The battle for Sam Maguire is on. Bryan Keane/INPHO

How the revamped format for the All-Ireland football championship draw will work

The first fixtures in the race for Sam Maguire will be drawn at 1pm on Monday afternoon.

THE DRAW FOR the opening round of the All-Ireland senior football championship will take place on Monday afternoon, with the 16 Sam Maguire teams set to face off in a revamped format this summer.

The round-robin structure has been replaced by a format similar to the old ‘backdoor’ championship, where teams who lose early in the championship will be afforded a second chance ahead of the straight knockout matches.

The draw for Round 1 – which takes place at 1pm on Monday on GAA+ – will see the eight provincial finalists drawn against the eight next-best teams based on league ranking.

Provincial Finalists (Bowl 1): Galway, Roscommon, Dublin, Westmeath, Cork, Kerry, Armagh, Monaghan

League Ranking (Bowl 2): Donegal, Mayo, Meath, Louth, Derry, Tyrone, Cavan, Kildare

The Round 1 draw is an open draw, and provincial finalists will have home advantage. The Munster and Connacht finalists are set to play their opening match in the All-Ireland series on 23/24 May, with the Ulster and Leinster finalists playing on the weekend of 30/31 May.

The eight winners from Round 1 will then go into Round 2A, where they will play off against each other for a place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

The eight losers from Round 1 will have a second chance to keep their championship alive in Round 2B.

Lose again and they’re out – but win and they’ll progress to a win-or-bust Round 3, where they’ll play the four losers from Round 2A for the remaining places in the quarter-finals.

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