A new draw for the Liberty Insurance Intermediate Camogie Championship was published yesterday following the fall-out from last week’s elevation of the COVID-19 restrictions to Level Five by the Republic of Ireland government.
The new measures meant that only one team in each county is deemed to be an elite team.
Hence the reserve teams from Dublin, Cork, Galway, Tipperary and Kilkenny have been removed from the Liberty Insurance Intermediate championship leaving just eight counties.
After games played at the weekend, Down, Laois and Antrim will move into the Winners’ group for Round Two and will be joined on Saturday by either Meath or Kerry.
Down will face Laois while Antrim will play the winners from Kerry v Meath with the winners from these Round Two games progressing directly into the semi-finals.
The losers however will get a second chance by meeting the two teams coming through from the first round Losers’ group (Derry v Kildare and Carlow v loser of Kerry/Meath) on November 15th in the Intermediate quarter-finals.
The semi-finals are scheduled for 21st November with the final on December 5th.
Liberty Insurance Intermediate Championship
October 31 2020
Round One
Kerry v Meath
November 7 2020
Round Two
Down v Laois (Match A)
Antrim v winners of Kerry/Meath (Match B)
Derry v Kildare (Match C)
Carlow v Losers of Kerry/Meath (Match D)
November 15 2020
Intermediate Quarter-finals
Losers of Match A v Winners of Match D (Match 1)
Losers of Match B v Winners of Match C (Match 2)
November 21 2020
Intermediate semi-finals
Winners of Match A v Winners of quarter-final** 1
Winners of Match B v Winners of quarter-final** 2
December 5 202
Intermediate Final
**Teams who have met in the early rounds will not meet in the knockout stages unless there is no other option available, in which case a draw will be made.
Previews of weekend games
Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Senior Championship: Saturday 2pm:
Páirc Uí Rinn: Cork v Wexford
Fr MacNamara Park: Clare v Dublin
Sunday 2pm
Pearse Stadium: Galway v Offaly
IT IS very difficult seeing anything other than wins for Cork and Galway in Group One of the Senior championship. Indeed it would be expected that both teams will take the opportunity to run their bench and still clock up a second successive win to both qualify for the knock-out stages.
That would mean their meeting next week will decide which of the two claims a semi-final berth with the other going the scenic route through the quarter-finals.
Tipperary has already claimed one of the quarter-final spots available in Group Three and the Clare v Dublin game tomorrow (SATURDAY) will decide the other team going through.
When we look at how each fared against Tipperary we might get an idea which is best equipped to progress.
Clare struggled and were never in with a chance of getting anything out of it despite the fact that their opponents played the last 20 minutes with just 14 players.
On the other hand, Tipperary scored an early goal against Dublin last week (13th minute) but the Metropolitans were able to stay with their visitors for the rest of the game and that goal was really the difference in the end.
Advantage Dublin then – although home venue might be a help in keeping Clare in the game.
Liberty Insurance Intermediate Championship: Round One
Kerry v Meath
ANTRIM will play the winners of this game next weekend in Round Two of the championship and there is every likelihood that they will be facing Meath.
The Royals had been relegated from Division One and lost their place in the Senior championship last season. But away back in February and early March they had won their four Group games in the Littlewoods Ireland Division Two league and were through to the semi-finals.
Those wins included a 0-6 to 0-3 victory over Cork in Cork and a 0-9 to 1-5 defeat of Kilkenny in Navan.
By contrast Kerry had lost to Kerry, Down and Wexford. So the Saffrons will most likely be facing Meath in the next round
Liberty Insurance Nancy Murray Cup
Saturday 2pm in Kingspan Breffni Park: Cavan v Louth
There can only be one winner in Breffni – the home side.
Last week Tyrone blitzed Louth in Dundalk and the week before Cavan beat Tyrone in Carrickmore. It would take a monumental shift in fortunes for Cavan to lose at home.
