Offaly ladies await their fate in championship draw
The Offaly ladies football team are awaiting the draw to find out their opponents in this year’s TG4 All-Ireland intermediate championship.
The championship will be contested by 13 counties, with three groups of three teams and one group of four. The teams will compete in a round robin format, with the top team in each group progressing to the championship semi-finals.
The draw will take place tomorrow (Tuesday) evening, June 30.
Meath, who lost the 2019 All-Ireland intermediate final to Tipperary, and Westmeath (demoted from the senior grade last year) will be seeded in the draw, along with Roscommon and Sligo.
In last year’s All-Ireland intermediate championship, Offaly finished second in their group behind Roscommon. John Ryan’s charges defeated Leitrim but were well beaten by the Rossies, who went on to reach the last four.
Offaly were eliminated from the championship by Sligo at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage on a 2-14 to 2-10 scoreline.
The Faithful County had a number of injury setbacks to contend with last year, including key player Mairéad Daly suffering a cruciate ligament injury.
When this year’s fixtures came to a sudden halt in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Offaly were in fourth position in Division 4 of the National Football League. The Offaly ladies had an unbeaten league record with two wins and two draws.
Leinster LGFA recently announced that the provincial intermediate and junior inter-county championships have been cancelled for 2020.
It is envisaged that each championship (senior, intermediate and junior) in the All-Ireland series will be played off over seven weekends. There will be a two-week break between the conclusion of the group phases and the All-Ireland semi-finals, and a further two-week break between the semi-finals and finals.
The dates for the round robin fixtures, and the All-Ireland semi-finals and finals, will be agreed upon and circulated in due course.
The winners of the All-Ireland intermediate championship will be presented with the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup.
The teams competing in the 2020 TG4 All-Ireland championships are as follows below.
Junior (open draw): Antrim, Carlow, Derry, Fermanagh, Limerick, Wicklow.
Intermediate: Clare, Down, Kildare, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath, Wexford. Seeded: Meath, Sligo, Roscommon, Westmeath.
Senior: Armagh, Cavan, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Mayo, Monaghan, Tipperary, Tyrone, Waterford. Seeded: Cork, Dublin, Galway, Mayo.