Cork GAA: Strong record for group winners in football quarter-finals
Jamie Burns of St Finbarr's breaks away from Castlehaven's Brian Hurley in last year's McCarthy Insurance Group Premier SFC quarter-final in Clonakilty - the Barrs, having topped their group, dethroned the champions. Picture: Howard Crowdy
Last week, we examined the success rate of group winners in the quarter-finals of the Cork hurling championships when facing teams that had finished runners-up in their sections.
Totalled, the figure from 2020-25 was 27 victories out of 36, equating to 75% – though last weekend’s matches yielded just two wins out of six for table-toppers, meaning the overall figure is now 69%.
Factoring in this year, there have bee 42 hurling examples of these fixtures, the same number as have occurred to date in football – the discrepancy is due to the fact that, for the first three years after the reformatting of the championships, the Intermediate A football grade had 16 teams, meaning four quarter-finals, all featuring group winners.
Since the Premier JFC came into being in 2023, the football has run on the same lines as the hurling, but the greater number of games in the fourth tier served to increase the likelihood of an upset, as can be seen from an examination of the results.
For much of the new era, the Premier Senior competition could be characterised as a three and a nine, with the titles shared by Castlehaven, Nemo Rangers and St Finbarr’s – the other semi-final spot has been filled by a rotating cast while Clonakilty in 2021 are the only side outside the trio to make the county final.
The only outlier among the 12 relevant fixtures was in 2022: Nemo Rangers’ early exit the year before meant they were not seeded and so had to share a group with the Haven, meaning someone other than the main three got to finish top.
The only other instance before this year of that happening was Newcestown last year but they beat Carrigaline in their quarter-final; this time around, Clonakilty edged the Haven on scoring difference and will face Newcestown in a derby clash on Saturday.
In Senior A and Premier Intermediate, there have been two group winners earning quarter-final byes, with just the remaining first-placed side having to take on a runner-up. In both grades, the conversion rate is five out of six – in the case of the third tier, the exception came at the start as Nemo Rangers lost to Knocknagree, meaning a 100% record since.
As alluded to, the volume of IAFC quarter-finals in the first three seasons – a genuine 'last eight' – served to increase the randomness, or rather show how evenly matched the sides were. Of a total of 15 quarter-finals, only eight were won by the seeded team.
The addition of the Premier Junior grade made for uniformity, with five tranches of 12 clubs. Three examples is a small sample size, with a two-out-of-three conversion rate.
In total, 42 quarter-finals between group winners and runners-up have resulted in 31 wins for the sides with the better record coming in – just under 74%. We will have six more examples to work with this weekend.
2020: Nemo Rangers beat Ballincollig, St Finbarr’s beat Newcestown; 2021: St Finbarr’s beat Éire Óg, Castlehaven beat Valley Rovers; 2022: Nemo Rangers beat Carbery Rangers, Mallow lost to Castlehaven; 2023: Nemo Rangers beat Clonakilty, Castlehaven beat Ballincollig; 2024: St Finbarr’s beat Ballincollig, Nemo Rangers beat Clonakilty; 2025: Newcestown beat Carrigaline, St Finbarr’s beat Castlehaven.
2020: Mallow beat Bandon; 2021: Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh beat Clyda Rovers; 2022: Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh lost to Knocknagree; 2023: Knocknagree beat Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh; 2024: Carrigaline beat Bishopstown; 2025: Éire Óg beat Bishopstown.
2020: Nemo Rangers lost to Knocknagree; 2021: Aghada beat Nemo Rangers; 2022: Uibh Laoire beat Rockchapel; 2023: Bantry Blues beat Nemo Rangers; 2024: Naomh Abán beat Rockchapel; 2025: Aghabullogue beat Kiskeam.
2020: Mitchelstown beat Kinsale, Kilshannig lost to Glanworth, Rockchapel beat Ballinora, Millstreet lost to Aghabullogue; 2021: Mitchelstown beat Ballydesmond, Kilshannig beat Millstreet, Uibh Laoire beat Glanworth, Dromtarriffe lost to Aghabullogue; 2022: Adrigole lost to Boherbue, Glanworth lost to Kilshannig, Mitchelstown beat Dromtarriffe, Aghabullogue beat Kildorrery; 2023: Dromtarriffe beat Boherbue; 2024: Mitchelstown lost to Gabriel Rangers; 2025: Gabriel Rangers lost to Ballinora.
2023: Urhan beat Millstreet; 2024: Canovee beat Urhan; 2025: Cullen lost to Canovee
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