Newtown Blues chairman Alan Loughran has stressed that qualification from the group is far from a forgone conclusion.

The 2011 runners-up have been placed in a group alongside Dundalk Gaels and Kilkerly Emmets and have been immediately installed as favourites to top the group.

However, Loughran points to past results against the group opposition to back his claim that qualifying for the knockout stages won't be easy.

He told the Dundalk Democrat: "We got a bit of a scare from the Gaels last year, so we'll take nothing for granted. If you lose your first game, you're under pressure straight away." Tweet

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