2009 ‘125 Year’ GAA Football Championship Up and Running

PRESS RELEASE
13.05.082009 ‘125 Year’ GAA Football Championship Up and Running

Tyrone’s 2008 All-Ireland winning captain Brian Dooher today brought the Sam Maguire trophy back to Croke Park in the company of four rival team captains ahead of another summer of eagerly anticipated championship action.

Team captains Ciarán McKeever (Armagh), Graham Canty (Cork), Paul Griffin (Dublin) and Damien Burke (Galway), representing the four provincial winners from last year, were all present at the official launch of this year’s championship.

Mayo’s Connacht championship win over New York last weekend kickstarted the 2009 competition and Fermanagh and Down and Louth and Carlow will enter the fray this weekend with their respective Ulster and Leinster assignments.

The first games of the GAA Football Munster Championship see Cork face Waterford and Tipperary clashing with Limerick on May 25.

GAA Uachtarán Criostóir Ó Cuana believes the 2009 competition has the potential to match the excitement and drama of recent seasons.

He said: “The GAA has been well served by the quality of the games produced by the football championship in recent years and I have no reason to doubt that similar levels of dedication and commitment from the counties involved will give rise to a competition that will illuminate the summer.

“I suppose the big questions for football followers everywhere is whether Kerry can reverse the losing trend in games against Tyrone in recent seasons if their paths cross and whether a new county can come out of the pack and challenge a dominance shared by these two counties that now stretches back to 2002 when Armagh emerged victorious.

“We are all looking forward to another summer of top level action and I thank our supporters Toyota, Ulster Bank and Vodafone for their ongoing support and imaginative sponsorship of this competition.”

By kind permission of Mr Louis Fitzgerald, yesterday’s photo shoot featured the football used at Croke Park on Bloody Sunday November 21 1920.

GAA Football Championship Fixtures May 2009

Connacht
May 10 New York 0-10 Mayo 2-19; May 31 Leitrim v Roscommon, Carrick-on-Shannon.

Leinster
May 17 Carlow v Louth, Parnell Park; May 24 Kildare v Offaly/ Longford v Wicklow, both Portlaoise.

Munster
May 24 Waterford v Cork, Dungarvan; Limerick v Tipperary, Semple Stadium.

Ulster
May 17 Fermanagh v Down, Brewster Park; May 24 Derry v Monaghan, Celtic Park; May 31 Tyrone v Armagh, Clones.

A full list of 2009 GAA Football Championship Fixtures is available at www.gaa.ie and a full football media guide will be circulated in the coming days.