Dublin

Manager: Tom Carr.

All-Irelands: 22 (1995)

Leinster: 43 (1995).

1996: Leinster final, btn by Meath, 0-8/0-10.

1997: Leinster first round, btn by Meath, 1-10/1-13.

1998: Leinster first round replay, btn by Kildare 012/1-8 (0-10/0-10).

1996-98: P6 W2 D1 L3, 42%.

1999: First round v Louth, June 6th, Croke Park.

Despite the setbacks and manifest weaknesses of the team, this is turning out to have the potential for a good year.

Tomorrow's National League final is a first step. There is the real prospect now of winning the league and reaching the Leinster final, which would represent a satisfactory first full year for Tom Carr and his selectors. There are still problems in the full back line where a number of plausible corner backs has yet to yield a likely full back. The attack isn't yet settled with Brendan O'Brien the latest aspirant to the corners. Jason Sherlock is the only genuine forward candidate with killing pace and the team must start to supply him with decent ball.

Carlow

Manager: Cyril Hughes.

All-Irelands: 0 Leinster: 1 (1944).

1996: Leinster first round, btn by Meath, 0-6/0-24.

1997: Leinster first round, btn by Louth, 1-10/1-13.

1998: Leinster first preliminary round, btn by Westmeath 2-5/1-18.

1996-98: P5 W2 D0 L3, 40%.

1999: First preliminary round v Westmeath, May 9th, Carlow.

An unusually good league campaign ended in narrowly missing promotion but as a championship force Carlow have declined in the last couple of years. Part of the deterioration is due to the ageing of the Eire Og contingent and despite the club's re-emergence last season, that process looks unlikely to be reversed with only a few of the county champions featuring in tomorrow's line-up. Defence looks vulnerable and any chance of compensating elsewhere on the field seems unlikely against Westmeath, the strongest team in the preliminary section.

Kildare

Manager: Mick O'Dwyer.

All-Irelands: 4 (1928)

Leinster: 12 (1998).

1996: Leinster first round, btn by Laois, 0-13/3-9.

1997: Leinster semi-final, btn by Meath (second replay) 1-10/1-12 (1-9/0-12; 3-17/2-20).

1998: All-Ireland final, btn by Galway 1-10/1-14.

1996-98: P11 W5 D3 L3, 59%.

1999: First round v Offaly, June 13th, Croke Park.

A solid league campaign ended with a (literally) indifferent display against Dublin. The Leinster champions still looked capable of going up the gears but contented themselves with a gentle workout. Whereas they will undoubtedly have benefited from increased confidence after last year's success, the substantive shortcomings don't appear to have been fully resolved.

The tightest defence in last year's championship remains but Glen Ryan's looseness can be worrying. Up front Cathal Sheridan has emerged as a potential net contributor but has yet to be tested in the championship crucible.

Laois

Manager: Tom Cribbin.

All-Irelands: 0 Leinster: 5 (1946).

1996: Leinster semi-final, btn by Meath 1-9/2-14.

1997: Leinster first round, btn by Kildare 1-7/1-11.

1998: Leinster semi-final, btn by Kildare 0-8/2-13.

1996-98: P5 W2 D0 L3, 40%.

1999: First round v preliminary pool winners, June 13th, Croke Park.

There is a danger that all the remarkable under-age success of recent years will count for little at senior level as minor and under-21 success becomes an end in itself rather than the platform for overall progress. New manager Tom Cribbin will need time to develop the team and a demoralising league campaign hasn't been the best of foundations. Assimilating the emerging talent into a useful championship team is a challenge and given the struggle to overcome Westmeath - again likely first-round opponents - last year, nothing can be taken for granted.

Longford

Manager: Michael McCormack.

All-Irelands: 0 Leinster: 1 (1968).

1996: Leinster first preliminary round, btn by Wicklow 2-10/2-11.

1997: Leinster first preliminary round, btn by Offaly 013/5-17.

1998: Leinster second preliminary round, btn by Westmeath 1-13/3-14.

1996-98: P5 W1 D1 L3, 33%.

1999: First preliminary round v Wexford, May 9th, New Ross.

Performed well enough last year and gave Westmeath a respectable run in the preliminary final. The team has settled under Michael McCormack and weathered a difficult league in which they were missing players from county champions Fr Manning Gaels.

The team for tomorrow is quite inexperienced with four debutants positioned in goal and across the full back line. Up front Niall Sheridan is a good target man and Padraig Davis a reliable scorer but all in all they will do well to emulate last year's limited success.

Louth

Manager: Paddy Clarke.

All-Irelands: 3 (1957)

Leinster: 8 (1957).

1996: Leinster semi-final, btn by Dublin, 0-8/1-9.

1997: Leinster semi-final, btn by Offaly, 0-11/1-10.

1998: Leinster semi-final, btn by Meath, 1-11/0-15.

1996-98: P5 W3 D0 L3, 50%.

1999: First round v Dublin, June 6th, Croke Park.

Regular semi-finalists over the last three years, Louth have run Dublin, Meath and Offaly close in those matches. Opted to take the league easy and dropped out of promotion contention relatively early. Tough and methodical under Paddy Clarke's management, they will be tough opposition for Dublin. Their Achilles heel has been the inability to take chances created and a tendency to be laboured and onepaced around the middle. The attack has always had the potential to worry opponents and Clarke will be glad that the mercurial Stefan White is on the road to recovery.

Meath

Manager: Sean Boylan.

All-Irelands: 6 (1996)

Leinster: 18 (1996).

1996: All-Ireland champions, bt Mayo replay, 2-9/1-11 (0-12/1-9).

1997: Leinster final, btn by Offaly, 1-15/3-17.

1998: Leinster final, btn by Kildare, 0-10/1-12.

1996-98: P14 W9 D3 L2, 75%.

1999: First round v Wicklow, June 6th, Croke Park.

The danger for Meath is how easy it is to create alibis for what happened in the two years since winning the All-Ireland: suspensions and injuries in the Leinster final of '97, Trevor Giles's absence for the crucial closing 15 minutes of last year's.

Any more slip-ups and explanations become excuses. Yet there are still good prospects for Sean Boylan's team. Giles and Tommy Dowd will be back and even if Brendan Reilly doesn't make it, his form last year was a fair way off his All-Ireland winning virtuosity of three years ago. John McDermott and Nigel Nestor was the best centrefield in last year's championship and Darren Fay is bang in form at full back. All in all, a good enough base from which to take on the hard half of the Leinster draw.

Offaly

Manager: Tommy Lyons.

All-Irelands: 3 (1982)

Leinster: 10 (1997).

1996: Leinster first round, btn by Louth, 0-12/3-8.

1997: All-Ireland semi-final, btn by Mayo, 0-7/0-13.

1998: Leinster first round, btn by Meath, 0-7/3-10.

1996-98: P9 W5 D1 L3, 61%.

1999: First round v Kildare, June 13th, Croke Park.

Last year's abrupt halt against Meath was nearly inevitable in the immediate aftermath of Offaly's first National League win. Now they face a similarly daunting first round against their successors as Leinster champions, Kildare. Top of Tommy Lyons's list of injury concerns are James Grennan and Barry Malone who dislocated their shoulder and knee respectively on the same night at training last March. David Connolly has brought back the place-kicking prowess missing since David Reynolds's departure to the US and Cathal Daly has proved an answer to the full back question. Could surprise Kildare but unlikely to regain title.

Westmeath

Manager: Brendan Lowry.

All-Irelands: 0

Leinster: 0.

1996: Leinster first round, btn by Dublin, 0-9/1-18.

1997: Leinster first round replay, btn by Offaly, 0-7/114 (0-8/0-8).

1998: Leinster first round, btn by Laois 0-15/1-15.

1996-98: P8 W3 D2 L3, 50%.

1998: Preliminary round v Carlow, May 9th, Dr Cullen Park.

Favourites to emerge from the preliminary section and in upbeat humour after the success of the under-21s in reaching next week's All-Ireland final. The team is well balanced with a number of the minors from '95 spread throughout the team and a menacing look to the attack where the established Ger Heavin and under-21 talent Des Dolan occupy the corners. Brendan Lowry has established a good momentum and Westmeath should acquit themselves well outside of as well as inside the preliminary group.

Wexford

Manager: Ger Halligan.

All-Irelands: 5 (1918) Leinster: 10 (1945).

1996: Leinster first preliminary round, btn by Carlow, 1-11/4-17.

1997: Leinster first round replay, btn by Westmeath, 1-15/2-17 (2-5/0-11).

1998: Leinster first preliminary round replay, btn by Longford 2-7/0-16 (2-13/1-16).

1996-98: P5 W0 D2 L3, 20%.

1998: First preliminary round v Longford, May 9th, New Ross.

Unfortunate to lose out on promotion and shed their manager all in the one incident. League form was impressive apart from a mid-campaign blip and the team has always given a reasonable account of itself in the last two years. Yet there are reservations. A failure to build on winning positions and push home an advantage has been at the heart of the need for replays the last two years. A talented attack featuring Leigh O'Brien, Scott Doran and Jason Lawlor will take scores and John Harrington has the capacity to dominate centrefield but has the team acquired the necessary calm under pressure?

Wicklow

Manager: Niall Rennick.

All-Irelands: 0

Leinster: 0.

1996: Leinster second preliminary round, btn by Carlow, 3-10/4-10.

1997: Leinster first round, btn by Offaly, 1-8/1-17.

1998: Leinster first round, btn by Louth, 1-11/3-14.

1996-98: P4 W1 D0 L3, 25%.

1998: First round v Meath, June 6th, Croke Park.

The notorious events at Mullingar on February 28th obscured the damage done to Wicklow's ambitions. Aside from the suspension of Stephen Byrne, there was the loss of the points at a stage when promotion was attainable and an almost visible slowing of the team's momentum. Niall Rennick will have memories of taking Meath to a replay at a similar stage eight years ago but will also know that his current side doesn't benefit from the comparison with its '91 predecessors.