Away trip to lovely Leitrim to kickstart New Year

IT’S an away trip to lovely Leitrim that gets Wicklow’s inter-county season underway in 2017 as Johnny Magee’s under-21 footballers travel to Carrick-on-Shannon for their opening Hastings Cup game of 2017 on Tuesday, January 3.

That tie will be a tricky start for the under-21s who disposed of neighbours Carlow by a single point in a warm up game recently in preparations for their opening joust of the New Year.

They won’t have much time to rest from their exploits as the following Saturday they will hit the road to Tullamore to take on Offaly and they will wrap up the group stages of the January tournament by welcoming Meath to Bray on January 14.

When the under-21s are kicking their season off in Leitrim their Senior counterparts will be returning to training in Ballinakill after their Christmas break. The flagship team will be preparing for a very difficult away trip to Navan where they will take on the Royals in the opening O’Byrne Cup clash. Preparations suffered a bit of a blow when the footballers shipped a difficult defeat to Offaly in Abbotstown before Christmas but Johnny Magee and his management team will be confident of a decent showing from his charges in Navan.

A very quick turnaround for the footballers sees them take on Laois in Greystones on Wednesday, January 11 before concluding their group efforts with a visit of DIT to Blessington on January 15.

Seamus Murphy’s hurlers will have the luxury of three home games in the Kehoe Cup group stages.

The hurlers take on DCU in Bray on January 15, IT Tallaght in Greystones on January 22, and Trinity in Greystones on January 29.