This year’s county championship begins with a group stage – four groups of four where all the sides in a group play each other once.

The top two in each group advances to the quarter-finals where, from that stage onwards, the competition uses a knock-out format.

Group A of the Derry SFC includes Ballinascreen, Dungiven, The Loup and Foreglen, Group B involves 2018 champions Eoghan Rua, Ballinderry, Newbridge and Banagher.

Grup C sees defending champions Slaughtneil mount their defence against Swatragh, Lavey and Claudy.

Finally, Group D’s match-ups include record county champions Bellaghy, Killrea, Glen and 2019 champions Magherafelt.

The round-robin group stage runs until the weekend ending September 26 – the dates for the latter stages of the competition are yet to be announced.

Derry SFC Fixtures/Results

Group Stage – Round 1

Thursday, September 2: Ballinderry 1-5 – 1-9 Newbridge, Ballinderry, 8 pm – Group B

Thursday, September 2: The Loup 2-8 – Ballinascreen 0-10, Owenbeg, 8 pm – Group A

Friday, September 3: Slaughtneil 2-18 – 0-3 Claudy, Slaughtneil, 8 pm – Group C

Friday, September 3: Banagher 1-15 – 4-13 Eoghan Rua, Banagher, 8 pm – Group A

Sunday, September 5: Glen 0-13 – 0-8 Bellaghy, Watty Graham Park, 2 pm – Group D

Sunday, September 5: Lavey 0-10 – 1-8 Swatragh, Lavey, 3:30 pm – Group C

Sunday, September 5: Magheraflet 0-13 – 0-9 Kilrea, Magherafelt, 5:30 pm – Group D

Sunday, September 5: Dungiven 2-15 – 2-5 Foreglen, Owenbeg, 5:30 pm – Group B

Group Stage – Round 2

Saturday, September 18: Swatragh – Claudy, Owenbeg, 2 pm – Group C

Saturday, September 18: Dungiven – The Loup, Pairc Ui Cathain, 3:30 pm – Group A

Saturday, September 18: Bellaghy – Magherafelt, Bellaghy, 5 pm – Group D

Saturday, September 18: Slaughtneil – Lavey, Owenbeg, 7:30 pm – Group C

Sunday, September 19: Newbridge – Eoghan Rua, Owenbeg, 2 pm – Group B

Sunday, September 19: Foreglen – Ballinascreen, 3:30 pm – Group A

Sunday, September 19: Ballinderry – Banagher, 6:30 pm – Group B

Sunday, September 19: Kilrea – Glen, 6:30 pm – Group D

Group Stage – Round 3

All games played on Thursday, September 23 – Sunday, September 26.

The Loup – Foreglen, Loup, TBC – Group A

Ballinascreen – Dungiven, Ballinascreen, TBC – Group A

Eoghan Rua – Ballinderry, Coleraine, TBC – Group B

Newbridge – Banagher, Newbridge, TBC – Group B

Swatragh – Slaughtneil, Davitt Park, TBC – Group C

Claudy – Lavey, Claudy, TBC – Group C

Magherafelt – Glen, Owenbeg, TBC – Group D

Bellaghy – Kilrea, Owenbeg, TBC – Group D

Odds

Glen 13/8

Slaughtneil 13/8

Magherafelt 8/1

Eoghan Rua 11/1

Loup 12/1

Lavey 14/1

Swatragh 14/1

Newbridge 16/1

Bellaghy 20/1

Ballinderry 25/1

Ballinascreen 33/1

Dungiven 33/1

Banagher 100/1

Kilrea 100/1

Claudy 200/1

Foreglen 200/1

Where To Watch

Fans will be able to watch their clubs live in the stadiums as a limited capacity are permitted. Alternatively, you can sign up to #WeAreDerry to stream 10+ live games and get full re-runs.

The post Derry SFC – Preview, Fixtures, Odds, Where To Watch appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

CLICK HERE FOR LIVE SCORES ON DERRY V DONEGAL

Donegal will host Derry at Ballybofey in Donegal this coming Sunday at 4.00 pm in the Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final.

In their last outing, Donegal came out victors against Down in the Premiliary Round of the Ulster championship. Winning by 2-25 to 1-12 in a 16-point winning margin.

Derry has been a surprise package this season, topping their group in Division 3, winning all three of their games before defeating Limerick and Offaly in the semi’s and final.

Unlike their opponents, Donegal’s league campaign was a mixed bag.

More often than not, league form is not often looked at deeply for the latter stages of the championship. But Donegal’s league form was uninspiring.

Drawing to Monaghan and Armagh, beating a struggling and bland Tyrone, before losing to the Dubs in the semi-finals.

On paper, Donegal has the superior team, with Michael Murphy still the main figure in a very youthful side that employs a more attacking threat than the 2012 All-Ireland winners.

Paddy McBrearty and Ryan McHugh have laid down their claim in the starting fifteen since their debuts.

McBrearty is Donegal’s main threat, with a strong showing against Down, scoring 1-4 from play and 1-6 in total.

Ryan McHugh has stood up this year, bringing pace and variety, often dropping deep from half-forward to start attacks.

Michael Murphy is still their best player and with a hamstring injury sustained in the league recurring against Down, forcing him off after 20 minutes, it is a race against time for how fit he will be.

Derry have been lethal in attack during the league campaign. Spearheaded by star full-forward Shane McGuigan all throughout their run in getting promoted.

Rory Gallagher will hope he can produce at a higher level in the coming weeks.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Both managers are acutely aware of their team’s strengths and weaknesses.

Donegal has numerous attack outputs, while defensively they can be got at, as shown by the Down game.

While Derry’s defensive unit has been outstanding throughout their league campaign, only conceding 53 points and a respectful three goals. While going forward, they have to rely on McGuigan more often than not.

Against Down, Donegal was lacklustre at the back, the full-back line was often penetrated and was bombarded with the long ball throughout the 70 minutes and should have conceded at least five goals. It was Down’s poor finishing and clinical nature that let them down.

If any elite team were to go up against Donegal, they would eventually be carved open.

Rory Gallagher would hope the likes of Patrick Kearney and Niall Loughlin will contribute more so the burden won’t have to fall to Shane McGuigan.

If Derry can add more of a threat to Donegal’s shaky back-line, they will be dangerous.

Conclusion

Overall, Derry’s squad cannot compete with Donegal’s, Declan Bonner’s side has a strong core to their team.

Pace on either flank of their forward line and if Michael Murphy is fit and ready to go, Derry will falter.

If Donegal were to be considered challengers for the All-Ireland, they need to put in a performance on Sunday.

Prediction: Donegal by 3 points

Predicted Teams – Subject to Change

Donegal

1. Shaun Patton
2. Brendan McCole
3. Neil McGee
4. Stephen McMenamin
5. Ryan McHugh
6. Odhran McFadden Ferry
7. Eoghan Ban Gallagher
8. Hugh McFadden
9. Caolan McGonigle
10. Ciaran Thompson
11. Niall O’Donnell
12. Michael Langan
13. Patrick Brearty
14. Michael Murphy
15. Peader Mogan

Down

1. Odhran Lynch
2. Conor McCluskey
3. Christopher McKaigue
4. Padraig McGrogan
5. Padraig Cassidy
6. Gareth McKinless
7. Conor Doherty
8. Conor Glass
9. Emmett Bradley
10. Ethan Doherty
11. Niall Loughlin
12. Ciaran McFaul
13. Benny Heron
14. Shane McGuigan
15. Oisin McWilliams

Betting: 

Donegal: 1/7

Derry: 5/1

Draw: 14/1

A Twitter List by IrishScoresGAA

The post Football – Donegal v Derry – Starting News, Live Scores, Betting; TV Coverage appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

CLICK HERE FOR LIVE SCORES ON LOUTH v OFFALY

Both sides come into this year’s Leinster SFC after successful National Football League campaigns that saw the two sides win promotion.

Offaly finished as runners-up in Division Three while Louth beat Carlow by eight points to confirm their spot in next year’s Division Three.

Offaly weathered storms from opposition to reach the Division Three final before being swept aside by winners Derry.

Defensive errors were not unfamiliar to John Maughan’s side before the final.

Half-back John Moloney gifted Wicklow a goal early on in the season opener.

Mickey Harte’s Louth will want to force errors like these and have a penchant for goals.

Star player Sam Mulroy has been the biggest danger in attack for Harte’s men and nabbed four goals for the Wee County in their promotion push.

Ciarán Keenan has also impressed in the forward line under Mickey Harte.

The pair will be a handful for Offaly’s defence.

Offaly’s attack has often looked stagnant in periods, in contrast to Louth, and the side has relied on their substitutes on more than one occasion to get them over the line.

Namely, Niall McNamee has underlined his importance to the side.

The veteran forward kicked eight points as a substitute across their league campaign.

However, Offaly’s inability to score from play against Derry may be an omen for the future.

Joe Maher and Bernard Allen offer scoring threats in the starting 15 but it has not been enough this year so far.

Louth’s defence has kept many of their Division Four rivals in check with one exception of Antrim, the side promoted with Louth.

They conceded only 63 points across four games, the least in Division Three North – Sligo and Leitirm conceded more in just three games.

It will be a big test for the impressive Louth defence but if they can hold off the newly-promoted Division Two side, this season will be a huge success.

Team News

Louth

C Lynch, D Corcoran, D Campbell, D McKenny, E Carolan, A Williams, E Callaghan, B Duffy, C Byrne, L Jackson, S Mulroy, C Downey, C Keenan, C Grimes, R Burns

Offaly

P Duncan, J Lalor, E Rigney, N Darby, C Doyle, C Stewart, D Dempsey, P Cunningham, J Hayes, B Carroll, S Horan, A Sullivan, B Allen, C Farrell, R McNamee

Predicted Winner: Louth by 3.

Betting

Offaly 8/11

Draw 15/2

Louth 11/8

The post Leinster Preview, Live Scores & Team News : Louth v Offaly appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

It will be the only National Football League final played before the Championship begins.

The GAA announced that the showdown will be held at Croke Park.

Also, the final will have 2,400 spectators in attendance.

The other finals will only take place if the two finalists meet in the 2021 All-Ireland Championship.

GAA Fans’ Reactions

Fans of Offaly and Derry reacted positively to the news that the game was going ahead.

Well done. Proper order to play a final rather than the nonsense of joint winners.

— lazlopuskas (@lazlopuskas) June 13, 2021

Some have made their feelings known about the concept of joint-winners in the league.

Divisions One, Two and Four will be shared by the two semi-final winners unless those sides meet in the Championship.

The finals would have taken place a week before the Championship begins.

Offaly and Derry made their feelings known about this and were able to get the Division Three final on their schedules.

Imagine county’s deciding if they play a final or not it’s a shambles from the @officialgaa ffs they should had planned it better it’s a disaster from a Pr situation !!

— Dayno (@dayno1) June 13, 2021

Other fans criticised the GAA for its scheduling as it was that which led to their initial decision to overlook league finals this year.

In particular, one Twitter user described the situation as a PR disaster for the sport’s national organisation.

However, negative reactions followed after the announcement that the final held at Croke Park will have 2,400 fans in attendance.

Many questioned the logic behind the small number as Croke Park can house over 80,000 at full capacity.

This is actually a joke. One of the biggest stadiums in Europe.

Bigger attendances at vaccination centres. https://t.co/5GzAiHnImE

— Scatman J (@ScatmanJohn5) June 15, 2021

The 2,400 in attendance will only make up 2.9% of the full capacity.

Many fans have criticised this as they do not feel it will gather enough data to help analyse the position the country is in.

Therefore, the use of it as a pilot fixture for the return of spectators is unusual.

Furthermore, it is a very safe choice to allocate only 2,400 tickets for the game in one of the biggest stadiums in Europe.

However, what matters is that Offaly and Derry have got what they want and deserve.

Kick-off is at 5:00 pm, per the press release above.

A full list of upcoming GAA fixtures on TV is available here.

The post GAA: Offaly v Derry Fans Reaction appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Armagh had the more successful league campaign out of these two teams. They earned promotion to Division 1 for the first time since 2012 by beating Clare last weekend.

Oisin O’Neill said that promotion was a huge goal for the team.

“We never talked about the Championship and even since we came back, we haven’t spoken about Derry once. These two games (against Roscommon and Clare) are all that we were focused on and we didn’t get the job done last week but we did this week.”

The win gives Armagh some much-needed momentum going into the most competitive of all the Provincial Championships. They would have perhaps learned more from the defeat to Roscommon than from the win against Clare. Either way, Kieran McGeeney will be delighted to have two games under the belt before heading into this one.

Oakleaves starting to Blossom?

Meanwhile, Derry made an impressive return to action and did all in their power to threaten the promotion places in Division 3. However, they just missed out thanks to their head-to-head record with Down. Firstly, a win at home to Longford marked a successful return to action. Secondly, Derry showed they weren’t just heading into the Championship to take part with a two-point on the road to Offaly.

Rory Gallagher has acknowledged that the lockdown was perhaps beneficial to his squad as it allowed injuries to heal. As a result, Gallagher will have a full squad at his disposal for the Armagh game with the sole exception of Karl McCaigue. Thankfully, the return of Conor Glass from the AFL has significantly strengthened the spine of the Derry team.

After last year’s disappointing Championship that ended in round 2 of the qualifiers, Derry are out to prove that they are able to challenge in Ulster. But, they haven’t been in a final since 2011 and are still on the upward curve.

In contrast, Armagh were unlucky to lose out in the Ulster semi-final replay to Cavan last year. A win over Monaghan was a big way to recover. But, Mayo eliminated them in the following round after a thrilling contest.

The home side are 15/8 outsiders and the Orchard county are 8/15 with Paddy Power. A draw is 15/2.

The game is live on BBC Northern Ireland.

Prediction: Armagh.

Ulster Football Championship Quarter-Final: Derry vs Armagh, Sunday, November 1st, 16:00 (Celtic Park). 

The Ulster Senior Football Championship returns this weekend, and a place in the semi-finals is up for grabs between @Doiregaa and @Armagh_GAA at Celtic Park on Sunday at 4pm!

The game will be broadcast live on BBC2 @BBCSPORTNI pic.twitter.com/y3oPEbCWir

— Ulster GAA (@UlsterGAA) October 27, 2020

https://3.249.64.60/gaa/list-of-51-gaa-live-matches-scheduled-to-be-shown-on-tv-by-rte-sky-sports/

https://3.249.64.60/gaa/list-of-51-gaa-live-matches-scheduled-to-be-shown-on-tv-by-rte-sky-sports/

https://twitter.com/UlsterGAA/status/1321104411708579847

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Click for live score commentary

The rust was evident in Offaly as they returned to action last weekend. They never played to their potential against Tipperary and were left chasing the game for much of the 7 minutes.

Yet, only a goal separated the teams. John Maughan will be disappointed with the result. But, there were encouraging signs in the performance and if he can get the best out of his team this weekend they will be safe.

On the other hand, Derry hit the ground running. They were patient and precise against a defensive Longford. Two goals went a long way towards the win. The first was a demonstration of good patient play before choosing when to strike.

Furthermore, Conor Glass came off the bench for Rory Gallagher’s side after returning from the AFL. Even if they fail to get promoted, Derry have reason to be optimistic about the Championship.

Team News

This year the championship is a straight knock-out format. Therefore, Maughan’s task in Leinster is an incomparable one. So, he may not reserve any of his strongest options for the game against Carlow on November 1st. Instead, remaining in Division 3 could be given priority and he’ll throw everything at this game.

Somewhat similarly, Derry open their Championship the week after this game. Despite having a strong Armagh side as their opponents, Gallagher will be hopeful about his team’s chances. As a result, he may opt to experiment against Offaly while he still can.

Prediction: Offaly. This will be a dogfight and despite the lack of fans, Offaly have the home advantage. They had a rude awakening against Tipperary that they will be keen to put right. Whereas Derry already have one eye on the Championship.

Offaly (Derry): Paddy Dunican; Declan Hogan, Eoin Rigney, Niall Darby; Eoin Carroll, John Moloney, Joseph O’Connor; Aaron Leavy, Jordan Hayes; Shane Horan, Ruairi McNamee, Cathal Mangan; Cian Farrell, Peter Cunningham, Bernard Allen.

Derry (Offaly): Odhran Lynch; Paul McNeill, Brendan Rogers, Conor McCluskey; Ethan Doherty, Christopher McKaigue, Padraig McGrogan; Ciaran McFaul, Conor Glass; Danny Tallon, Enda Lynn, Padraig Cassidy; Paul Cassidy, Shane McGuigan, Niall Loughlin.

Subs: Conlann Bradley, Conor Doherty, Carlus McWilliams, Oisin McWilliams, Michael McEvoy, Gavin O’Neill, Patrick Kearney, Emmett Bradley, Shea Downey, Niall Toner, Ben McCarron.

Offaly vs Derry: Division 3, Sunday October 25th, 2pm (O’Connor Park). 

GAANOW have the highlights from last weekend's #AllianzLeagues Football action. Watch the round-up here! pic.twitter.com/HlRQePTUVZ

— The GAA (@officialgaa) October 20, 2020

https://3.249.64.60/gaa/gaa-league-division-3-how-table-stands-for-promotion-and-relegation/

https://3.249.64.60/gaa/gaa-league-division-3-how-table-stands-for-promotion-and-relegation/

https://twitter.com/officialgaa/status/1318509012535644160

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Allianz Football Division 3 round 6
Derry v Longford, Celtic Park, 4.30pm Preview and live score commentary

Only Down could beat Longford before the lockdown. A draw with Offaly is the only other blemish on their otherwise perfect record. Denis Connerton will not be complaining about the new suspension of club activity. The Longford Club Championship had already suffered setbacks and was only at the semi-final stage. As a result, the county manager would not have had some of his players available until a week before the game in Celtic Park. However, he will now have a full contingent to train with.

On the other hand, Derry started 2020 by kicking-on from the League performance in 2019. After winning Division 4, Derry proved to be more than able to compete in Division 3. Most recently, they were just two points shy of Cork in an exciting 3-13 to 3-11 game in March. Otherwise, convincing wins over Louth and Tipperary could only be overshadowed by a loss to Down. This came after an opening round draw to Leitrim.

In the Club scene, Slaughtneil returned to the summit. But, the Championship has been more competitive in recent years which will only be to manager Rory Gallagher’s benefit.

Derry have a tough Ulster Championship ahead of them. On November 1st, they host Armagh. If Derry can bring their League form to the Championship this year they may be able to compete in a tough province.

Meanwhile, Longford also start their Championship on November 1st. Division 3 rivals Louth are their opponents. Denis Connerton will be hoping to replicate their win against the Wee County in January.

Allianz National League: Derry vs Longford, Saturday October 17th, 4pm (Celtic Park).

#GAA news: @SkySportsGAA Championship schedule released

— The GAA (@officialgaa) October 7, 2020

https://3.249.64.60/gaa/weekend-gaa-fixtures-results-25th-26th-27th-july-2020/

https://twitter.com/officialgaa/status/1313789219576438786

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