THE crunch Ulster SFC clash between heavyweights Donegal and Tyrone will be played on Sunday, May 17 next year.
The championship dates were confirmed by the GAA yesterday, with Monaghan and Cavan starting the provincial race off on May 10 in Clones.
The Derry v Armagh (May 16) and Monaghan/Cavan v Antrim (May 23) games will take place on Saturday evenings, with the first semi-final possibly a third Saturday game.
Whoever wins that game will have three weeks to prepare for Ulster’s showpiece, which will take place on June 21 next year.
Meanwhile, the Allianz Football Leagues in 2020 will kick off with a Croke Park blockbuster as Dublin and Kerry meet in a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final.
The Kingdom came close to stopping the five-in-a-row when they took Jim Gavin’s men to a replay, before being pushed off in the closing minutes the second day.
They will meet on January 25, with Donegal, Armagh, Cavan and Derry also beginning their campaigns that evening.
Donegal will host Mayo in Ballybofey, and they will use MacCumhaill Park – their spiritual home – again for their final home game against Tyrone on March 14.
Declan Bonner’s men will bring Galway to Letterkenny on February 9, while Monaghan will sample the delights of Ballyshannon on March 1.
The Farney, under the management of Seamus McEnaney again, will employ their own venue rotation. They will face Tyrone in Castleblayney on February 2, and will bring Kerry to Inniskeen in the penultimate round of games. Their other Division One home ties against Mayo and Meath will be in Clones.
Tyrone will bring All-Ireland champions Dublin to Healy Park for another Saturday night date on February 29, though Mickey Harte’s men only have three home games, with the other two against Meath and Kerry.
Dublin’s first five games will all be Saturday night affairs.
Ulster rivals Armagh and Cavan will begin their Division Two campaigns against each other in the Athletic Grounds, with Mickey Graham’s Ulster finalists hosting old nemeses Roscommon on the final day.
Armagh will host the Connacht champions the week previous, while Fermanagh will again target the Orchard when they bring them back into Brewster Park on the first day in March.
With places in the top tier championship at stake, Division Three is set to be fiercely contested.
Down eyes will have been drawn straight to the final day and a trip to Drogheda, where they might just get to make amends against a Louth side that stunned them in Newry this spring to deny Paddy Tally’s side promotion.
The Mournemen have a very tricky opening, with trips to Tipperary and Cork sandwiching a home tie against Derry set to define a lot of their year in the first three games.
Derry will have four games and will play two each in Owenbeg and Celtic Park, with Leitrim and Longford being taken into the city while Tipperary and Louth visit the Dungiven venue.
Antrim’s home games in Division Four, meanwhile, will be played at Glenavy. They had been hosting National League football ties in Corrigan Park of recent years, but expected work at St John’s ground means the Saffrons have moved home again.
The National Hurling League will undergo a slight change of format in Division 1A and 1B, with both league’s top sides going straight into a semi-final and the second and third placed teams facing quarter-finals.
That contrasts with the format all of the top four in each division all facing into quarter-final ties this year.
Antrim’s two home games in Division 2A will be played in Loughgiel, where they will host Mayo (February 2) and Meath (February 23).
Their Joe McDonagh Cup draw has handed them home ties against Westmeath and Kerry, alongside trips to Carlow and Meath. The top two teams out of the five at the end of the league stage will play in the final.
Derry face a daunting Christy Ring Cup opener away to Offaly, and are also in with Wicklow and Sligo. Both Derry and Down have just one home game each in the group stage. The Ardsmen host London and travel to Kildare and Roscommon.
2019 Ulster SFC dates
May 10: Monaghan v Cavan
May 16: Derry v Armagh
May 17: Donegal v Tyrone
May 23: Monaghan/Cavan v Antrim
May 24: Fermanagh v Down
May 30/31: Derry/Armagh v Donegal/Tyrone
June 7: Fermanagh/Down v Monaghan/Cavan/Antrim
June 21: Ulster final
