Founded 2004 Title holders Bandon (1st title) | Trophy Séamus Long Cup Sponsors Evening Echo | |
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Most titles Ballinhassig (2 titles) | ||
The Evening Echo Cork County Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Cork County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 2004 for the second tier hurling teams in the county of Cork in Ireland.
Contents
The series of games are played during the summer and autumn months with the county final currently being played at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in October. It is usually played as curtain-raiser to the senior final The prize for the winning team is the Séamus Long Cup. The championship includes a knock-out stage and a 'back door' for teams defeated in the first round.
The Premier Intermediate Championship is an integral part of the wider Munster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship. The winners of the Cork county final join the champions of the other five hurling counties to contest the provincial championship.
Sixteen clubs currently participate in the Premier Intermediate Championship. The title has been won at least once by 12 different clubs. The all-time record-holders are Ballinhassig, who have won the competition twice.
Bandon were the title-holders after defeating Fermoy by 1-20 to 1-14 in the 2016 championship decider.
History
The original Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship dates back to 1909, however, in 2003 it was decided to split the grade into Premier Intermediate and Intermediate A. The winners of the Premier Intermediate grade gain promotion to the senior grade while the Intermediate A winners gain promotion to the Premier Intermediate grade. A relegation system is also in place.
Overview
The Premier Intermediate Championship is effectively a knockout tournament with pairings drawn at random — there are no seeds.
Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is a replay. Drawn replays are now settled with extra time, however, if both sides are still level at the end of extra time a second replay takes place and so on until a winner is found.
Sixteen teams currently take part in the championship.
Format
Round One: Sixteen teams contest this round. An open draw is made to determine the eight pairings. The eight winners of these games advance directly to the knock-out stages - six teams advances to round four while the two remaining teams receive a bye to the quarter-finals. The eight losing teams advance to round two where they are provided with another chance to qualify for the knock-out stages.
Round Two: The eight losing first round teams contest this round. An open draw is made to determine the four pairings. The four winners of these games advance directly to round four. The four losing teams advance to round three where they are provided with a final chance to qualify for the knock-out stages.
Round Three: The four losing second round teams contest this round. An open draw is made to determine the two pairings. The two winners of these games advance directly to round four. The two losing teams contest the relegation final. The loser of this game is relegated to the Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship.
Round Four Twelve teams contested this round. It comprised six of the eight first round winners and the six teams that qualified via the "back door" route. The six first round winning-teams were on one side of the draw and could not meet each other. Six teams advance to the quarter-finals while the six losing teams are eliminated from the championship at this stage.
Quarter-finals Eight teams contest this round. An open draw is made to determine the eight pairings. The four winning teams advance to the semi-finals while the four losing teams are eliminated from the championship.
Semi-finals Four teams contest this round. An open draw is made to determine the two pairings. The two winning teams advance to the final while the two losing teams are eliminated from the championship.
Final The county final is contested by the two semi-final winners.
Sponsorship
Since 2005 the Premier Intermediate Championship has been sponsored by the Evening Echo. The competition was previously sponsored by Permanent TSB.