Floodlit matches to kickstart Dr McKenna Cup

A trio of floodlit encounters will open the 2011 Barrett Sports Lighting Dr McKenna Cup competition on Saturday, January 8.

The Ulster football competition will provide strong preparation for counties and colleges in the province, ahead of the National League and Sigerson Cup campaigns respectively.

There is a 7pm start on the new 3G pitch at Kingspan Breffni Park for the Cavan v Queen's University, Belfast opener, with the other two ties on the opening night also pitting county teams against college opposition.

At Brewster Park in Enniskillen, Fermanagh will host UUJ in a Section A clash, while Down will entertain St. Mary's of Belfast in their Section C opener at Newry's Pairc Esler.

The rest of the opening round matches are down for decision on Sunday, January 9, with Tyrone hosting Donegal in Section A, Derry facing Monaghan in Section B at Celtic Park, and Armagh entertaining Antrim at the new-look Athletic Grounds.

Ulster GAA President Aogan O Fearghail paid tribute to Barrett Sports Lighting for their second year as title sponsors.

"The Ulster GAA is absolutely delighted to once again be working with Barrett Sports Lighting in the promotion of our Dr McKenna Cup for 2011," he said.

"The Dr McKenna Cup is historically very significant in this province and we are very proud of the status it enjoys today with team managers, players and administrators in Ulster.

"The provision of television standard floodlighting in our main county grounds is now absolutely necessary to ensure that all games can be played in January and we have Barretts to thank for many of those systems."

He added: "2011 will provide more history for the Ulster GAA when we will for the first time host an inter-county fixture on the new state of the art third generation synthetic pitch at Breffni Park in Cavan.

"Given the fact that we have five new inter-county football managers, the competition will give them their first competitive experience in their new jobs and we wish them well for the Dr McKenna Cup and the year ahead.

"Given that Donegal are defending their title and Tyrone are our Ulster champions, we are particularly looking forward to their clash in Omagh on the opening weekend.

"We hope that supporters come out in big numbers to support their teams and enjoy our first GAA action of 2011 and get a glimpse of the new talent in county and University sides ahead of the Sigerson Cup, National League and Championships."

The final of the new season's Dr McKenna Cup has been set for Saturday, January 29.