Ulster's big three in gaelic football have been kept apart in the group stages of the 2009 Gaelic Life Dr McKenna Cup. The draw for the 2009 Gaelic Life Dr.McKenna Cup took place in front of a full house in Armagh's City Hotel. All-Ireland Champions, Tyrone, will have to overcome last year's winners Down to make it to the semi finals, while National League kingpins, Derry are in arguably the tightest group, with Fermanagh, Donegal and Sigerson Cup Championship University of Ulster Jordanstown. Ulster winners, Armagh will be fancied to come out of Group C, where they play Cavan, Antrim and Queen's. The competition, sponsored by Gaelic Life - Ulster's only weekly newspaper dedicated exclusively to coverage of Gaelic games, is once again expected to provide a first insight into the prospects of both the counties and Universities for the season ahead. Last year Down captured the title and set the scene for a year of sustained progress. Ulster GAA President, Tom Daly, said: "The competition has a proven to be extremely popular both among the competing teams and followers. It is relished by all concerned as an important start to the forthcoming season. "One of the innovations has been the number of matches played under floodlights. This has been facilitated by the Ulster Council's modernisation programme and means that the competition can be completed in the designated timeframe. "We are also currently finalising arrangements for live TV coverage on TG4 and are anticipating that quite a number of games will be featured." Tom Daly finished by stating, "The Ulster Council is absolutely delighted that Gaelic Life has continued it's sponsorship of the Dr McKenna Cup for 2009 and this reinforces the positive and mutually beneficial relationship with the team at NWIPP. Tweet

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