Watch Éire Óg and Mallow contest the 2020 Cork Senior A Football Final

The Irish Examiner's live coverage of the Cork GAA championships returns this evening for the delayed 2020 Senior A Football Championship final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh

Mallow's Sean McDonald holds off Conor McGoldrick of Éire Óg during their Cork Senior A Football Championship Group 2 clash at Mourneabbey last August. Mallow beat Éire Óg, 0-14 to 0-7 in a game also broadcast by the Irish Examiner. Picture: Jim Coughlan

The Irish Examiner's live coverage of the Cork GAA championships returns this evening for the delayed 2020 Bon Secours Senior A Football Championship final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. 

Éire Óg and Mallow contest the decider over eight months after their semi-final victories against O'Donovan Rossa and Fermoy respectively.

You can watch the game live below with our coverage starting at 6.30pm ahead of the 7pm throw-in. Patrick Kelly joins Colm O'Connor in the commentary box.

Match preview

By Eoghan Cormican

Strange to be previewing a game that was supposed to take place on the second weekend of October last year and features two teams who have played three competitive games between them in the intervening eight-month period.

Seeing as we have very little to go on, let’s set out what we do know.

Éire Óg won both their Division 1 League games — against Nemo Rangers and Kiskeam — following the resumption of games activity on Monday week last, whereas Mallow lost to O’Donovan Rossa in Division 2.

Manager Harry O'Reilly speaks about the growth of football in @eireogcork ahead of tonight's @OfficialCorkGAA 2020 Senior A Football final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. You can watch the game live at https://t.co/Dn2WQDvrfQ with our coverage starting at 6.30pm ahead of the 7pm throw-in. pic.twitter.com/OzHiwxeCrZ

— Irish Examiner Sport (@ExaminerSport) June 19, 2021

Éire Óg will be without Ciarán Sheehan as a result of the knee injury he sustained while on inter-county duty against Clare on May 30.

His old Cork teammate James Loughrey announced his inter-county retirement in April and so has been training exclusively with Mallow since May 10.

What benefit this has been to Mallow remains to be seen.

What would promotion mean to Mallow GAA? Manager Keith Moynihan gives his answer ahead of tonight's @OfficialCorkGAA 2020 Senior A Football final. You can watch the game live at https://t.co/Dn2WQDvrfQ with our coverage starting at 6.30pm ahead of the 7pm throw-in. @carrigoon pic.twitter.com/65d7EfTTyK

— Irish Examiner Sport (@ExaminerSport) June 19, 2021

Key players for Keith Moynihan’s side include Cork half-back Mattie Taylor, top-scorer Cian O’Riordan, Ryan Harkin, and Kieran O’Sullivan. For Éire Óg, the influential players are John Mullins, Ronan O’Toole, Daniel Goulding, and Cork’s Colm O’Callaghan. 

It is next to impossible to pick a winner when we know so little about where either side are at and who has bounced back quicker after the eight-month pause on collective training.

Yes, Éire Óg’s league results are impressive, but the counter side to that is the loss of Sheehan and to what extent they will feel his absence when the finish line comes into sight and cool heads are called for.

Verdict: Éire Óg.