Down Intermediate Football Championship

Down Intermediate Football Championship
Current season or competition: 2023 Down Intermediate Football Championship
Irish	Cluiche Ceannais Péil An Dúin
Founded	1973
Trophy	WJ Farrell Cup
Title holders	Drumgath Ballyholland Harps Atticall Warrenpoint
Sponsors	The Parador Lodge [1] [2]

The Down Intermediate Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by mid-tier Down GAA clubs. The national media covers the competition. ^[3]

Drumgath are the title holders, defeating Clann na Banna in the Final.

Format

16 clubs compete in the competition.

History

Bredagh won their maiden title in 2016. ^[4]

The 2022 final between Rostrevor and Saval pitted Benny Coulter and Danny Hughes (teammates when Down got as far as the 2010 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final) against each other on the sideline. ^[5]

Honours

The winner of the Down IFC qualifies to play in the Down Senior Football Championship. The Down IFC winner also qualifies for the Ulster Intermediate Club Football Championship. ^{[6] [7]} It is the only team from Down to qualify for this competition. The Down IFC winner may enter the Ulster Intermediate Club Football Championship at either the preliminary round or the quarter-final stage. They often do well there, with the likes of Rostrevor ^{[8] [9]} among the clubs from Down to play in at least one Ulster Championship final after winning the Down Intermediate Football Championship. Liatroim Fontenoys won Ulster in 1998. Warrenpoint won Ulster in 2014. ^[10] Then Loughlinisland won Ulster in 2015. ^[11]

The Down IFC winner — by winning the Ulster Intermediate Club Football Championship — may qualify for the All-Ireland Intermediate Club Football Championship, at which it would enter at the semi-final stage, providing it hasn't been drawn to face the British champions in the quarter-finals.

Finals listed by year

Also won the Ulster and All-Ireland competitions in the same season

Also won the Ulster competition in the same season

Year	Winner	Score	Score	Opponents
1973	Greencastle
1990	Dromara			Ballymartin
1991	Glenn			Drumaness
1992	Drumaness			Ballymartin
1993	Ballymartin
1994	Ballyholland Harps			Annaclone
1995	Saval [12]			Newry Bosco
1996	Newry Bosco
1997	Atticall			Annaclone
1998	Liatroim Fontenoys
1999	Ballyholland Harps
2000	Atticall
2001	Warrenpoint			Longstone
2002	Longstone			Saval
2003	Ballyholland Harps
2004	Atticall
2005	RGU Downpatrick
2006	Drumgath			Atticall
2007	RGU Downpatrick	0–12	0–09	Ballymartin
2008	Annaclone	1–13	0–13	Darragh Cross
2009	Ballymartin	0–15	0–07	Darragh Cross
2010	Tullylish	4–07	4–06	Annaclone
2011	Kilclief	1–09	0–09	Ballymartin
2012 [13]	Warrenpoint [14]	1–08	0–08	Newry Bosco
2013	Drumgath	0–15	1–07	Newry Bosco
2014	Warrenpoint [10]	1–22	1–09	Ballymartin
2015	Loughinisland [11]	3–11	0–08	An Ríocht
2016 [3] [15]	Bredagh	3–13	1–10	An Ríocht
2017	Rostrevor [8]	1–10	1–06	Annaclone
2018 [2] [16]	Bredagh	3–13	1–17	Liatroim Fontenoys
2019 [17]	Glenn	1–12	1–10	Newry Shamrocks
2020 [18]	Saul	3–10	0–14	Drumgath
2021 [19]	An Ríocht	2–06	0–11	Darragh Cross
2022	Saval [20] [21]	1–12	1–09	Rostrevor
2023	Liatroim Fontenoys	1-13	1-12	Rostrevor

Wins listed by club

#	Team	Wins	Years won
1	Ballyholland Harps	3	1994, 1999, 2003
	Atticall		1997, 2000, 2004
	Warrenpoint		2001, 2012, 2014
4	Glenn	2	1991, 2019
	Ballymartin		1993, 2009
	Saval		1995, 2022
	RGU Downpatrick		2005, 2007
	Drumgath		2006, 2013, 2024
	Bredagh		2016, 2018
10	Greencastle	1	1973
	Dromara		1990
	Drumaness		1992
	Newry Bosco		1996
	Liatroim Fontenoys		1998, 2023
	Longstone		2002
	Annaclone		2008
	Tullylish		2010
	Kilclief		2011
	Loughinisland		2015
	Rostrevor		2017
	Saul		2020
	An Ríocht		2021

References

1. Malone, Steve (15 October 2022). "Saval to give Reds their fill". Newry Democrat . Retrieved 3 December 2022.
2. "Bredagh regain Down Intermediate Football honours". Belfastmedia.com. 26 October 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
3. Bagnall, Tony (26 September 2016). "Alan Davidson and Daniel Hughes power Bredagh to title". The Irish News . Retrieved 3 December 2022.
4. "Bredagh crowned champions". Down Recorder . 28 September 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2022. The brilliance of deadly duo Donal Hughes and Alan Davidson sent An Riocht packing as Bredagh claimed their first ever IFC title at Pairc Esler on Sunday.
5. "Previews: Down Senior, Intermediate and Junior Football finals". Gaelic Life . 13 October 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022. Former teammates Benny Coulter and Danny Hughes, who helped Down reach the All-Ireland final in 2010, will face off on the sideline this weekend and this one could go right down to the wire.
6. Watters, Andy (3 November 2018). "Down champions Bredagh travel south for Ulster Intermediate clash with Cavan outfit Mullahoran". The Irish News . Retrieved 3 December 2022. Down champions Bredagh swap the city streets of south Belfast for small town county Cavan this afternoon for a run-in with the once all-conquering 'Dreadnoughts'.
7. Watters, Andy (12 November 2022). "Down champions Saval make Ulster championship debut against Monaghan's Corduff". The Irish News . Retrieved 3 December 2022. Seventy-three years since their foundation, Down champions Saval make their Ulster debut against a Corduff side that passed their first test at this level with a nerve-jangling victory over Armagh's Shane O'Neill's in last weekend's preliminary round.
8. Malone, Steve (15 October 2022). "Saval to give Reds their fill" . Retrieved 3 December 2022. Rostrevor won the title in 2017 and reached the Ulster Final where they lost to Moy by a point, who went on to win the Intermediate All-Ireland.
9. "Cavanagh keeps mighty Moy on upward curve". Irish Independent . 27 November 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
10. "Ulster club IFC final: Warrenpoint come good in second". Hogan Stand . 30 November 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
11. "Loughinisland stun Bundoran with late show". Irish Independent . 29 November 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
12. Malone, Steve (15 October 2022). "Saval to give Reds their fill" . Retrieved 3 December 2022. Saval last won the Championship in 1995
13. "Kilcoo Take County Title". newry.ie. 23 October 2012.
14. "Cookstown win is extra special". Irish Examiner . 3 December 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
15. "Bredagh crowned champions". Down Recorder . 28 September 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
16. Watters, Andy (3 November 2018). "Down champions Bredagh travel south for Ulster Intermediate clash with Cavan outfit Mullahoran". The Irish News . Retrieved 3 December 2022. Jody Gormley steered Bredagh to the Down Intermediate title this year
17. Malone, Steve (16 October 2019). "Captains character inspires Glenn". Newry Democrat.
18. O Meiscill, Padraig (21 September 2020). "Saul's hat-trick of majors ensures victory in Down IFC final". The Irish News .
19. Casey, Shaun (4 December 2021). "An Ríocht chasing more glory days". Gaelic Life . Retrieved 3 December 2022. An Ríocht picked up their first ever championship success at senior level with a 2-6 to 0-11 win over Darragh Cross in the Intermediate final. It was a historic day for the Kingdom and a result that didn't look likely heading into the last water break. Bernie Ruane's side trailed 0-11 to 0-5 but late goals from Eoin Sloan and Kory Colgan completed a comeback that will live long in the memory.
20. Watters, Andy (12 November 2022). "Down champions Saval make Ulster championship debut against Monaghan's Corduff". The Irish News . Retrieved 3 December 2022. Saval clinched their maiden Down intermediate title with victory over Rostrevor on October 15
21. Malone, Steve (15 October 2022). "Saval to give Reds their fill" . Retrieved 3 December 2022.