2013 Leinster Championship Draws

[DAF]

Offaly vs Kilkenny
Offaly vs Kildare

I was hoping for Laois or Westmeath in the football and anyone bar Kilkenny in the hurling.

Disappointed the GAA have left it so late to have the championship draw.

[The Biff]

Double Fcuk !!!

I'm fed up of playing Kildare, knowing that they are sh1te but we still cant beat them.

And as for The Cats, maybe we can hope to catch them cold on their first day out ..... except that it will be our first day out too.

The whole Draw process has gotten quite boring these last few years. Bring on a full Open Draw (x 2).

[Plain of the Herbs]

The Leinster Senior hurling championship draw has a 'home' Final where the winners of Kilkenny v Offaly hurl the winners of Wexford v Dublin. They winners of the 'home' Final then play the winners of Galway, Antrim, London and the rest in the Final.

Will Offaly toss for venue with Kilkenny?

With the Leinster draw the way it is, Offaly could possibly face the losers of Dublin/Wexford or Clare/Waterford in a first-round qualifier (a 2 in 6 chance if I'm calculating corectly?)

[Bord na Mona man]

Another double header in Portleix?

[Plain of the Herbs]

A double hearder in Burrr.

Offaly have never ever lost a match in Burrr. Ever.

Another double header in Portleix?

[High School Musical]

Well that was a loada shite anyway.

I'm booking summer holidays tomorrow with that out of the way.

Ballybunnion here we come......................

[durra1]

There’ll be a right run on advance holiday bookings for July 2013 from the good GAA folk of Offaly in Bernie Travel Tullamore …

[Truth as i see it]

Nice to see Offaly Fans backbone is as limp as ever

Faithful county indeed!!

[Lone Shark]

In an ideal world we'd have been drawn into a preliminary round in the football against another team like ourselves with a lot of work to do (Wicklow, Louth, Carlow) and have that as a target. Then, if we're good enough to win that and get a little bit of momentum going, by all means bring on Kildare in a quarter final.

We were well and truly blown away by the Lillies this year but that game set a marker and the players know now what they'll be up against. It's not like you'll see any noticeable change in style from Kildare with McGeeney going back in, and if we had the benefit of a game under our belts, then we'd have been in a much better position. For example whoever wins between Wicklow and Longford will be in a great position going in to play Meath.

Having said that, Kildare are nothing to be afraid of either, even coming in cold. If you have the strength and fitness to stay with them, you'll always beat them for football. Either Rhode or Clara will have a great chance to lay down a marker in Tullamore against Athy/Carbury/Sarsfields/Larries and if they do that, it might help shake off some of the fear that currently seems to exist, which is a pretty ridiculous situation when you think of the history of the two counties. Certainly this year's under-21 result should help in that regard as well as you have a generation of players there that have proved that if you're well prepared and you put a little thought into your approach, fifteen automatons clad in shiny white playing rugby league against you isn't the all-powerful force that some would have you believe.


As for the hurlers, if they want to win a Leinster title, and it's reasonable to presume that they do, then they have to beat Kilkenny at some point. If you're going to beat them, the first game is probably the best game to do it. And absolutely, if there isn't a home and away system in place, you'd like to think that Pat Teehan has been on to Ned Quinn already to say that they want to toss a coin for home advantage. We'd have feck all chance of beating them in Nowlan Park, and feck all more in Portlaoise or Carlow. But put the game in front of a good crowd in OCP, maybe think outside the box and offer a cash strapped Kildare CB a few bob to move that game to OCP as well for a double header, and now you've a big crowd in the house and a real occasion. Then, just maybe, maybe, we get off to a good start and things gather momentum by themselves.

Regardless of that draw, progress in 2013 has to measured in terms of getting meaningful wins, and getting put into the qualifiers with a chance to play a few games against Laois/Carlow/Antrim etc would surely help in preparing to take on one of the non-Munster finalists. I'd have a hunch that it will be a Clare/Tipp Munster final in 2013 and I'd love to get a crack at any of the other three. That's the way the players should be thinking too, and I expect they will.

[Bord na Mona man]

We should be relishing a crack at the All Ireland champions in the first round. There is too much of a fear/worship complex towards Kilkenny in Offaly these days.

If Clare or Limerick were drawn against the Cats, they’d be getting fired up to have a real cut at them. Offaly should be no different.
We could learn a hell of a lot about ourselves if we gave Kilkenny the full blast.
A half arsed effort and a lop-sided scoreline only increases the vice-like grip Kilkenny have Offaly in. It also makes it harder for the next generation of players to close the gap.

It should be giving players extra motivation over the Winter to get themselves prepared properly and put on a good show.
If it’s a demotivating factor, then it’s time we scurried away like sheep into the Christy Ring Cup.

In football the challenge will be to live with Kildare's intensity for the duration of the game. It will be as good a benchmark as any as to how Emmet McDonnell has managed to deal with the problems in the panel.

If we could actually get the point where we could actually take on Kildare in something resembling a football and tactical contest it would be a massive achievement.

[kingscounty]

im happy with the draw for both , as a player you want to be playing the top teams. it would do the hurlers no good playing one of the weaker teams and then having to face the cats, get the team fired up for this one and we could give them a good rattle. the footballers have nothing to fear in a kildare team that never lives up to its expectations every year, with the new man in charge and getting things under way now we should have plenty of time to up our fitness and then its a matter of who has the better footballers.

[Phoenix]

"fifteen automatons clad in shiny white playing rugby league"

- I love that description, Lone Shark

[townman]

i think the hurling draw is not to bad as maybe a run of games in the backdoor might be no harm.

as for the football if the work is put in during the winter and a good league they can beat kildare
next year as they are poor enough as Meath,limerick,Cork showed after in this years championship,

[clubman]

delighted with the draw in football,offaly stayed with kildare for 25 minutes this year with a poor prepared team ,so hoping our new man can get committed players and bring them to the level of fittness required then we should have a chance.if not it will show how the team is progressing.as for the hurlers what a game to get,this is a game for them to throw the monkey off there back an have a real go at it nothing to lose and everything to gain.would love a double headerin ocp.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Hurling
Sunday 24th Feb, away to Dublin
Sunday 10th March, home to Wexford
Bank Holiday Monday 18th March, away to Carlow
Sunday 24th March, home to Limerick
Easter Sunday 31st March, away to Antrim

Fupple
Sunday February 3rd, away to London
Sunday February 9th, home to Limerick
Sunday March 3rd, home to Clare
Sunday March 10th, away to Leitrim
Saturday March 16th, home to Carlow
Sunday March 24th, away to Waterford (double header with Waterford v Tipperary, NHL)
Sunday April 7th, home to Tipperary

These are 'provisional', but they rarely change when converted to the 'official' fixtures.