No certainty of promotion to Division 3 for the Reds
THE National League will commence on the weekend of May 15/16th to the weekend of June 19/20th with Divisions split into North and South.
Four teams will be in each group based on geography, with three Round Robin games per team. The top two in each divisional group will advance to the league semi-finals, followed by a league final. The bottom two in each divisional group will play relegation semi-finals, with the two losers of those matches relegated.
The bottom teams in Division 4 will play a Shield semi-final and final.
League finals will only be played on June 19/20th if counties involved are not playing in the championship the following weekend. If they are, then joint winners will be declared for Division 1 and joint winners and promotion for Divisions 2, 3, and 4.
Louth are grouped with Antrim, Sligo and Leitrim, while Waterford, Carlow and Wexford are in the South section.
Mickey Harte and his assistant Gavin Devlin will be in opposition with some familiar faces when we take on Antrim who have former Tyrone stars Enda McGinley and Stephen O’Neill now in charge.
Crossmaglen’s Tony McEntee is the new man in charge at the helm in Sligo and Leitrim have retained the services of Cavan’s Terry Hyland who is familar with Louth fooball from his time here with Val Andrews in the Noughties.
While we’d all love to see an immediate return to Division 3 football, there is nothing guaranteed in the bottom tier.
Harte’s arrival back in November gave the whole county a great lift after a difficult season, but it remains to be seen what sort of an impact he has made on the squad given the ongoing restrictions.