ULSTER teams learned their fate at the launch of the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies' Football Championships in Croke Park earlier this week.
Armagh will get the senior competition up and running with a preliminary round game on Saturday, July 23 against Waterford as they look to put their provincial Championship disappointment behind them after a surprise heavy semi-final defeat to eventual winners Monaghan. The prize for the winners will be a Qualifier against beaten Munster champions Kerry.
The three other Qualifier games will see beaten Ulster finalists Cavan take on Laois on August 6, Donegal face Galway the weekend before and Westmeath play Meath. After the winners of those games are decided, the four provincial champions, including Monaghan and defending All-Ireland champions Cork, will enter the competition at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage.
Monaghan await the winner of Armagh/Waterford/Kerry and won’t get their Championship underway until August 20 while, should Cavan beat Laois, they will set up a meeting with champions Cork on the same date. Leinster champions Dublin await the winners of Donegal and Galway and the last of the quarter-final pairings sees Connacht champions Mayo play either Westmeath or Meath.
“It was tough on my mum and dad. I knew I was self-destructing. And I also knew the next phase of that, if I had carried on, it was not being here. I was in a very dark place...” - the life and times of Caolan Mooney
‘If you’re still in it when the Christmas tree is up then you’re not going too badly’ - Tommy Coleman’s minors striving for more Clann Eireann success
The intermediate Championship draw also took place, with the preliminary round pairing Roscommon and Wicklow and Limerick against Offaly. Down, narrowly beaten by Tyrone in a hugely entertaining Ulster final earlier this month, will face the winners of Roscommon and Wicklow on the weekend of August 6-7, while Fermanagh will play Connacht runners-up Leitrim the weekend before.
Louth will face Wexford and the winners of the other preliminary game between Limerick and Offaly will face the beaten Munster finalists, either Clare or Tipperary, with that game being decided on Sunday. The first taste of All-Ireland action for Ulster champions Tyrone will not be until the weekend of August 20-21 when they play the winner of Limerick/Offaly v Clare/Tipperary.
The first fixtures for the junior Championship will take place on Sunday, August 7, with Ulster champions Antrim facing Longford and Derry playing Carlow in the preliminary rounds. It was also announced at the launch that the finalists from the British Championships, Lancashire and London, will contest the competition, entering at the quarter-final stages.
The winner of the British final, which takes place on Saturday, July 23, will play the loser of the Derry v Carlow game, while the runner-up will play the loser of Antrim v Longford, with both those games scheduled for August 21.
