Championship Draws tonight - zzzzzzzzzzzz

Well the Championship draws are among us. Tonight we will learn who Dublin will beat on their way to another Leinster title. No excitement in the draw whatsoever for a Dub fan - only Kildare interest me in Leinster. The excitement will only begin at the QF draw stage when we find out who is next up to give us an embarrassing hiding in Croker...

I suppose Ulster fans have a bit of excitement - given the rivalries and competitive nature of the C'ship. In Connaught and Munster the only thing to look out for is whether Galway-Mayo and Cork-Kerry avoid each other until the final.

Really the time has come for an open draw. Imagine tuning in tonight with the possibility of seeing a Cork-Tyrone or Galway-Kerry or Armagh-Kildare or Dublin-Mayo first round clash. Instead it'll be Dublin v Carlow, then Offaly, then Laois and then Kildare in the Leinster Final. Yawn!

My predictions for Ulster are

Cavan/Fermanagh v Derry

Armagh v Down

Tyrone v Donegal

Monaghan v Antrim

I must admit its not something i look forward to with any great expectation or anticipation. Is it a live draw or is it to be done under a veil of secrecy behind closed doors so that they get the permutations right in each province and then screen it later. An open draw would be a much more of a crowd puller in terms of viewers but i think we are a long way away from that.

Doing away with the provincial championships would be controversial in many eyes though i have always thought a way round that would be have an open draw and the last team standing from each Province be crowned Provincial champions and in the event of two teams from one province being the last two left on All Ireland final day then the winners would not only be All Ireland champions but Provincial champions as well, that is there would be 2 trophies up for grabs on the one day.

Take Munster for example, neither Cork nor Kerry will want to win it, Cork because they always end up getting beat further down the line and the scenic round seems to harden teams like Kerry and Tyrone, so get your money on Limerick to win it next year.

For whats its worth I think Tyrone will get Donegal and Armagh will get Down, Monaghan will get Antrim and Fermanagh will get Cavan. The Armagh v Down game will be a preliminary round game with the winners facing the Derry cnuts.

Leinster hurling

pre draw
Carlow v Laois

QF
Dublin v Carlow/Laois
Wexford v GAILLIMH

Antrim v Offaly

Galway cant dethrone KK until Leinster Final. Lovely hurling. Galway look set to dominate Leinster for the coming years after that draw

Great draw in Connacht. Home to the Sheepstealers or London in S/F and on to a Connacht final....sweet!!!!!

welll we have Mayo firsst round, tough draw for us but not one we will fear, while its a long time since we beat mayo in the championship i think 2000 was the last time. first we need a strong showing in the league the draw was not too bad for us in the league with the toughest matches at home by and large i think if we can have a top four finish in the league and hae an injury free team for the championship we can go in to the Mayo match with some degree of confidence.

its at home so that is an advantage because Castlebar is not a place any Sligo fan will have many fond memory of. i also think the first round is the best place to have a crack at one of the big guns, the only trouble is if we some how manage to beat mayo we will have Galway in the next round in salthill and to be honest we have as much chance of winning that as Loyal has with Niamh

is everyone happy with there draws?

In a word - Yes.....