Ulster eyes meeting of Armagh and Derry

THE mouth-watering Ulster SFC meeting of title hopefuls Derry and Armagh will kick start the 2010 championships on May 16.

The third Sunday in May has been pencilled in by the Ulster Council to host the game at Derry’s refurbished Celtic Park GAA base.

While other provinces may schedule games the previous weekend the meeting of two Ulster heavyweights will represent the first major clash of the summer.

The GAA has been criticised in the past for not using more high profile games to launch their championships.

But the preliminary round fixture between 2008 winners Armagh and that season’s National League champions Derry has presented fixture markers with the perfect marketing opportunity for 2010.

It was widely accepted that last season’s football championship didn’t capture the public’s imagination until May 31 when Tyrone took on Armagh.

Ahead of that game Tyrone manager Mickey Harte called for the game to be brought forward several weeks to launch the championship in spectacular fashion at Croke Park. But his pleas were ignored.

Derry have home advantage for next season’s clash with Armagh as they were drawn from the hat first.

The winners of the preliminary round tie will head to Clones to face Monaghan in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile Galway are to seek home advantage for some of their games in the Leinster hurling championship when the arrangement comes up for review.

Galway competed in the Leinster championship this season for the first time as part of a three-year agreement.

Galway chairman Gerry Larkin said they would be looking to have home advantage in matches in the future.

“It won’t happen in the short term as it is not part of the existing three-year agreement but it is something we will be seeking when the arrangement comes up for review in a year or 18 months time. The move to Leinster has been well received and we hope it will be possible to play Leinster championship games in Galway in the future,” said Larkin.

While the qualifier system has thrown up a few home fixtures, high-profile encounters have been thin on the ground.

“It would be a huge boost to the promotion of the game to have the likes of a Galway-Kilkenny or Wexford or Offaly, or whoever, championship match in Pearse Stadium. Our first year in Leinster has been a success and we need to look at all ways of building on that,” added Larkin.