It were the successor club of Cork United; when United quit the league in October 1948, Cork Athletic was immediately formed to take its place.

[1] Athletic won the league in 1950 and only lost the cup final against Transport after two replays.

In 1953 Athletic won the first all-Cork FAI Cup final, beating Evergreen United 2–1.

Athletic also began the Cork tradition of fielding veteran English League players by recruiting Sunderland legend Raich Carter.

The club eventually folded in 1957, due to financial problems.