Eoghan Cormican picks out three players to watch in Wednesday's Trench Cup final between Cork IT and Mary I.

Cork’s third win on the bounce, and easily the most impressive of the lot.

This game was watched by a crowd of 1,658 at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Gore, who started the opening-round win over Offaly but had to retire injured at half-time in that game, is back in at number 13 with Michael Hurley dropping to the substitutes’ bench.

Cork Institute of Technology put in a gallant performance as they faced Dundalk IT in the Trench Cup semi-final in Portlaoise on Wednesday evening.

The road to Tier 1 salvation will take the Cork footballers to the heart of Division 3 in Longford, by way of Tipperary and Leitrim.

Ciaran Sheehan also makes his first competitive start for Cork in seven years.

John Fogarty previews Division 3 of the Allianz Football League.

The appearance side by side of ‘Cork attacker Brian Hurley’ and ‘hamstring injury’ is liable to induce a wince from even the most sanguine Rebel supporter — but Ronan McCarthy insists Hurley’s latest setback is in the ‘niggle’ category.

As he emerged from a home dressing room, reinforced by the glow of the more joyous half of a Limerick double on Saturday evening, Billy Lee ducked away from the awaiting reporters for just a moment.

A sensational display from Danny Neville helped Limerick to their first McGrath Cup in 15 years with a shock win over Cork.

The first inter-county silverware of 2020 will be handed out at LIT Gaelic Grounds today, starting with the McGrath Cup final.

The Rebels’ team includes Colm Spillane, who made his return to red-and-white in Tuesday night’s Canon O’Brien Cup game against UCC at the Mardyke after missing 2019.

Mark Collins offers with a wry smile. He is talking about his modest Cork senior inter-county record, which began a few months after the county’s 2010 All-Ireland SFC success.

There are 17 clubs represented in the matchday panel, and 10 on the starting team.

Put aside momentarily the gulf in strength and game experience between the two sides in Tralee yesterday. Any cursory examination of what Cork started with, brought on, didn’t use — or have away on club duty with Nemo Rangers — would lead one to conclude there’s impressive depth and breadth to the Cork football squad as 2020 looms.

Luckless Nathan Walsh’s injury woes continued Sunday in Tralee as Cork pummelled Kerry’s Under 20’s in the McGrath Cup.

Éamonn Fitzmaurice and Tony Leen ran the rule over both teams alongside Colm O'Connor in the commentary box.

Cork football selector Seán Hayes believes that the returning Ciarán Sheehan will bring his influence to bear on and off the field.

Flahive, who started each of Cork’s six championship games this year at corner-back, recently underwent surgery to address a torn labrum in his shoulder.

All-Ireland U20 football winners Cork have seven of the 20 players named as the top performers in this year’s championship.

Cork minor manager Bobbie O’Dwyer knows how quickly Cork football’s restorative summer has trickled all the way down to the next generation.

Back in January when Cork GAA released their five-year plan for Cork football, one of the first stated targets was for Cork to be “regular All-Ireland contenders of inter-county football, within three to five years”.

Leaning against the wall outside a bouncing Cork dressing-room, happiness and contentment radiating from the broad smile he’s wearing, Cork U20 captain Peter O’Driscoll conveys his hope that this sensational come-from-behind final victory “will be the start of something”.

The Cork U20s overturned an early nine-point deficit to secure the county’s first All-Ireland football title since 2010.

Cork’s three-year wait for a championship win over Kerry — across senior, U20/21, minor, and junior level — is no more.

Cork’s three-year wait for a championship win over Kerry - across senior, U20/21, minor, and junior level - is no more.

Cork U20 football manager Keith Ricken has been “blown away” by the attitude and positivity of his charges.

Cork have been forced into three late changes to their starting fifteen ahead of tomorrow’s Munster football final against champions Kerry (7pm).

It has been a shocking decade of decline for Cork football and having started it in 2010 as Division One and All-Ireland champions, they finish it as a Division Three side after yesterday’s deserved win in Armagh failed to save them from relegation.

Armagh 1-14 Cork 3-9

It was glass-half-full time for both managers after a hotly contested equalising score by Conall Jones with the last kick of the game salvaged a point for Fermanagh against 14-man Cork in Enniskillen.

Ronan McCarthy has included four league debutants for Cork's Division 2 opener against Fermanagh.

It might only be the McGrath Cup, but the Cork footballers, for a variety of reasons, would be best served by ensuring the pre-season silverware is perched at the front of the team bus when it pulls out of Willie Clancy country tomorrow afternoon.

The Cork team to play Clare in the McGrath Cup Final on Saturday at 2pm, has been announced.

It will be late February, at the earliest, before Seán Powter makes his inter-county return, according to Cork football manager Ronan McCarthy.

Cork will meet Clare in the McGrath Cup final this Saturday after comfortably dismissing Limerick in today’s penultimate round clash at a venue which had neither a stand nor a scoreboard.

Jack Murphy was the toast of Dromtarriffe on Saturday night as his 61st-minute point secured victory for the Duhallow men in the Cork JAFC final at Páirc Uí Rinn.

For Cork, this Munster minor quarter-final had dwarfed to a futile exercise long before the finish.