Offaly to face Clare in Tailteann Cup

Offaly senior footballers will play Clare in the first round of the Tailteann Cup.

The draw for the reformatted 2026 second tier championship competition took place on Monday with the Faithful County travelling to Ennis to face their Munster opposition.

Offaly reached the quarter-final of the 2025 Tailteann Cup where they were defeated by eventual winners Kildare.

However, Declan Kelly and Micky Harte's charges have endured a difficult year to date, suffering relegation to Division 3 of the National Football League and exiting the Leinster senior football championship at the first round stage.

The revised Tailteann Cup format will see the winners of the eight first round ties will progress to Round 2A, with four teams from that stage advancing to the Tailteann Cup quarter-finals.

The eight losers of the ties will face off in Round 2B, after which the four losers of those ties will exit the championship.

The four winners of the Round 2B ties will face the four losers of the Round 2A ties, the winners of those ties advancing to the quarter-finals.

The opening round of the Tailteann Cup is due to be played over the weekend of May 9/10 with dates and times for the fixtures to be confirmed this week.

Tailteann Cup First Round Fixtures

Fermanagh v Longford

Laois v Wicklow

Clare v Offaly

Carlow v Antrim

Wexford v Limerick

Westmeath/ Down/ Cavan v Leitrim

Sligo v Tipperary

Waterford v London