Gaelic Games

Mayo avoid Tyrone in first-round football qualifier draw

Meath will host Tyrone, Westmeath will face testing visit of Kieran McGeeney’s Armagh

Mayo begin their qualifier campaign against Limerick. Photograph: Inpho

Eamon Donoghue's face
Eamon Donoghue
Mon May 28 2018 - 09:02

Mayo will travel to Limerick for their first-round qualifier match, following Monday morning's draw.

The draw involved all of the teams who have been beaten and failed to reach their provincial semi-final - that being 16 of the 19 teams to have so far lost a game. New York will play no further part in the championship, while Tipperary and Leitrim will enter the second round draw after semi-final exits.

Stephen Rochford’s team avoided fellow big guns Tyrone, with the latter being drawn against Meath in the tastiest of the ties. Meath exited the Leinster championship after a somewhat surprise defeat to Longford, their first time to do so since 1982. Tyrone meanwhile were edged by Monaghan in the Ulster quarter-final.

The other big clash sees Armagh take on Westmeath, and while the Leinster county have made two of the last three finals in the province they fell well short of Laois in Saturday’s quarter-final. Armagh meanwhile failed to build on their promising league form and were well beaten by Fermanagh.

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Kildare will hope to bounce back from their shock defeat to Carlow with a trip to Derry. And like the Lilywhites, Louth will be hoping for their first competitive win of 2018 when they travel to London.

Last year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists Mayo take on a Limerick side who have won just one championship match over the past three summers, and won only one match in Division Four this year. The sides last met in the championship in 2002 when Mayo won by a point.

Match venues and times will be confirmed by the CCCC on Tuesday afternoon with the fixtures scheduled for weekend of June 9th/10th.

All matches will be required to finish on the day.

The first team drawn in each tie will have home advantage – exception: a Division three or four team from the current year’s Allianz League drawn against a Division One or Two team will have home advantage.

First-round qualifier draw

Derry v Kildare

Meath v Tyrone

London v Louth

Wicklow v Cavan

Offaly v Antrim

Limerick v Mayo

Westmeath v Armagh

Wexford v Waterford

LimerickLouthMayoWaterfordWexfordWicklowStephen Rochford