Cork football: Relegation play-off survival not always a catalyst for dramatic improvement 

Earlier this week, we examined how relegated sides in the Cork county football championships had fared in their first season down at a lower grade.

By and large, the experience was a tough one, with being caught up in another relegation battle far more likely than challenging for an immediate return to the grade from whence they came.

What of the teams let off the hook, though, those sides who won the relegation play-offs to earn the right to fight another day in a higher tier? Did they benefit from being in the small minority of teams ending their campaign with a victory or was it just a cause of climbing out of the quicksand for a brief period before being sucked back in the next year?

With five years’ worth of the group-stage format to work from, we have 21 examples combining to provide an overall picture – the premier junior grade did not come into being until 2023, hence the lower figure than the 25 in hurling, with four teams dropping from intermediate A without a play-off in 2023.

Every team has unique circumstances – a team can edge a play-off and then benefit from an influx of youth in the years that follow, taking them higher, or it can be the case that a big effort to stave off the drop is merely delaying the inevitable. While there are varying highs and lows among the 21 clubs, there is a strong overall trend.

It’s seen quite clearly at premier senior level, where, of the five clubs to have earned a second chance, Mallow – who beat Carrigaline in 2023 and then made the 2024 semi-finals – are the only example of a team that reached the knockout stages the year after winning the play-off.

Carrigaline had themselves been in that position in 2021 and finished third in 2022 before dropping down – and bouncing back immediately, it must be said – while Éire Óg also came third in 2023 after their near-miss in 2022 but were relegated in 2024.

The team beating the Ovens outfit on that occasion were Carbery Rangers, who found themselves losing that fixture last year; their experience was similar to that of Ilen Rovers, who beat Bishopstown in the play-off in 2020 but were sent down by Carrigaline in 2021.

At senior A level, Batnry Blues, who beat St Nick’s in 2020, were the only team to be relegated the following year but, as with premier, there have been just one of the other teams – Newmarket in 2023 – who made the knockouts the season after winning the play-off. Against that is the example of Fermoy, who relegated Ilen in 2023, finished bottom of their group in 2024 but avoided the play-off and were relegated last year.

Premier intermediate is even more acute – no play-off winner made the knockout stages the following year – though the third tier does have a quirk in that the last three seasons have seen Macroom prevail in that fixture, beating St Vincent’s, Na Piarsaigh respectively in the last three years.

The next grade, intermediate A, provides similar data from the point of view of the next year, but there is a worthwhile difference to note across a longer time-period – it is the only one of the competitions, so far, won by a club who were in the play-off.

What is even more noteworthy is that has happened twice. Glanmire survived in 2020 and then built towards their success of 2024 while Ballinora’s turnaround was even more dramatic. They beat Glenville to stay up in 2023, were unlucky not to qualify with four points in 2024 and went all the way last year.

The premier junior grade is more of an outlier in that Kinsale, having beaten St Michael’s in 2023, reached the semi-finals in 2024; last year, St Nick’s went one better as they followed their 2024 let-off against St James’s by reaching the final.

It is of course a smaller sample though and Millstreet, who prevailed last year against Ballydesmond, lost their 2026 opener to Kinsale.

Of the five clubs that had managed to save their status at the end of last year, only premier senior side Valley Rovers opened their new campaign with victory, suggesting that the overall trend holds firm.