Freeman’s reign starts with a trip to Antrim
WAYNE Freeman’s reign as Louth manager will begin with a trip to Antrim on the first weekend in February and is followed by home fixtures against Limerick and Leitrim before the end of the month.
They follow that with two away games in Derry and Offaly before their final group outing when they host Carlow on March 29.
A condensed schedule, which still accommodates the O’Connor Cup finals weekend, will see the regular league games completed by the end of March
The big news when the National League schedule was announced recently was that the semi-finals have been scrapped so each tier’s top two will now go through to a divisional decider.
The straight final format mirrors the GAA National League with the major difference that, with only one promotion place up for grabs at each level, those showdowns will have a really competitive edge with more than just a title and trophy at stake.
Having to make the top two to qualify for the knockout stages rather than simply finishing in the upper half of the table will make each league game more meaningful with less margin for error from the start of the campaign.
The National League finals will take place on April 18-19, three weeks earlier than their traditional date which is expected to make space for the inter provincial tournament to be restored to a date prior to the commencement of the provincial Championships
Meanwhile Wayne Freeman has finalised his backroom team with the addition of former County star Roisin Soraghan (formerly Roisin Hanlon) to the set-up. One of Louth’s most decorated players, between her club, Cooley Kickhams, and county, Roisin is the holder of three All-Ireland medals, three Leinster medals, 10 SFC medals and 10 league medals, and in later years added to that tally with a league division 2 and IFC medal with the Geraldines.
She was part of the Louth management team headed by John O’Leary and Fergal McNally in 2017 while Brigid Russell, who was a member of Darren Bishop’s set-up in 2018 and 2019 continues as liaison officer with the team.
The full management team now is Wayne Freeman, Lee Hunt, Roisin Soraghan, Brigid Russell and Pat Carr.
Fixtures
Feb 2 v Antrim. (A)
Feb 9, v Limerick. (H) Feb, 23. v. Leitrim (H) Mar 1. v Derry (A) Mar. 22. v Offaly. (A) Mar 29. v Carlow (H) April 18/19th League Final
June 7 v Longford (H)
June 14 Louth or Longford v Meath or Westmeath June 27
Feb 15 Louth v Kilkenny (H) Mar 15 Westmeath v Louth (A) Apr 5 Louth v Carlow (H)
Feb 29 Louth v Carlow (H) Mar 14 Louth v Offaly (A) Apr 11 Louth v Wicklow (A)
Feb 27 v Kilkenny, Carlow, Offaly, Kildare and Longford Mar 14 v Wicklow, Westmeath and Dublin
Mar 28, v Meath, Wexford and Laois
Apr 14, Leinster Final
John Quirke / www.quirke.ie
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