Lyons bemoans draw as Clare again tackle Tipp

FOR the fifth successive year, Clare and Tipperary have been paired for the first round of the Guinness Munster hurling championship.

The news did not please Clare manager Cyril Lyons, who brought his team to the All-Ireland final this year through the qualifier system after a two-point defeat in Pairc Ui Chaoimh in mid-May.

"I was hoping we would get a different team and a different venue,'' Lyons said. "After meeting Tipp for the last four years, we would have liked to meet another county. I don't know if it adds to the excitement for some people, but for me itdoesn't," he said.

The draws for the 2003 Championship campaign featured two other repeats from this year. Galway will again face Roscommon in the Connacht football championship after beating them by ten points in Hyde Park on the same day that Clare met Tipp this year while Westmeath and Carlow were drawn together again in Leinster.

And, intriguingly for Westmeath, Meath will again await them in the quarter-final if they triumph. Longford got a bye to the quarter-final, against Kildare. Mick O'Dwyer will begin his Championship tenure with the Laois footballers against Wexford. The winners will face Offaly, also under new management.

In the Munster football championship, Cork and Kerry ended up on opposite sides. Kerry received a bye to the semi-final, where they will meet Tipperary or Waterford, while Cork and Limerick will play off for a semi-final game against Clare.

All-Ireland champions Armagh, meanwhile, will face a preliminary round in Ulster against Monaghan, whom they beat in the qualifier series last year in Clones. Fermanagh and Donegal will clash for the fourth time in two years. In last year's Ulster championship, Fermanagh triumphed in a replay before losing in the qualifier competition.

A feature of the Munster hurling championship draw is that Kerry will take part, against Waterford. Last year, they withdrew after a 2-32 to 0-4 hammering by Cork in Fitzgerald Stadium in the 2000 competition. Notably, Kerry shocked Waterford in Walsh Park in 1993 (4-13 to 3-13), before losing to Tipperary in the semi-final.

They went under to Waterford by eight points when the counties next clashed in 1998. Limerick will play the winners in the semi-final. On the other side, Cork gained a bye and will meet Clare or Tipperary. When Clare met Tipp last year, they lost by a single point.

But, they were defeated by eight points in the 2000 championship after having beaten Tipp by ten points in a replay the year before. In Leinster, seven teams will play off in the preliminary football section, with the draw to be made by the Leinster Council's Games Administration Committee tomorrow night.

The winning team will advance to meet All-Ireland champions in one semi-final. Wexford and Offaly will clash in the other. In Ulster, Antrim and London will meet in the only quarter-final, with Down awaiting the winners. On the other side, Derry will play New York (in Gaelic Park). Galway hurlers will again be involved in the qualifier competition.

GAC chairman Padraig Duffy expressed the view after the draw last night that in the long term, Galway might be accommodated differently. "My own view is that they should find a home in one of the provinces,'' Duffy said.