Cork County Championships – Review of Intermediate & Junior Competitions

At last week’s County Executive meeting, the following was decided regarding Intermediate Championships in both Football and Hurling.

1. The regrading to Junior of all 12 teams in Lower Intermediate Hurling (LIHC) and 4 teams from Intermediate A Football Championship (IAFC), scheduled for the end of the 2021 season, has been paused for one year, due to the effects of Covid-19 related restrictions.

2. It is planned to revert to two Intermediate Hurling (PIHC & IAHC) and two Intermediate Football grades (PIFC & IAFC) at the end of 2022, instead. The IAHC and IAFC grades will contain 16 teams each. LIHC will be abolished, as planned.

3. Consequently, the 2020 Junior A Hurling winners will not be promoted to IAHC. They will instead take their place in LIHC. This means that there is a requirement to relegate one team only from IAHC 2020. Therefore, the round robin relegation series between Meelin, Glen Rovers and Argideen Rangers, which has yet to be completed, will see only the bottom team relegated to LIHC 2020, rather than the two teams outlined previously.

4. Also, the 2021 Junior A Hurling winners will be promoted to LIHC for 2022 and not IAHC, again requiring only one team to be relegated from IAHC at the end of 2021.

5. Promotion / relegation of one-up, one-down will continue to apply across all grades indefinitely.

6. As previously outlined, a full review of all Junior Competitions at County and Divisional level, in both League and Championship will take place in the coming months.