Beaten football finalists have bounced back strongly
Kanturk captain Aidan Walsh with his son Macdara raises the Billy Long Cup after defeating Bantry Blues in the Bon Secours Hospital Premier IFC final in 2022 - they had lost the two finals prior to that while Bantry made it back to the decider a year later. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
When evaluating various metrics since the streamlining of the format of the Cork county championships, there is often a strong correlation between football and hurling.
In looking at the likelihood of a first-round win leading to qualification for the knockout stages, say, or how successful automatic semi-finalists are, by and large the figures stack up fairly similarly across the codes.
However, there can be notable discrepancies too and a very sizeable difference can be seen in how beaten finalists fare in the following year’s campaign.
Across five years’ worth of competition – 25 different championships – there were just two hurling examples of a team managing to go one better after ending up as runners-up; Sarsfields in premier senior last year and Fr O’Neill’s at senior A level in 2022, the latter with the caveat that they had lost two finals in a row.
In football, and with only 22 applicable championships as the premier JFC only came into being in 2023, meaning that there were losing finalists in the mix only in 2024 and 2025, there have been no fewer than seven instances of a team managing to shake off the disappointment of a final defeat by putting things right a year later (or just a few months later, in the unique case of Mallow in the 2021 SAFC).
It has happened in four of the five grades, with premier senior the exception. However, rather than it being the case that the trauma of going so close to the Andy Scannell Cup leads to a dramatic drop-off the following year, only Clonakilty in 2022 have failed the reach the semi-finals the year after losing the Premier SFC decider.
The mapping of all of the experiences of beaten finalists would be something of a funnel effect.
The seven victories – Mallow, St Michael’s and Knocknagree in senior A, Kanturk and Aghabullogue in premier intermediate, Aghabullogue in intermediate A and Kilmurry in premier junior have been the most common outcome.
Following them are five sides losing two finals in a row (Kanturk did manage to make it third-time lucky), with six reaching the semi-finals while only two lost at the quarter-final stage and two more were unable to get out of the group.
Of the five clubs coming into 2026 looking to go a step further, four are still on the hunt for silverware. Having never lost two finals on the trot before 2024, Nemo Rangers have now lost three in a row and their route back to Páirc Uí Chaoimh will involve having to beat Castlehaven in Clonakilty on Sunday; in senior A, Cill na Martra have a Gaeltacht derby clash with Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh while Uibh Laoire, beaten by Aghabullogue in the Premier IFC final last year, having gone straight through to the semi-finals of their year’s edition.
Ilen Rovers, beaten by Ballinora after a replay in the IAFC decider last autumn, are the only side not to have made the knockouts, having endured a group of death, while St Nick’s do battle with Kinsale in the Premier JFC quarter-finals as they seek to better last year’s final appearance.
Castlehaven reached semi-finals; Clonakilty eliminated after group stage; St Finbarr’s reached semi-finals; Nemo Rangers reached final; Nemo Rangers reached final.
Mallow won championship; St Michael’s won championship; Knocknagree reached semi-finals; Dohenys reached semi-finals; Knocknagree won championship.
Kanturk reached final; Kanturk won championship; Bantry Blues reached final; Bantry Blues reached quarter-finals; Aghabullogue won championship.
Mitchelstown reached final; Mitchelstown reached semi-finals; Aghabullogue won championship; Mitchelstown reached quarter-finals; Boherbue eliminated after group stage.
Kilmurry won championship; Canvoee reached semi-finals.
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