young players to play at Premier 1 level.

“Right now it's still a proposal,” Rooney explains. “We've got the backing from the Imokilly board, we've got backing from clubs. The interest is massive, we've sponsorship for jerseys, we've sponsorship for footballs.

“It’s not just important for the Imokilly division, it’s important for Cork.

Imokilly, outside of the city, is the largest population of the divisions. And it's certainly not being tapped into in terms of football development, and football potential.” 

And perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Imokilly’s football struggles have coincided with Cork’s.

PATTERN

“This is an issue in recent decades, because if you look back in years gone by, Imokilly football was very successful.

And Imokilly fed massively into every single Cork All-Ireland winning team. So it's important for the division, but it's more important for Cork, for Cork football to thrive in the future.

“The Imokilly senior team has struggled to get going and be successful in the last few years. And for that to be a success in the future, we need a pipeline of talent,” Rooney outlines. “And for that pipeline of talent to work, we need an opportunity for players to play at the highest level.

“There're very few clubs playing Premier. And more concerning is there's half a dozen teams that don't have minor football teams.

“So there's good talent there, there's young lads that want to play football and love to play football but have no opportunity to play football.” 

And there are examples. A number of players won a Munster football championship with Midleton CBS, and the following year could not play football with their club.

They have since stopped playing football.

“If you're U17 right now and your club doesn't have a football team, you can't play for a junior team because you're being too young now. And you have to go and play for another club, which lots of young lads don't want to do.

GROWTH

“So this is a way of them continuing to grow and develop their football skills and show their potential on the highest level, which will be the Premier 1 grade.

“And it could benefit the Cork U20s, it could benefit the Imokilly senior team and hopefully in the long term, Cork seniors as well.” 

Former Cork star and Aghada stalwart Pearse O’Neill believes the plan could be transformative.

“The benefits are for players in east Cork, to get exposure to football at minor level at a high level, which I think would be very important.

“I know from talking to John O’Connor from my own club, who was involved with Cork teams underage and east Cork teams, and Aidan Daridus, who was with Aghada before, and now is down in Youghal, those guys are doing a lot of work underage.

“A minor team being proposed, sounds like it would be very beneficial to Imokilly and to Cork football.

“If you’re from a club in east Cork which is predominantly hurling – which is most clubs in east Cork – and if you’re a very good footballer and you want to play at a good level, I think it’s a great opportunity,” O’Neill says. “To say, ‘look, I have a chance here to play Premier football against the Nemos, the Barrs, and the Douglases of this world’.

“I think that would be a huge carrot for those guys to have something to aim for, and test themselves at a higher level, which they won’t get in their own club.

“That’s just the way it is. I think they could get exposure there, and that could be very good for them.”