19 COUNTIES WILL be keeping an eye on the draw next Tuesday for Round 1 of the 2016 All-Ireland senior football qualifiers.
We already know 11 of the counties that will be involved in Carlow, Wicklow, Longford, Wexford, Derry, Armagh, Antrim, Waterford, Limerick, Leitrim and London.
Five more counties are set to join them after the provincial action over the next two weekends.
When the draw takes place next Tuesday, the losers of this weekend’s Dublin v Laois and Monaghan v Down games will also be involved.
Another six counties (Meath, Louth, Offaly, Westmeath, Fermanagh and Donegal) will be focusing on their provincial ties on 12 June but they will have an interest in the qualifier draw.
The draw takes place next Tuesday morning 7 June after the 8.30am news headlines on Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1.
Here’s how the draw will work.
Round 1A
The four games will take place on the weekend of 18/19 June. The draw involves the eight counties on the ‘A’ side of the provincial championship that do not qualify for the provincial semi-finals, i.e. the losers of the following games.
- Leinster – Carlow, Louth/Meath, Wicklow, Laois/Dublin
- Ulster – Derry, Armagh
- Munster – Waterford
- Connacht – Leitrim
Round 1B
The four games here will take place on the weekend of 25/26 June. The draw involves the eight counties on the ‘B’ side of the provincial championship that do not qualify for the provincial semi-finals, i.e. the losers of the following games.
- Leinster - Longford, Offaly/Westmeath, Wexford
- Ulster - Monaghan/Down, Antrim, Fermanagh/Donegal
- Munster - Limerick
- Connacht - London
In both draws, the first team drawn shall have home advantage with the following exceptions:
Where two teams who have already met in the provincial championship are drawn to meet, the winner of the provincial championship game shall have home advantage.
Except if a county did not have home advantage in the first round of the 2015 qualifier series, it shall have home advantage in the first round in 2016. In the event of both teams having played away in 2015, the first team drawn shall have home advantage.
The counties drawn away in Round 1 in 2015 were Antrim, Carlow, Wicklow, Leitrim, Limerick and Down.
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