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Pre-Season Competition Schedule For Midlands Sides Released

Monday, 29 November 2021 17:56

Intercounty teams will be back in action the first weekend in January.

The fixture schedule for the pre-season competitions for Laois, Offaly and Westmeath in both codes has been released. 

Five of the six teams return to action on January 8th/9th, with Westmeath's hurlers the odd ones out. They resume a week later on January 16th. 

It's a baptism of fire for John Maughan's Offaly footballers, as they welcome Dublin to the Faithful county on the opening weekend of the O'Byrne Cup. 

Laois and Westmeath both face away trips to start. Billy Sheehan's first game in charge is against Wexford on the South-East, while Jack Cooney begins another season at the helm of the lake county against near neighbours Kildare in Newbridge. 

There'll be three games in seven days for all three with the possibility of a semi-final and final to come, so it's a realistic chance to take a look at a lot of players and an expected flux in the panels of all three in the coming season. 

Laois in particular are sure to be blooding a lot of new faces in the coming months.

O'BYRNE CUP:

  • Group A - Dublin, Offaly, Louth, Longford. 
  • Group B -  Laois, Meath, Wicklow, Wexford. 
  • Group C -  Kildare, Carlow, Westmeath. 

The semi-final will consist of the Group B winners vs Group C winners, with the winner advancing to face the top placed team from group A in the final. 

Switching codes there's a similarly difficult schedule for both Offaly and Laois in the Walsh Cup. 

Michael Fennelly starts a third year at the helm by visiting Ballinasloe to take on Galway on January 9th knowing there'll be plenty of learning days such as this coming up for his all conquering Christy Ring Cup winners of 2021. 

Cheddar Plunkett gets his sophomore year back in the Laois hurling dugout underway in O'Moore Park, by taking on Wexford in their first game of the post Davy Fitzgerald era. 

Unlike the footballers, the Walsh Cup fixtures will be run off over successive weekends between January 8/9th and January 22/23rd. 

A final will then take place between the winners of the two groups, which are made up as follows. 

WALSH CUP:

  • Group A - Offaly, Antrim, Dublin Galway. 
  • Group B - Kilkenny, Laois, Wexford. 

It'll be Kehoe Cup hurling for Joe Fortune as he looks prepare his charges for a tilt at returning to division one hurling at the first time of asking following their relegation final defeat to Laois earlier this year. 

Fortune has put a decent backroom team in place and will be hopeful of adding some fresh blood to the panel after taking in the latter stages of the club hurling championships in TEG Cusack Park. 

His background is top notch and the kind of opposition they're coming up against here will lend itself to experimentation. 

The games take place on consecutive weekends between January 16th and January 30th, with Westmeath beginning on the road in Navan for a local derby with Meath. 

Just four teams in this section means there'll be no additional games. Top team after their three fixtures will land the spoils.

KEHOE CUP: 

Teams - Westmeath, Carlow, Meath, Kildare. 

 

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