TODAY’S FOOTBALL PREVIEWS

this year’s league was that 2-5 to 0-9 win over Andy Moran’s team back in April.

True, their form tapered off after that, losing their last four games on the bounce, but London have always been able to raise their game for championship.

And Moran has been dealt a huge blow with the loss of his star forward Keith Beirne, who racked up 2-42 in the League to finish behind only Louth’s Sam Mulroy in the scoring charts. The Mohill man was sent off in the final round league defeat to Sligo and failed to get the suspension overturned.

London will rarely get a better chance but, aware of that, they will have to shoulder expectation levels they would not normally be burdened by and may pay the price.

Verdict: Leitrim

New York v Sligo, Gaelic Park, New York, 7.30; Referee: S Hurson (Tyrone)

New York’s first competitive game since they took a 21-point mauling (1-22 to 0-4) from Mayo three years ago, and it’s likely this will go the same way.

While isolation and a lack of match practise is nothing new to New York, whose only warm-up game of any significance was a recent run-out against SalthillKnocknacarra,

the exiles look shy on experience in a team that is likely to include a record number of home-grown starters. They will have big game experience in Tipperary’s Munster winner Alan Campbell and Galway pair Adrian Varley and Johnny Glynn, but otherwise this will a day where, as a team, they get to ride the learning curve.

Sligo have looked a vastly improved team this spring – disappointed to not get out of the bottom tier – and they have more than enough to get the job done. Verdict: Sligo