The draw for the opening round of the GAA’s new All-Ireland Tier 2 football championship competition – the Tailteann Cup – will be made on Monday morning (May 16th) on RTÉ Radio 1 at 8:35am.
As it stands, there are 15 confirmed counties for the new competition: Antrim, Down, Fermanagh, Cavan, Longford, Offaly, Laois, Carlow, Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Sligo, Leitrim, London and New York.
Westmeath and Tipperary will be added to that list this weekend, unless they win their respective provincial semi-finals – in which case – they would be exempt from the new Tier 2 competition.
If there 17 teams in the competition come Sunday evening, a preliminary round draw will take place to reduce the number of counties to sixteen.
It’s been confirmed that Sligo and Leitrim, as beaten provincial semi-finalists, would receive a bye in the preliminary round.
Their first round matches are scheduled to take place on the weekend of May 28th/29th.
The competition will be split into two geographical groups up to the quarter-final stage.
This means Sligo or Leitrim could face the likes of Cavan, Fermanagh, Antrim, Down or Longford.
London and New York are also competing in the new Tailteann Cup.
New York have been given a bye to the quarter-final – and their last-eight match would be played in Ireland.
The first team drawn out of the drum will have home advantage for the first round and quarter-final stages.
Both Tailteann Cup semi-finals and finals are scheduled to be televised live on RTÉ – and they will be played at Croke Park.
The final will also be staged at GAA headquarters on Saturday, July 9th.
This year’s winners of the Tailteann Cup will be guaranteed a place in the Sam Maguire competition in 2023 regardless of their league position next year.
Tailteann Cup entrants:
1. Sligo
2. Leitrim
3. Antrim
4. Down
5. Fermanagh
6. Cavan
7. Longford
8. Offaly
9. Laois
10. Carlow
11. Wicklow
12. Wexford
13. Waterford
14. London
15. New York
16. Westmeath (if they lose to Kildare)
17. Tipperary (if they lose to Limerick).
Monday morning’s draw will also be streamed live from 8:35am on the RTÉ News Channel.
