Football Championships 2009

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Football

2009 Leinster MFC
First round
Kilkenny v Wexford
Wicklow v Kildare;
Meath v Offaly
Carlow v Westmeath;
Longford v Laois
Louth v Dublin
The six winners progress to the quarter-finals with the six losers taking the back door route, which will provide the last two quarter-finalists.



2009 Leinster U21FC
First round
(1) Longford v Wicklow
(2) Wexford v Kildare
(3) Louth v Dublin
(4) Offaly v Westmeath
Quarter-finals
Winner (1) v Laois
Winner (2) v Carlow;
Winner (3) v Meath
Winner (4) v Kilkenny

Leinster SFC

First round
Kildare v Offaly
Carlow v Louth
Longford v Wicklow

Quarter-finals
Wexford v Kildare or Offaly
Laois v Carlow or Louth
Westmeath v Longford or Wicklow
Dublin v Meath

Semi-finals
Wexford or Kildare or Offaly v Laois or Carlow or Louth
Westmeath or Longford or Wicklow v Dublin or Meath

[naasmanxrhode]

The football draw is a good draw and if we were any good we would easily get to a Leinster final, buts thats a very big 'if'. The hurling draw is ok because we owe Wxford a beating and should beat them.

[Rynaghs Biffo]

I think its an excellent draw, Kildare to me are a beatable team, if the mood and drive is right. I seen them play Wicklow in the first round last year in croker, and there were no real great shakes. Very rusty and played some shocking football, and took them a while through the championship to gather a bit of momentum.

I wonder when the fixtures are made and if Offaly were to win, would there be a potential double header with the Wexford hurling match.

[Sydthebeat]

are the two of ye mental???

what have you seen over the last few years to think we could beat either Kildare or Wexford???
Wexford making last seasons all ireland semi final... only to be beaten by the eventual all ireland champions....4 all star nominations....
Kildare making the all ireland quarter finals.... beating two ulster teams in the process.. and a Limerick team unlucky to be beaten by Cork...

whereas we were well beaten by Westmeath, and trounched by Down...

seriously lads.... whatever your on, ill have some of it.

In my opinion we will do very well to be Kildare, yes their best players are aging but what have we got??
and wexford will easily beat either offaly of kildare....

[Hocker]

Joke for the day:
Two knackers called Sean and Mary got married, so off they were in the hiace van from the site to a local wood to consummate their marriage. However before they got started Mary told Sean that she was still a virgin, Sean suddenly got worried and didn’t know what to do about this, so he headed back in the hiace to his mother’s caravan and told her that Mary was still a virgin , Sean's mother was disgusted and says “Well Sean if she isn’t good enough for her own family, she isn’t good enough for you”.

[DD]

It is still a good draw and as good as we could have hoped for - that said, every County in the top half of the draw will be happy enough and will fancy their chances.
As it stands Wexford are the best team in there but they are no great shakes either. If (and I know it's a big one) we got ourselves in decent shape and reasonable form through the League, a provincial final is possible next summer.
What Kildare & Wexford proved last year is that counties with mediocre enough talent can make decent strides.. no reason why we can't do it either. Whether we will or not is anyones's guess at this stage..

are the two of ye mental???

what have you seen over the last few years to think we could beat either Kildare or Wexford???
Wexford making last seasons all ireland semi final... only to be beaten by the eventual all ireland champions....4 all star nominations....
Kildare making the all ireland quarter finals.... beating two ulster teams in the process.. and a Limerick team unlucky to be beaten by Cork...

whereas we were well beaten by Westmeath, and trounched by Down...

seriously lads.... whatever your on, ill have some of it.

In my opinion we will do very well to be Kildare, yes their best players are aging but what have we got??
and wexford will easily beat either offaly of kildare....

[Sydthebeat]

I suppose it puts a much greater importance on a good league run.

We are certainly going to have more of a challange this year than last. Lets not forget that both kildare and wexford are division two teams, and a good run for either will also boost them before the championship.

judging by last years championship, i would expect very good games versus the likes of cavan, roscommon, and longford.
I would hope for wins over Limerick, Tipperary and Louth.
I would be fearful of a rematch versus Down.

i dont know the dates yet but hopefully we would have a steady 20 players by the second or third game, so we can focus on tactics (based on our strengths, rather than or opposition weakness, as under roe)....

[turk]

teams that have an unexpected savage run one year often have difficulties getting it together the following year.. examples include Sligo, Limerick in the hurling, fermanagh a few years back, etc. Based on that it wouldn't have been terrible to have gotten wexford in the first round. McGeeney will be ambitiously looking at a leinster title for kildare. it's not a bad draw as i'd rather have us playing a team who are a bit better than us than having us get either a minnow with the potential for embarrasment, or a much stronger team who would just simply beat us.

hurling draw is great, delighted to get a crack at wexford. was dreading that we would get Leix again

[Mr Faithful]

As the draw goes its the best we could hope for. No matter how good or bad we are, we have the opportunity to put a bit of pride back in the green white & gold jersey. The footballers can hold their heads in shame over last years performance, but with a new manager & start with a clean slate things maybe a little bit different this year. Its a chance to a look at what is out there in the county talent wise & hopefully have a fairly decent league campaign. Winning brings confidence, but you also need the players to believe in themselves and the management team We can take pride in our hurlers & what they achieved last year, I think they will give Wexford a run for their money. Joe did a great job & again to have a swagger in our play was evident in there performances. So all in all not a bad way to start the championship, hopefully we will have something to cheer about next year. Up the faithful.

Mr Faithful

Ps does anybody know are we getting new jerseys this year.

[Lone Shark]

I think they're excellent draws, in the sense that it's something to look forward to for both panels, a good competitive game against tough but still beatable opposition.

I'd say most teams in Leinster would fancy a shot at Offaly right now, but a good local derby against Kildare should motivate our lads to get their act in gear. I don't think we're entitled to make statements like a Leinster final place is there for the taking, but if we got a middling league run and then were boosted by a win over Kildare, I wouldn't be afraid of Wexford. 2006 is not that long ago after all. Don't get me wrong, we'll be underdogs in both games, and rightfully so, but it's a real path to improvement. It beats draw like Wicklow which we'd be expected to win, but could easily lose. Or one like Dublin, who we're simply not ready for, at least not without a few wins under our belt. Hopefully we'll get them.

As for the hurlers, the ideal would have been a draw against Galway. but this is second best. They'll have been hurling in division two, just like us, so there's no advantage that way. Plenty of our lads will have no fear of Wexford after doing so well against them in challenge and under 21 matches last year, but yet they have the reputation that there will be plenty of apprehension, just the right amount. It's a great game for both counties actually.