O2 has brought an end to its 15 year sponsorship of Cork GAA.  The deal will not be renewed on its expiry at the end of this year and the County Board are now in active discussion with replacement partners.
O2 were the third sponsors that Cork had on shirts since commercial sponsorship was first introduced in 1992.  The first two were Barry’s Tea and Esat Digifone.
The deal was estimated to have been worth around €200,000 per annum and was second only to Vodafone’s deal with Dublin among other GAA County partnerships.
The Cork County Board paid tribute to the long standing support they had received from O2 and has indicated it will have a new sponsor on board within a matter of weeks, in time for the start of the new season in late January.
O2 has undergone a number of changes in it’s sports and marketing divisions recently with the departure of Jonnie Cahill to Heineken and Enda Lynch to Munster Rugby.
The brand still though retains a strong involvement with sport through sponsorship of the Irish national Rugby team.
This is the second major sponsor to announce a withdrawal from long term GAA county support after Tegral stepped away from a long term relationship with Kildare.
Target Express, the Tyrone sponsors went out of business earlier this year as well.
It is not all gloom however as Tayto Park recently came on board as new sponsors of the Meath County Board and the longevity of so many deals still in place from companies like Glanbia and Kerry Group suggest that there is much to be gained from strong community relationships that county sponsorships represent.
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