The draw for the first round for the football qualifiers was made on Tuesday, with Louth v Longford probably the pick of the ties. The two Leinster sides have been on an upward curve in the past few seasons, with Longford cutting a swathe through the 2016 qualifiers beating Monaghan along the way and Louth coming into this championship on the back of successive promotions.
Joining them on the A side of the draw are the match-ups of Waterford v Derry, Wicklow v Laois and Sligo v Antrim. The A side will be the tougher one this summer, with the next round of games set to feature the losers of Tyrone v Donegal, Galway v Mayo and Meath v Kildare.
On the B side of the draw, Carlow, who put up such a gallant showing against Dublin, were handed a creditable chance of posting a second win in a single summer for the first time since 2001 when they were drawn against London. Turlough O’Brien’s side will be out to avenge the careless league defeat in February that ultimately cost them a shot at promotion from Division Four.
The other games on the B side of the draw will feature Armagh v Fermanagh, Limerick v Wexford and a face-off between the losers of this weekend’s games between Westmeath and Offaly and Monaghan and Cavan.
The games on the A side of the draw will be played on Saturday, June 17th and assuming no protracted draw-and-replay scenarios, the games on the B side will go ahead the following weekend.
Full dates, times and venue will be released by the GAA later on Tuesday.
All-Ireland SFC Qualifier Round One
Waterford v Derry
Louth v Longford
Wicklow v Laois
Sligo v Antrim
Armagh v Fermanagh
Limerick v Wexford
London v Carlow
Westmeath/Offaly v Cavan/Monaghan
