With the club hurling championships in the bag, the focus for Carlow now switches to club football.
Sure enough, there’s still ten or eleven days to go before the start of this year’s championships with Rathvilly hopeful they’ll retain the senior crown picked up last year as they stopped Éire Óg going for five-in-a-row.
Eight teams each contest this year’s senior, intermediate, junior a and junior b championships with nine sides involved in the junior c championship.
This year’s championship begins on the weekend of 20 August with round two the following weekend. There is a break for the weekend of 3 September but from there on it’s all systems go with the first weekend of October earmarked for this year’s county finals.
The Under 20 football championship will get underway from the weekend of 8 October with the finals slated for Sunday 20 November.
Here’s your matchups for the opening weekend.
Friday 19 August
- Senior group 1: Patatine v Mount Leinster Rangers, 8.40pm, Netwatch Cullen Park
- Senior group 2: Éire Óg v Bagenalstown Gaels, 7pm, Netwatch Cullen Park
- Junior A group 2: Leighlinbridge v Clonmore, 7.30pm, Paul Monaghan Park
Saturday 20 August
- Senior group 2: Ballinabranna v Tinryland, 5pm, Netwatch Cullen Park
- Intermediate group 2: Fenagh v St. Patrick’s, 5pm, Training centre pitch 1
- Junior A group 1: Palatine v Ballon, 6pm, Palatine GAA
- Intermediate group 1: Kildavin/Clonegal v Grange, 6.30pm, Training centre pitch 2
- Senior group 1: Old Leighlin v Rathvilly, 6.45pm, Netwatch Cullen Park
Sunday 21 August
- Junior A group 1: Bagenalstown Gaels v Old Leighlin, 12pm, McGrath Park
- Junior A group 2: Tinryland v Fighting Cocks, 12pm, Tinryland
- Intermediate group 2: Naomh Eoin v Éire Óg, 2pm, Netwatch Cullen Park
- Intermediate group 1: O’Hanrahans v Kilbride, 3.45pm, Netwatch Cullen Park
- Junior B group 1: Éire Óg v Kildavin/Clonegal, 6pm, Pairc Ui Bhriain
- Junior B group 1: St. Mullins v Ballinabranna, 6pm, Pairc Naomh Moling
- Junior B group 2: Fenagh v Naomh Eoin, 6pm, JJ Hogan Memorial Park
Wednesday 24 August
- Junior C group 1: Ballon v Éire Óg, 7.30pm, Ballon
- Junior C group 1: Leighlinbridge v O’Hanrahans, 7.30pm, Paul Monaghan Park
- Junior C group 2: Fighting Cocks v St. Patrick’s, 7.30pm, Fighting Cocks
- Junior C group 2: Clonmore v Palatine, 7.30pm, Clonmore
