Offaly receive tough Tailteann Cup draw
Offaly likely to meet Tailteann Cup favourites in round 2A
Offaly senior footballers have received a tough Tailteann Cup draw with a likely round 2A clash with Down.
Monday's draw pitted them against the winners of Tailteann Cup favourites, Down, and Leitrim. On the plus side, the game on May 23-24 will be in O'Connor Park and after their very good win over Clare on Saturday, Offaly should now be approaching the competition in the right manner – there is a window of opportunity to make real progress in the competition, even if they lose their next game.
Down were unlucky to end up in the Tailteann Cup with Westmeath's progression to the Leinster final condemning them to the second tier and ruining their chances of staying in the All-Ireland series. Even if they lose this, Offaly will have a second chance.
The eight winners from round 1 meet each other with the losers of that having an escape chute against the winners of the four games from the first round losers – the losers of those games will be gone.
Rounds 2A (the eight winners from round 1) and 2B (the eight losers from round 1) will take place on the weekend of May 23-24.
Round 2 A is: Antrim v Tipperary, Fermanagh v Wexford; Offaly v winner Down/Leitrim; London v Laois.
Round 2 B is: Wicklow v Limerick; Clare v Longford; Waterford v Sligo; Loser Down/Leitrim v Carlow.
Round 3 between the four losers from round 2A and four winners from round 2B will take place on June 6-7: a draw will determine home venue and there will be the avoidance of repeat pairings from round 1 where possible.
Three of the winners from round 2A will go straight into the quarter-finals on June 13-14 with one playing New York in a preliminary quarter-final on June 6-7. The preliminary quarter-final winner and the three other round 2A winners will be at home to the round 3 winners in the quarter-finals on June 13-14, with the semi-finals a week later and the final on July 11.