Cork GAA Championship Update 17/08/2020

Firstly, on behalf of Cork County Committee we wish to express our sincere gratitude to all involved in the 2020 Bon Secours Football and Co-op Superstores Hurling Championships over the past month.

The programme of games completed under difficult circumstances has represented a spectacular volunteer movement and has involved teams, host venues, referees, sponsors, mentors, officers and officials all playing a significant part. This is in addition to an even greater programme of games at divisional and underage level which have been a tribute to the spirit of coordination and cooperation across all organising committees.

While the precarious situation at societal level resulting from Covid-19 means that the progression of competitions continues on a cautious note, we will continue to proceed in compliance with HSE and GAA guidelines.

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Please note the following updates from the County CCC in regard to the 2020 Championships:

Updated tables for all championships can now be found online:

https://gaacork.ie/competition-listing/

The following table outlines the schedule for the remaining rounds as previously circulated.

Date	Guidelines / Fixtures	Senior & Intermediate Hurling (5 grades)	Senior & Intermediate Football (4 grades)	Divisional Junior A / B / C (8 divisions)
Tues / Wed Aug 18/19th	Divisions / Colleges semi-finals	H semi-final	F semi-finals
Aug 21st-23rd	Club Free weekend / Divisions & Colleges Finals	H Final	F Final	Divisional
Aug 28th-30th	Club Championship w/e 5	H Group III		Divisional
Sept 4th-6th	Club Championship w/e 6		F Group III	Divisional
Sept 11th-13th	Club Championship w/e 7	Quarter-finals & Relegation p/o		Divisional
Mon Sept 14th	Inter-county training resumes
Sept 18th-20th	Club Championship w/e 8	Quarter-finals, Semi-finals & Rel. p/o		Divisional
Sept 25th-27th	Club Championship w/e 9	Semi-finals		Divisional
Oct 2nd-4th	Club Championship w/e 10	Finals		County QF H & F
Oct 9th-11th	Club Championship w/e 11		Finals (alternative)	County QF H & F

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Final weekend of group stages

Fixtures for Round III of both the Co-op Superstores Hurling (Aug 28th-30th) and the Bon Secours Football Championships (Sept 5th-6th) as ratified by the CCC are attached in both PDF and Excel formats.

All games within a particular grade, for example the Premier Senior Hurling Championship, will be played simultaneously to ensure fairness. Therefore, it will not be possible to facilitate individual club requests in regard to scheduling due to the requirement for rigid throw-in times.

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Play-off Placings and Formats

All efforts have been made to make every result, every score and indeed every shot count in this year’s championships.

With this in mind, the draws for the play-off stages outlined below reflect the standard 1v8, 4v5, 2v7, 3v6 seeded play-off format. Thus, every team will have something to play for on the final weekend, as their final placing will determine their route for the remainder of the championship. This is reflected in the formats outlined below.

Repeat pairings will be avoided at the quarter-final stage of all championships, where possible.

All knock-out games will be finish on the day, where necessary and as decided by the CCC.

Qualification to semi-finals / quarter-finals

Two teams will progress from each group of four to the play-off stages. This will result in six teams qualifying for the play-off stages in most competitions*, with the two top group winners qualifying for the semi-finals and the remaining group winner and the three second -placed teams qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Teams (1-6) will be ranked as follows on completion of the group stages:

Top Group winner
Second Group winner
Third Group winner
Top Group runner-up
Second Group runner-up
Third Group runner up

Quarter-finals: (a) 3v6, (b) 4v5

Semi-finals: 1 v (b), 2 v (a)

*Modification to above (i)

In the Premier Senior Hurling and Football Championships, only the top group winner will qualify for the semi-finals, with the remaining two group winners, the three second-placed teams and the divisions / colleges winner qualifying for the three quarter-finals.

Teams (1-6) will be ranked as follows on completion of the group stages:

Top Group winner
Second Group winner
Third Group winner
Top Group runner-up
Second Group runner-up
Third Group runner up

Quarter-finals: (a) 2v5, (b) 3v4, (c) 6 v Divisions / Colleges winner

Semi-finals: 1 v (b), (a) v (c)

*Modification to above (ii)

In Intermediate A football Championship there are four groups of four, so the top two from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals, where group winners will play a group runner up from another group.

Teams (1-8) will be ranked as follows on completion of the group stages:

Top Group winner
Second Group winner
Third Group winner
Fourth Group winner
Top Group runner-up
Second Group runner-up
Third Group runner up
Fourth Group runner-up

Quarter-finals: (a) 1v8, (b) 2v7, (c) 3v6, (d) 4v5

Semi-finals: (a) v (d), (b) v (c)

Relegation

The relegation final will be a straight play-off between the two lowest ranked teams*(in terms of points won and scoring difference) amongst the three bottom placed teams from the groups. There will be no round robin.

*Modification to above (i)

In the Intermediate A Hurling Championship, two teams will be relegated as per the format approved last year (in “italics” below) in order to facilitate the promotion of the 2021 County Junior A winners straight to Intermediate A. Therefore, a round robin between the bottom teams in each group will be required in this case.

“At the end of 2020, one team will be relegated from the new Lower Intermediate grade (5th grade). However, the Junior A winners from 2020 will go straight to Intermediate A (4th grade) along with Lower Intermediate winner (5th grade), with two teams relegated from Intermediate A (4th grade) to Lower Intermediate (5th grade).

*Modification to above (ii)

In Intermediate A football Championship there are four groups of four, so the relegation final will be a straight play-off between the two lowest ranked teams (in terms of points won and scoring difference) amongst the four bottom placed teams from the groups.

Placings as per Rule 6.21

Placing within groups in terms of both qualification and relegations will be determined as per general rule, follows: