The Cork Intermediate A Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as McCarthy Insurance Group Cork County Intermediate A Football Championship and abbreviated to the Cork IAFC) is an annual

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

competition organised by the Cork County Board of the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

and contested by the second tier intermediate clubs in the

county of Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are Mallow, Macroom, Mid ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is the fourth tier overall in the entire Cork football championship system. The Cork Intermediate Championship was introduced in

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escapes death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Janu ...

as a competition that would bridge the gap between the senior grade and the

junior grade A junior grade is a subdivision of a military rank, lower than the corresponding rank without that qualification. In the U.S. armed forces, the Army formerly appointed warrant officers (junior grade), and the Navy's lieutenants, junior grade, ar ...

. At the time of its creation it was the second tier of Cork football. In its current format, the Cork Intermediate Championship begins in mid summer. The 12 participating club teams are drawn into three groups of four teams and play each other in a round-robin system. The two group winners proceed to the knockout phase that culminates with the final match at

Páirc Uí Chaoimh Páirc Uí Chaoimh ( ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Cork, Ireland. Often referred to simply as "The Park", it is the home of Cork GAA and is located in Ballintemple, near the site of the original Cork Athletic Grounds. In February 2024, follo ...

. The winner of the Cork Intermediate Championship, as well as being presented with the Seán Ó Súilleabháin Cup, gains automatic promotion to the Cork Premier Intermediate Championship for the following season. Bantry Blues is the most successful teams in the tournament's history, having won it six times.

Glanmire Glanmire () is a suburban town within the administrative area of Cork city, in the civil parish of Rathcooney, County Cork, Ireland. The greater Glanmire area encompasses the communities of Riverstown (Baile Roisín), Brooklodge (Cill Ruadhái ...

are the title-holders, defeating

Boherbue Boherbue (post office spelling) or Boherboy (Ordnance Survey spelling) () is a village in north-west County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The village is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Kilmeen in the Barony of Duhallow, a ...

by 2-10 to 0-15 in the 2024 final.

Format

Development

On 2 April 2019, a majority of 136 club delegates voted to restructure the championship. The new format limited the number of participating clubs to 16.

Group stage

The 12 teams are divided into three groups of four. Over the course of the group stage, which features one game in April and two games in August, each team plays once against the others in the group, resulting in each team being guaranteed at least three games. Two points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. The teams are ranked in the group stage table by points gained, then scoring difference and then their head-to-head record. The top two teams in each group qualify for the knock-out stage.

Knockout stage

Following the completion of the group stage, the top two teams from each group are ranked (1-6) in terms of points accumulated and scoring difference. The two top-ranking teams receive byes to separate semi-finals. * Quarter-finals: Teams designated 3-6 contest this round. The two winners from these two games advance to the semi-finals. * Semi-finals: The two quarter-final winners and teams designated 1-2 contest this round. The two winners from these two games advance to the final. * Final: The two semi-final winners contest the final. The winning team are declared champions.

Promotion and relegation

At the end of the championship, the winning team is automatically promoted to the

Cork Premier Intermediate Football Championship The Cork Premier Intermediate Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as McCarthy Insurance Group Cork County Premier Intermediate Football Championship and abbreviated to the Cork PIFC) is an annual Gaelic football competition orga ...

for the following season. The three bottom-placed teams from the group stage take part in a series of play-offs, with the losing team being relegated to the Cork Premier Junior Football Championship.

Teams

2025 Teams

The 12 teams competing in the 2025 Cork Intermediate A Football Championship are:

Sponsorship

In keeping with its sponsorship deal for all Cork hurling and football championships,

Permanent TSB Permanent TSB Group Holdings plc, formerly Irish Life and Permanent plc is a provider of personal financial services in Ireland. Irish Life Assurance plc and the Irish Permanent Building Society merged to form the Irish Life and Permanent Group ...

provided the sponsorship since the 1990s. The ''

Evening Echo ''The Echo'', formerly known as the ''Evening Echo'', is an Irish morning newspaper based in Cork. It is distributed throughout the province of Munster, although it is primarily read in its base city of Cork. The newspaper was founded as a bro ...

'' became the primary sponsors of all Cork hurling and football championships in 2005 and have continued their sponsorship ever since. McCarthy Insurance Group became the new title sponsor in December 2023.

Venues

Early rounds

Fixtures in the opening rounds of the championship are usually played at a neutral venue that is deemed halfway between the participating teams.

Final

The final has always been played at one of Cork GAA's two main stadiums. On several occasions the final has been played at

as the

curtain raiser A curtain raiser is a performance or performer that opens a show or event for the main attraction; it is usually shorter than the main attraction, but not always. The term is derived from the act of raising the stage curtain. The fashion in th ...

to the senior final, however, in recent times

Páirc Uí Rinn Páirc Uí Rinn (), also known as Páirc Chríostóir Uí Rinn, is a Gaelic Athletic Association stadium located between Ballinlough and Ballintemple in Cork. It was previously known as Flower Lodge and was used as an association football ...

has been the venue of choice for the final.

Trophy

The winning team is presented with the Seán Ó Súilleabháin Cup. A secondary school teacher by profession, John Lock O'Sullivan (1976-2002) played with the

Adrigole Adrigole () is a village on the Beara Peninsula in County Cork, Ireland. It is centred on the junction of the R572 and R574 regional roads. As of the 2022 census, the electoral division in which the village sits had a population of about 500 ...

club and the Beara divisional team, with whom he won the Cork Senior Championship in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. He also lined out for

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

as a member of the under-21 and junior teams. O'Sullivan died suddenly on 19 November 2002.

List of finals

* 1927

Nemo Rangers Nemo Rangers Hurling and Football Club is a Gaelic Athletic Association club in Ballinlough, Cork, Ireland. The club is affiliated to the Seandún Board and fields teams in Gaelic football, hurling and camogie. History Nemo Rangers Hurling & ...

and Kilmurry were disqualified after meeting in the other semi-final

Roll of Honour

By club

By division

References

{{Cork GAA Cork Intermediate Football Championship 2 Intermediate Gaelic football county championships 1909 establishments in Ireland Recurring sporting events established in 1909