Action resuming May 8/9
Hurlers out first, with footballers playing one week later
THE COUNTY’S elite players in the wide-ranging GAA family will have clear goals to aim for when they return to collective training early next week.
With Monday, April 19, pencilled in as the date when such gatherings are once again permitted, further clarity was provided with the announcement of fixtures across all four codes.
First out of the blocks were the LGFA, with Wexford learning that they will be operating in Division 2A of the Lidl National League with games against Kerry, Meath and Clare.
While the full fixtures details are still awaited, there will be games on three consecutive weeks from May 23, plus a potential semi-final in mid-June.
The Camogie Association brought up the rear with news last week, and the Wexford Seniors were informed that they will play Kilkenny ‘B’ on May 15, and Laois a fortnight later, in Division 2, Group 3 of the National League. The top two will advance to quarter-finals, pencilled in for June 5/6.
In a further boost, the county Juniors are permitted to return after a blank 2020. Operating in Division 3, they will start against Offaly ‘B’ on May 15 before facing Down ‘B’ and Armagh over the following two weekends.
In between those LGFA and camogie announcements, the GAA unveiled its updated fixtures calendar on Thursday, with the original inter-county programme of 27 weeks that was released last December now reduced to 20 weeks.
The action will begin for the Senior hurlers on the weekend of May 8/9 in Division 1 of the Allianz League, with the competition still being played on a round robin basis in two groups of six.
Their campaign will continue with matches on May 15/16, May 22/23, June 5/6 and June 12/13, but no quarter- or semi-finals will be played.
An actual final hasn’t been scheduled either, with the teams topping Divisions 1A and 1B respectively set to be declared joint winners for 2021. However, if that duo meet later in the championship, then the game will double up as the league final – similar to last year when Limerick beat Clare.
The Senior footballers will be up and running one week later than the hurlers, with their Division 4 campaign beginning on the weekend of May 15/16.
Further rounds are marked in for May 22/23 and May 29/30, but Wexford will now have two games rather than the original three as London will not be participating.
It leaves Shane Roche’s side with round-robin matches against Waterford and Carlow only, although at least one more outing is a guarantee as the top two will contest the league semi-final on June 12/13, with the third team in a shield encounter on the same weekend.
While a Division 4 final is included on the programme on June 19/20, it will only take place if neither of the two counties involved are playing in the championship on the following weekend. Should that in fact be the case, both finalists will be declared joint winners along with gaining promotion.
June 26/27 is the starting weekend for the provincial hurling and football championships, with the system broadly similar to last year.
In hurling, the provincial knockout championships will be followed once again by the back-door qualifier system, with the only addition being the introduction of relegation to the Joe McDonagh Cup.
Six teams will participate in Leinster – Wexford, Kilkenny, Dublin, Laois, Galway and Antrim – with a preliminary round in the qualifiers featuring the two defeated quarter-finalists. The winners of that game will progress to round one of the qualifiers, but the losers will drop to the McDonagh Cup for 2022.
Football is exactly the same as last year, with a provincial knockout championship followed by no qualifiers. And for the second year running, attempts to get the second-tier Tailteann Cup up and running have been scrapped.
While the GAA’s official press release states that the provisions ‘guarantee a minimum’ of five games for each Senior team, that is not necessarily the case for the Wexford footballers.
It is feasible that they could only have three league games (two round-robin and one knockout), followed by one championship outing, although this is clearly a worst-case scenario. Still, the inaccuracy of the GAA’s documentation deserves to be highlighted.
The inter-county programme will be wrapped up with the All-Ireland finals in hurling and football on the last two weekends in August.
A 13-week block from September 4/5 through to November 27/28 has been reserved for club competitions. However, there is an allowance to begin earlier as soon as counties exit from the championships – provided, of course, any pandemic-related restrictions in place at the time allow that to happen.
That process will start for football teams from the end of June, followed by hurling from July 10 onwards.
From August 1, all counties with the exception of All-Ireland semi-finalists and the teams in the Division 1 hurling relegation play-off will be free to stage club competitions with county players.
The provincial club championships are set to make a welcome return to the calendar, with November 20/21 marked in as the starting date. Those competitions will run all the way through to the All-Ireland Senior club finals, provisionally fixed for the weekend of February 12/13, 2022.
It is expected that the exact details for Allianz League fixtures will be released shortly, with the draws for the provincial championships also set to take place.