Arising from the successful cross border leagues involving Westmeath and Offaly over the last number of years and following Laois/Offaly games played by way of preparation for Feile na nGael over the last two years, it has been decided to progress this concept and pilot leagues involving clubs from all three counties. The focus for these games will be to provide quality games for clubs against teams they would not normally play as they prepare for their own championships.
For this pilot it is initially planned to run with U16 games in both hurling and football with a finals weekend over May 1 to 3. Each club will play three games over the course of the league. Clubs will be in groups of three – one from each county with two games in this section against the other two teams. This group of three will be ‘opposite’ a similar group of three with one additional game against new opposition from that group by way of a finals challenge. All games will be against clubs from a different county and in the initial group of three, all clubs will have one home and one away game. The venue for the third game will be determined by the organising committee.
The leagues are open to clubs of all levels with groupings made so as to have groups as competitive as possible. Teams playing in lower divisions in their own county are very welcome to become involved and from experience of leagues run previously, it is these clubs that can benefit most from these cross border games.
All clubs will have one game played by mid March and the second league game played by early April. With all clubs having two games played by early April the format and pairings will then be worked out for the Finals Challenges to be played over the May Bank Holiday weekend.
Any club wishing to be involved should note that the entry deadline is today Friday January 29.
Further details can be got through your Juvenile Club Secretary or through organising secretary Noel Delaney on (087 ) 2456147.
