The Allianz National Football League kick off with a Croke Park double-header tonight. Cork will be aiming for a fourth league title in succession but Dublin, Kerry, Mayo will be among the teams that are primed to stop them.
Ger Gilroy will also be joined in studio by Ryan McMenamin, Billy Joe Padden and Conor Deegan to preview the 2013 campaign in a special panel from 4pm.
Leitrim
No bias intended, but Leitrim seems a good place to start in Division 4. The 1994 Connacht Champions won their first ever FBD League title last weekend, also picking up four successive wins in the process.
That pre-season tournament may not be valued by some observers, but it will be a much-needed boost to Leitrim as they try to get out of the bottom tier.
With young talents like Conor Beirne and Ciaran Egan beginning to make their mark alongside the likes of Emlyn Mulligan and Wayne McKeon, there are grounds for cautious optimism regarding a promotion shot.
Limerick
Leitrim’s first opponents of the 2013 league campaign are Limerick who will also feel they can be in with a shout of progression from a competitive division.
They finished the last campaign in fourth – their debut in the bottom tier after relegation in 2011.
And they currently have a few injury worries to contend with in the early weeks of the league season.
2012 was a mixed bag in the Championship as well. They took Clare to the wire in the Munster semi-final before being edged out by a point, while the qualifiers saw an extra-time win over Longford prior to losing steam against Kildare in a 0-19 to 0-12 extra-time defeat in the following round.
Tipperary and Offaly who were relegated from Division 3 last season, will also hope to be in the final shake up for promotion.
Tipperary
Tipp had an encouraging pre-season as they got past Cork and Waterford (in extra-time) before succumbing to Kerry by seven points in the McGrath Cup decider. But they will have taken heart from the return of forward Barry Grogan – who scored in that final – after his emigration last year.
Offaly
Offaly emerged from an O’Byrne Cup group containing Westmeath, Laois and AIT before a semi-final defeat to eventual champions Kildare – the very same opponents who beat the Faithful convincingly in the quarter-finals of last year’s Leinster Championship.
Clare
Mick O’Dwyer’s Clare will be another team to look out for. The Banner County will be aiming to build on a strong 2012 under Micheal McDermott, as they came within a whisker of escaping the Division. There was also a Connacht final appearance in 2012 and Micko will hope to inspire The Banner to greater heights, although he will have to do so without retiring full back Barry Duggan and injured forward Michael O’Shea.
Carlow
Carlow are also under new management with Anthony Rainbow making the step up from selector. Last season’s league campaign was best forgotten as they finished seventh out of nine, although the Championship was better for them as they took Meath to a replay in the Leinster quarter-finals.
However pre-season did not go too well for Rainbow’s charges as they were crushed by Dublin and defeated by DCU in their O’Byrne Cup group games. But they did squeeze in a victory over Wicklow between those losses. Rainbow will look to integrate a few youngsters as well as midfielder Brendan Murphy who has returned from a serious injury.
Waterford
Waterford finished just a point ahead of Carlow in their 2012 league campaign and that was thanks to a draw with London. The Championship was not much of an improvement as they were battered by Limerick (2-12 to 0-7) in the Munster quarter finals before going the distance against Wicklow in the first round of the qualifiers, eventually losing in extra-time.
London
London pulled off a 0-9 to 0-9 draw against The Deise in Dungarvan as well as demolishing a poor Kilkenny last year. But they can expect to prop up the division this time round with the Cats absent.
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