Qualifier draws next Sunday

June 13, 2009
The All-Ireland football and hurling first round qualifier draws will be made next Sunday, June 21. Eight teams will go into the hurling draw, while a further 16 football teams will be waiting anxiously to see who they are paired with. Ulster heavyweights Armagh and Monaghan will be viewed as two of the teams to avoid. The hurling draw has a completely new format, while the football backdoor series reverts to four rounds after a two-year period when Division 4 teams were excluded and played in the Tommy Murphy Cup instead. Antrim, Laois, Cork and Offaly make up Phase 1 of the hurling qualifiers. The four beaten provincial semi-finalists will go into Phase 2. Both phases have an open draw. The winners of Phase 1 and 2 will meet in Phase 3. The two winners will progress to the All-Ireland quarter-finals to meet the provincial finalists. In football, the 16 losers from the provincial first round and quarter-final games will go into an open draw for the qualifier first round. The eight winners will be joined in the second round by the eight provincial semi-final losers. The third round draw will only feature the second round winners and will produce four teams to meet the beaten provincial finalists in the fourth and final round of the qualifiers. The football and hurling qualifiers will be played on the weekend of July 4/5.

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