County IAFC final hard to call
Iveleary and Mitchelstown contest the County Intermediate A Football Championship final this Sunday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh for the John Locke O’Sullivan Memorial Cup.
Mitchelstown were runners-up in the 2020 County IFC final, but lost out surprisingly to Rockchapel. Iveleary meanwhile, won the 2020 County JAFC final, defeating Boherbue.
Both sides have showed very good form in this year’s competition. Early results for Iveleary gave an indication they could reach this final at their first attempt. Prominent in football in the Muskerry Division, in recent years Iveleary were victors in Mid Cork finals in 2015 and followed with three titles in a row - 2018, 2019 and 2020.
HARD TO CALL
The outcome of this final is hard to call. Mitchelstown are an experienced side but they are likely to be without some key players through injury. However, their panel is strong. Many of their players have already won a county JAHC with Ballygiblin and will be all out for double success.
Those players involved with Ballygiblin’s success include Fionn Herlihy, Sean O’Sullivan, Colin English, Barry Coffey, Owen Burke, Darragh Flynn, Joseph O’Sullivan and Michael Walsh.
On the other hand, Iveleary are a serious outfit. In 2019 when they won their second Mid Cork title, they were very unlucky to lose out to Kilshannig in the county semi-final. In 2020 they dominated the JAFC, being crowned county champions and have run up big scores in their games to date in the county Intermediate AFC. They are well balanced and have match winning players in Cathal Vaughan and Chris Óg Jones.
Sunday’s county final will be followed at 3pm by the Premier IFC final between Kanturk and Newmarket.