THE DUST HAS barely settled on the 2013 GAA season with Dublin and Clare still celebrating their triumphs.
But tonight the first steps towards the 2014 All-Ireland senior hurling and football championships will be taken with the provincial draws taking place.
The draws will be held in Croke Park for the football championships in Munster, Leinster, Connacht and Ulster.
While the hurling championship draws for Leinster and Munster are also set to be held.
Here’s the formats for the provincial draws:
Connacht
There are seven teams competing in the senior football championship out west next year. The pre-determined pairings for the first round ties are Mayo against New York and Galway against London.
Roscommon, Sligo and Leitrim are also in the draw with one of this trio to get a bye to the semi-finals and the other pair to face each other in the last of the first round games. Reigning champions Mayo are aiming to complete a four-in-a-row in 2014.
Pic: INPHO/James Crombie
Leinster
Dublin are the reigning football champions here. Next year they will be chasing a fourth successive title and a ninth in ten years. They get a bye to the quarter-final stage along with the other three semi-finalists from this season – Kildare, Meath and Wexford.
There are seven other counties competing in Carlow, Laois, Longford, Louth, Offaly, Westmeath and Wicklow. One of those will be drawn to get a bye to the quarter-finals while the remaining six will be drawn against each other in three first round ties.
There are ten teams in contention in the Leinster senior hurling championship. Dublin are the reigning champions here and are thus rewarded with a bye to the semi-final stage.
The other nine teams are Antrim, Carlow, Galway, Kilkenny, Laois, London, Offaly, Westmeath and Wexford. There are three quarter-final ties with Galway, Kilkenny, Offaly and Wexford already through to contest that stage.
The remaining counties – Antrim, Carlow, Laois, London and Westmeath – will play a round-robin series with the top two teams moving on to the quarter-final stage as well.
Pic: INPHO/Donall Farmer
Munster
The senior football championship has been the source of much controversy here with the Clare, Limerick, Waterford and Tipperary furious over the reverting to a seeding system in the province.
But the system is set to be in place for 2014 that this quartet will be drawn in the two quarter-finals against each other. Then Cork and reigning champions Kerry will be seeded in the semi-finals on opposite sides of the draw to each other.
The senior hurling championship will be an open draw between the five counties – Clare, Cork, the reigning champions Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford. There will be one quarter-final tie with one side getting a bye into the semi-final stage.
Pic: INPHO/Lorraine O’Sullivan
Ulster
It’s a straightforward open draw here in the football championship. There are nine teams competing – Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Derry, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, the reigning champions Monaghan and Tyrone.
Two teams will be drawn in a preliminary round fixture with one team getting a bye to the quarter-finals where they will meet the winners of that opening tie. The remaining six teams are drawn against each other in three quarter-final ties.
Pic: INPHO/Presseye/William Cherry
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