BEATEN ALL-IRELAND football finalists Mayo will begin next summer against their old rivals Galway after the 2018 Championship draw was conducted this evening.
Meanwhile, Dublin will begin the climb towards what they hope will be a fourth straight Sam Maguire against either Offaly or Wicklow in the Leinster quarter-final.
Connacht SFC 2018
The Tribesmen upset perennial All-Ireland contenders Mayo at the semi-final stage of the Connacht Championship last year before Roscommon emerged as winners in the final.
Roscommon will open their title defence at the semi-final stage against the winners of the Bronx meeting between New York and Leitrim.
Sligo also begin overseas, with the carrot of a clash with Mayo or Galway if they defeat London.
Ulster SFC 2018
Reigning champions Tyrone will face Monaghan in the quarter-final stage while Derry will await at that stage for the winners of the preliminary round clash of Cavan and Donegal.
Down v Antrim and Fermanagh v Armagh completes the quarter-final line-up.
Munster SFC 2018
In Munster, Cork and Kerry are on separate sides of the semi-final draw. The Kingdom will await the winners of Clare v Limerick in quarter-final A while the Rebels will have to contend with Tipperary or Waterford before thinking about the provincial final.
Leinster SFC 2018
Outside of either Offaly or Wicklow taking on the toughest task in Gaelic football, Longford face Meath in the quarter-final stage with the winner presenting the likely next opposition for Dublin.
Kildare await the winners of Louth v Carlow, with Westmeath watching the clash of Laois and Wexford.
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Dublin won’t stand a chance against the might of wicklow next year
@jackamy: Wicklow will get hammered by Offaly, so maybe in the qualifiers
The word on the street here from Wicklow is that if we beat Offaly we are going to offer Dean Rock a couple of quid to keep the score at less than 20 points. We’ve also set up 53 new parishes and churches and hired actors to fill thess makeshift parishes for a couple of months and get more funding from HQ. We plan on building a roundabout in Aughrim and make the players go around it 50 times to get more travelling expenses. We’ve also told our players there is an airline strike next summer to America to stop thd lads getting paid 20k for a few games in order to stay and train for 8 months while not drinking to get one game in the championship. I think it could be our year !
@Donnacha Bhoicaire: Offaly will hammer ye. Hahahahaha
@Jack Ryan: We’ve put alot of planning into this Jack- please dont ruin the dream
Kildare V Dublin Leinster Final anyway
Another mayo dublin final is a real possibility, don’t see any other teams getting to their level in the next 10 months.
@Kj bar: Could be although if both win their respective provincial championships then it can’t happen.
@Dave Murray: Connacht and Leinster are in different super 8s groups no?
Mayo to win Connacht
Dublin to win Leinester
Kerry to win Munster
Monaghan to win Ulster
@Oisin Walsh: Winner of Tyrone and Monaghan to win Ulster. Monaghan have a god awful championship record v Tyrone
@Oisin Walsh: Don’t be so sure about Kerry winning Munster, as a Cork-Kerry final will be in Páirc Uí Chaoimh next year. Cork have a new manager too, and should have momentum from the relatively easy Division 2 of the football league in the spring.
@Conor Sheehan: We did nothing in division 2 this year.. no evidence yet that next year will be any better.
@diao: 2017 was poor in munster championship but the mayo game was much better (ref robbed us near end of normal time). I’m expecting big improvement from cork next year, fingers crossed.
@Conor Sheehan: I think that game will again be in Killarney?? Cork conceded home advantage this year but the regular 2018 calendar would put the game in Killarney.
Super 8 me backside super 3 at best
Poll: Should other counties be given a handicap if drawn against Dublin?
@Pat Mangan: Yeah. It’s such hardship being All Ireland Champions 3 years in a row.
@Pat Mangan: says the bloke from the irrelevant county in the middle of nowhere that is offaly. More sheep there than people.
Tipp for Sam.
@Leadóg: sam allardyce maybe.
Hon Westmeath!
@Kevin Geraghty: have you ever seen Sam in Mullingar? I think not. HAHAHAHAHA
@Jack Ryan: Ha ha ha Jack. Hilarious stuff!! I’d say you’re great craic.
Early exit for Dublin , thank god
Galway to beat Mayo again and Mayo to lose the Ai final again. What odds would that get
@Finnster: That’s the only three in a row that Mayo are capable of, it seems.
There’s only three counties capable of winning Sam Maguire; Kerry, Mayo and Dublin. The rest are shite.
Dublin will win Sam Maguire again they might even win the final by a bit to spare for the first time in 40 years. Mayo are capable of reaching All Ireland finals while Kerry won’t be capable of winning Sam Maguire until their current transition period is over
The rest aren’t shite just because they aren’t capable of winning the All Ireland, each county has different goals some might focus on the league others might aim to win a provincial title or reach the super 8. For a start a lot of the rest don’t have the resources of Kerry,Mayo or Dublin
@John: Mayo?
Tough draw for the Rossies, sums up the ridiculous archaic system.
Pretty much the same matches again in Munster and Connacht as this year, unfortunately.
As Leinster champs where will Dublin round robin games be played given thats its 1 home,1 away,1 in Croker,anyone?
@Nat Turner: Dublin will play two round robin games at home the rest just one home game.
nice handy one for galway to start off with
Time enough watching the All-Ireland semi-finals the rest is rubbish .
The game of the championship has to be New York versus Leitrim. Could be an historic win for NY.
@Michael Nyland: gonna be a battle for TV rights there
If they win their provisional finals then more than likely same final again