With the 2008 championships just under way in most of the major cities, the North American County Board of the GAA held its annual pre-playoff meeting recently at Boston's Irish Cultural Center, the venue for this years finals. The main focus of the meeting was for the National Board to meet the local host playoff committee to review the plans already in place for the 2008 playoffs and make the draws for the tournament. Besides the North American County Board officers, all divisional boards around the country were represented at the meeting with the exception of the Midwest division. Based on team affiliations from the various divisions at least 18 cities, some with several teams, are expected to be represented at the finals. Consequently, it is anticipated that over a thousand people from out-of-town will be attending the games over the Labor Day weekend, August 29th thru. September 1st. Given the huge success of youth programs around the country it is expected that under age teams from some of these cities will participate in the NACB Youth championships. As part of the nationwide campaign to promote Gaelic games among American born players, two all-American championships, comprising of American born players in hurling and football will been added to this years tournament (an all-American camogie championship is also being considered) . In ladies football, an intermediate football championship will be part of the schedule for the first time, while the junior B shield competition, introduced last year, has been discontinued. With a record 18 championships on the agenda, the 2008 playoffs may well emerge as the biggest NACB playoffs in the history of the board, potentially presenting a serious facilities challenge to the host playoff committee in Boston. Before the playoffs draws were made, there was the usual discussion on how to avoid teams getting a bye to the finals where only three cities were involved in competition such as senior hurling and football. The hosting Northeast division volunteered to enter second teams (divisional championship runner-up) to fill the void in these competitions. Typically, the winners of each divisional championship will represent their division in the playoffs but there will be cases where two teams from the same division will be entered in the same grade. In some cases, the defeated divisional finalists will represent their divisions in a lower grade in the playoffs. Since there are teams from several cities competing for divisional championships in various grades it may not be know until mid-August what clubs or cities will be participating in the playoffs in any a particular grade. Since there is only one senior camogie club and several junior grade clubs in the NACB the camogie draw was tabled pending recommendations from a camogie committee. Following is a list of the divisions and the cities that were entered into the 2008 NACB Playoff draw: NORTHEAST: Boston metropolitan area, Hartford CN, Concord NH CENTRAL: Chicago metropolitan area, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Minnesota Twin Cities, St. Louis, WESTERN: San Francisco metropolitan area. PHILADELPHIA: Philadelphia metropolitan area MIDWEST: Akron, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Rochester. SOUTH EAST: Atlanta, Charlotte SOUTH WEST: Austin, Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, NORTH WEST: Portland, Washington - Seattle, Spokane, Utah. MIDATLANIC: Washington DC, Baltimore Following is the draw for the 2008 NACB playoffs: Senior Hurling: Semi-finals Boston 1 Vs Chicago San Francisco Vs Boston 2 Junior A Hurling: Semi-finals San Francisco Vs Boston Philadelphia Vs Chicago Junior B Hurling: Quarter-final Washington DC Vs Denver Semi-finals Washington or Denver Vs Seattle Milwaukee Vs Twin Cities Junior C Hurling: Preliminary Round Indianapolis Vs St. Louis Milwaukee Vs Twin Cities Atlanta Vs Denver Chicago Vs Philadelphia 2 Portland Vs Seattle Quarter-finals Ind or St. Louis Vs Philadelphia 1 Mil or Twin Cities Vs Concord NH Atlanta or Denver Vs Pittsburgh Chicago or Philadelphia 2 Vs Portland or Seattle All-American Hurling Quarter-final Central Vs Mid-Atlantic Semi-final Cent or Mid-A Vs Boston Philadelphia Vs Seattle Men's Senior Football: Semi-finals Boston Vs Philadelphia Chicago Vs San Francisco Men's Intermediate Football Semi-finals Boston 2 Vs Philadelphia Boston 1 Vs San Francisco Men's Junior A Football Semi-finals Boston Vs San Francisco Philadelphia Vs Chicago Men's Junior B Football Quarter-finals Charlotte Vs Boston Midwest 2 Vs Southwest 1 Midwest 1 Vs Southwest 2 Philadelphia Vs Chicago Men's Junior C Football Quarter-finals Chicago Vs Mid-Atlantic Seattle Vs Southwest Midwest 2 Vs Philadelphia Midwest 1 Vs Boston Men's Junior D Football Quarter-finals Phoenix Vs St. Louis Denver Vs Baltimore Austin Vs Indianapolis Frederick MD Vs Charlotte All-American Football Quarter-finals Seattle Vs Boston Chicago Vs Mid-Atlantic Southwest Vs Philadelphia San Francisco Vs Southeast Ladies Senior Football Em--finals Boston 2 Vs San Francisco Chicago Vs Boston 1 Ladies Intermediate Football Semi-finals San Francisco Vs Boston Chicago Vs looser of San Fran/Boston Ladies Junior A Football Semi-finals Seattle Vs Philadelphia Washington DC Vs Atlanta Ladies Junior B Football: Preliminary Round Midwest 2 Vs Denver Midwest 1 Vs Seattle Atlanta Vs San Diego Quarter-finals Midwest 2 or Denver Vs San Francisco Midwest 1 or Seattle Vs Atlanta or San Diego Chicago Vs Mid-Atlantic Charlotte Vs Orange County CA Senior Camogie Boston Vs Chicago Junior Camogie Quarter-final San Francisco Vs Washington DC Semi-finals Milwaukee 1 Vs San Francisco or Washington DC Boston Vs Milwaukee 2 Eamonn Kelly PRO - North American County Board Tweet

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