Kildare and Antrim draw short straws in league dates
KILDARE footballers and Antrim hurlers have been handed the toughest draws of all counties in the opening round of the 2018 Allianz Leagues, being paired ‘away’ with Dublin and Galway, the respective AllIreland champions.
In what will be a repeat of this year’s Leinster final, Kildare, who were promoted from Division 2 last April, play Dublin in Croke Park on January 27, while Antrim travel to Galway for the opening round of hurling’s Division 1B on the following day.
Both competitions begin on the last weekend of January for the first time as part of the drive to create more room for club activity in April.
The Dublin-Kildare game will be the second leg of a doubleheader, starting with the DublinOffaly 1B hurling clash.
It will be Pat Gilroy’s first competitive outing as Dubs’ hurling manager, coming nearly six years after he finished with the footballers following a very successful term.
Dublin will be ‘away’ to Antrim, Limerick, Laois and at home to Offaly and Galway in a campaign which will be watched with great interest as Gilroy begins a rebuilding programme.
Kerry v Donegal, Monaghan v Mayo and Galway v Tyrone are the other three Division 1 football games on the opening weekend.
It will be the first time that the All-Ireland hurling champions are not in 1A, where the opening round fixtures feature Cork v Kilkenny, Clare v Tipperary and Waterford v Wexford.
Dublin footballers will have four of their seven games (v Kildare, Donegal, Kerry and Monaghan) in Croke Park, while Galway hurlers will have three of their five 1B games at home (v Antrim, Offaly, Limerick).
Galway footballers, who were promoted to Division 1 with Kildare this year, face Tyrone, Donegal and Mayo in their first three games.
Defending champions Kerry host Donegal in the first round but will be away to Mayo, Monaghan and Dublin in three of their next four games. Roscommon v Meath is the stand-out opening fixture in Division 2.
FOOTBALL
DIVISION 1
Round 1 – Saturday, January 27: Dublin v Kildare; Sunday, January 28: Galway v Tyrone, Kerry v Donegal, Monaghan v Mayo Round 2 – Saturday, February 3: Mayo v Kerry, Tyrone v Dublin; Sunday, February 4: Donegal v Galway, Kildare v Monaghan Round 3 – Saturday, February 10: Dublin v Donegal; Sunday, February 11: Galway v Mayo, Kildare v Tyrone, Monaghan v Kerry
Round 4 – Saturday, February
24: Mayo v Dublin, Monaghan v Tyrone; Sunday, February 25:
Donegal v Kildare, Kerry v Galway Round 5 – Saturday, March 3: Dublin v Kerry, Tyrone v Donegal;
Sunday, March 4: Galway v Monaghan, Kildare v Mayo Round 6 – Saturday, March 17: Mayo v Tyrone; Sunday, March
18: Galway v Dublin, Kerry v Kildare, Monaghan v Donegal
Round 7 – Sunday, March
25: Donegal v Mayo, Dublin v Monaghan, Kildare v Galway, Tyrone v Kerry DIVISION 2
Round 1 – Saturday, January 27: Cork v Tipperary; Sunday, January 28: Clare v Cavan, Louth v Down, Roscommon v Meath Round 2 – Saturday, February 3: Cavan v Louth, Tipperary v Roscommon; Sunday, February
4: Down v Cork, Meath v Clare Round 3 – Saturday, February 10: Cavan v Meath; Sunday,
February 11: Clare v Tipperary, Cork v Louth, Roscommon v Down
Round 4 – Sunday, February
25: Cork v Cavan, Down v Clare, Louth v Roscommon, Tipperary v Meath Round 5 – Saturday, March 3: Cavan v Down; Sunday, March
4: Clare v Roscommon, Meath v Cork, Tipperary v Louth Round 6 – Saturday, March 17: Cork v Clare; Sunday, March 18:
Down v Tipperary, Louth v Meath, Roscommon v Cavan Round 7 – Sunday, March 25: Cavan v Tipperary, Clare v Louth, Meath v Down, Roscommon v Cork
DIVISION 3
Round 1 – Sunday, January
28: Armagh v Sligo, Derry v Westmeath, Fermanagh v Wexford, Offaly v Longford
Round 2 – Sunday, February
4: Fermanagh v Offaly, Longford v Derry, Sligo v Wexford, Westmeath v Armagh
Round 3 – Sunday, February
11: Armagh v Longford, Derry v Offaly, Sligo v Fermanagh, Wexford v Westmeath Round 4 – Saturday, February 24: Fermanagh v Derry; Sunday, February 25: Longford v Wexford, Offaly v Armagh, Westmeath v Sligo Round 5 – Saturday, March 3: Armagh v Derry; Sunday, March 4: Sligo v Longford, Westmeath v Fermanagh, Wexford v Offaly Round 6 – Saturday, March 17: Fermanagh v Armagh; Sunday,
March 18: Derry v Wexford, Longford v Westmeath, Offaly v Sligo Round 7 – Sunday, March 25: Longford v Fermanagh, Sligo v Derry, Westmeath v Offaly, Wexford v Armagh DIVISION 4
Round 1 – Saturday, January 27: Laois v Limerick, London v Carlow; Sunday, January
28: Antrim v Leitrim, Wicklow v Waterford
Round 2 – Sunday, February
4: Leitrim v Laois, Limerick v Carlow, London v Wicklow, Waterford v Antrim Round 3 – Saturday, February 10: Laois v Waterford; Sunday, February 11: Antrim v Wicklow, Carlow v Leitrim, London v Limerick
Round 4 – Sunday, February
25: Leitrim v Limerick, Waterford v Carlow, Wicklow v Laois, London v Antrim Round 5 – Saturday, March 3: Carlow v Wicklow, London v Leitrim; Sunday, March 4: Laois v Antrim, Limerick v Waterford Round 6 – Sunday, March 11: London v Laois; Sunday, March
18: Antrim v Carlow, Waterford v Leitrim, Wicklow v Limerick
Round 7 – Sunday, March
25: Carlow v Laois, Leitrim v Wicklow, Limerick v Antrim, London v Waterford
HURLING
DIVISION 1A
Round 1 – Saturday, January 27: Cork v Kilkenny; Sunday, Jan 28: Clare v Tipperary, Waterford v Wexford Round 2 – Saturday, February 3: Tipperary v Waterford;
Sunday, Feb 4: Kilkenny v Clare, Wexford v Cork Round 3 – Saturday, February 17: Tipperary v Wexford; Sunday, February 18: Clare v Cork, Waterford v Kilkenny Round 4 – Sunday, February 25: Kilkenny v Tipperary, Cork v Waterford, Wexford v Clare Round 5 – Sunday, March 4: Kilkenny v Wexford, Tipperary v Cork, Waterford v Clare DIVISION 1B
Round 1 – Saturday, January 27: Dublin v Offaly; Sunday January 28: Galway v Antrim, Limerick v Laois Round 2 – Saturday, February 3: Laois v Galway; Sunday February 4: Antrim v Dublin, Offaly v Limerick
Round 3 – Saturday, February
17: Laois v Antrim, Limerick v Dublin; Sunday, February 18:
Galway v Offaly Round 4 – Sunday, February 25: Antrim v Limerick, Dublin v Galway, Offaly v Laois Round 5 – Sunday, March 4: Galway v Limerick, Laois v Dublin, Offaly v Antrim