Fitzgibbon Cup champions UL drawn in 'group of death'
Fitzgibbon Cup champions UL have been drawn in a tough group for the defence of their title.
The impressive 2018 winners will face the top-three teams in the all-time roll of honour, UCC, UCD and NUIG, in group A, with only the top-two qualifying for the quarter-finals.
"Group of death is probably an appropriate term. It's four huge names in there moreso than anything else. They're the big teams and the teams you want to mark yourself against," said UL star Ronan Lynch.
"It's a tough group and hopefully we can get out of it. We'll give it our best shot."
The cup has stayed in Limerick for the last four years, shared equally between UL and Mary Immaculate, who are drawn alongside 2018 runners-up DIT and Maynooth University.
Hosts for next February's final WIT are drawn with DCU and CIT in group C, while LIT, IT Carlow, Trinity and Garda College are in Group B.
In the Sigerson Cup, champions UCD will host CIT in their opening game.
Runners-up NUIG welcome 2017 winners St Mary’s to Galway in one of the stand-out ties.
UCC have home advantage against Athlone IT and IT Tralee will face the University of Ulster.
Elsewhere, it'll be DCU v IT Carlow, QUB v Maynooth University, Garda College v IT Sligo and DIT v UL.
Fitzgibbon Cup
1. UCC 2. UL 3. NUIG 4. UCD
1. LIT 2. IT Carlow 3. Trinity 4. Garda College
1. WIT 2. DCU DE 3. Cork IT
1. DIT 2. Mary I 3. Maynooth U
First Team Named Has Home Advantage in Group Fixtures
Groups A & B
Team 2 v Team 1
Team 4 v Team 3
Group C & D
Team 1 v Team 2
Groups A & B
Team 1 v Team 4
Team 3 v Team 2
Group C & D
Team 2 v Team 3
Groups A & B
Team 1 v Team 3
Team 4 v Team 2
Group C & D
Team 3 v Team 1
Group Winners Have Home Advantage
E Winner A V Runner Up B
F Winner B V Runner Up A
G Winner C V Runner Up D
H Winner D V Runner Up C
E v G
F v H
Sigerson Cup
First team named has Home Advantage in round 1
(A) DCU DE v IT Carlow
(B) QUB v Maynooth U
(C) IT Tralee v UU
(D) UCC v Athlone IT
(E) UCD v Cork IT
(F) NUIG v St Mary’s
(G) Garda College v IT Sligo
(H) Dublin IT v UL
(I) Loser of A v Loser of E
(J) Loser of B v Loser of F
(K) Loser of C v Loser of G
(L) Loser of D v Loser of H
(M) Winner of H v Winner of I
(N) Winner of G v Winner of J
(O) Winner of F v Winner of K
(P) Winner of E v Winner of L
(Q) Winner of M v Winner of D
(R) Winner of N v Winner of C
(S) Winner of O v Winner of B
(T) Winner of P v Winner of A
Q v R
S v T
