TG4 ALL-IRELAND ladies senior football champions Dublin are to play their 2018 Lidl National League Division 1 fixtures against Cork and Kerry at Croke Park.
The games will take place prior to Allianz Football League games involving the Dubs’ male counterparts. The Dublin ladies will also travel to Castlebar for their clash with Mayo, after the Ladies Gaelic Football Association announced a series of eight double-headers for the forthcoming league campaign this afternoon.
It comes on the back of last March’s historic meeting of the Dubs and Mayo at Croke Park, which was the first ladies football league game staged at GAA headquarters. The fixture acted as the curtain-raiser for the clash of the Dublin and Roscommon men’s teams.
The Dublin ladies will entertain Lidl Division 1 champions Cork at Croker on Saturday, 10 February and Kerry on Saturday, 3 March. The games will be followed by Dublin’s Allianz Football League encounters with Donegal and Kerry respectively.
Repeats of both the men’s and ladies’ All-Ireland senior football finals between Mayo and Dublin are scheduled for Elverys MacHale Park in Castlebar on Saturday, 24 February.
Five of the eight games which will form part of double-headers are high-profile Lidl NFL Division 1 showdowns, with three matches in Division 2 also accommodated.
Monaghan will host Kerry in Division 1 on Sunday, 11 February, before the Monaghan men take on Kerry at Páirc Grattan, Inniskeen. On the same day, Connacht champions Galway tackle Mayo at Pearse Stadium in Salthill, before the Galway and Mayo men battle it out.
In Division 2, Armagh, Cavan and Tyrone will also get the chance to line out in home fixtures ahead of the men’s teams from the respective counties.
Here’s the confirmed list of double-headers (men’s Allianz Football League fixtures in brackets):
Sunday, 28 January
Lidl NFL Division 2: Armagh v Tipperary (12pm) — Athletic Grounds, Armagh (Armagh v Sligo)
Saturday, 3 February
Lidl NFL Division 2: Cavan v Armagh (5.15pm) — Kingspan Breffni, Cavan (Cavan v Louth)
Saturday, 10 February
Lidl NFL Division 1: Dublin v Cork (5pm) — Croke Park (Dublin v Donegal)
Sunday, 11 February
Lidl NFL Division 1: Monaghan v Kerry (12pm) — Páirc Grattan, Inniskeen (Monaghan v Kerry)
Sunday, February 11
Lidl NFL Division 1: Galway v Mayo (12pm) — Pearse Stadium, Salthill (Galway v Mayo)
Saturday, 24 February
Lidl NFL Division 1: Mayo v Dublin (5pm) — Elverys MacHale Park, Castlebar (Mayo v Dublin)
Saturday, 3 March
Lidl NFL Division 1: Dublin v Kerry (5pm) — Croke Park (Dublin v Kerry)
Saturday, 3 March
Lidl NFL Division 2: Tyrone v Cavan (5.15pm) — Healy Park, Omagh (Tyrone v Donegal)