Senior Hurling Champions Dunloy will face Cushendall and Sarsfields in the new look championship draw.
There will be a new format in the Antrim Senior Hurling Championship this season with two groups of three teams playing each other in a round robin format. That was the big news when all the Antrim championship draws were made at Tuesday evening’s county meeting in the Dunsilly Hotel. There are some potential big meetings in the early rounds of the senior football as well as some great first round ties in the Intermediate Hurling.
However the new Senior Hurling format was the one most talked about. With seven teams in the competition so a preliminary round was needed to cut it down to six teams and in that draw St John’s were pitted against Ballycastle, the tie to be decided over two legs, home and away with the aggregate score over the two games deciding the winner.
Whoever comes out of this game will join Loughgiel and Rossa in one pool while last season’s Intermediate champions Sarsfields join champions Dunloy and last season’s runners-up Cushendall in the other. The top two teams in each group will make up the semi-final pairing.
In the Senior Football Championship draw there are four preliminary rounds, with the winners of each going through to meet either Creggan, Cargin, St John’s or St Gall’s in the quarter finals. In game 1 Portglenone take on Rossa, with the winners going through to meet St Gall’s. Game 2 sees Ahoghill meet last season’s Intermediate champions St Brigid’s for the right to play Creggan in the quarter-final while in game 3 St Teresa’s meet Glenavy to decide who goes through to meet last season’s runners-up St John’s in the last eight. County champions Lamh Dhearg will play 2016 Intermediate champions Aghagallon with the winners facing 2016 senior champions Cargin in the fourth quarter-final.
The Intermediate hurling and football competitions once again look to be the most competitive of all. In the hurling twelve teams will battle it out for honours with four preliminary rounds throwing up games that would not look out of place in the final. Gort na Mona take on Belfast neighbours St Gall’s in game 1, Armoy play Creggan in game 2, Lamh Dhearg and Glenariffe meet in game 3 while Cloughmills and Clooney Gaels are paired in game 4 in what must be the tie of the round. In the quarter-final St Enda’s take on Tir na nÓg, the winners of game 1 will play with winners of game 3, last year’s beaten finalists Carey Faughs play whoever emerges from game 4 while Rasharkin will meet the game 2 winners.
Eleven teams contest the Intermediate Football championship with three preliminary rounds which sees Gort na Mona play Aldergrove in game 1, St Enda’s face St Paul’s in game 2 while Tir na nOg and Moneyglass meet in a South West derby in game 3. In the quarter finals All Saints Ballymena take on Rasharkin, Davits play with winners of Prelim 2, last season’s Junior champions Sarsfields play prelim 3 winners while the winners of prelim 1 will face Dunloy, runners-up for the past three years, in the last of the quarter finals.
The full list of draws are
Bathshack Senior Hurling Championship
Preliminary round St John’s v Ballycastle
Group 1
Cushendall, Sarsfields, Dunloy
Group 2 – Loughgiel, Rossa, Preliminary round winners
Champions Lamh Dhearg face Aghagallon in the opening round of the Senior Football Championship
Northern Switchgear Senior Football Championship
Portglenone v Rossa Preliminary 1
Ahoghill v St Brigid’s Preliminary 2
St Teresa’s v St Joseph’s Preliminary 3
Lamh Dhearg v Aghagallon Preliminary 4
Quarter finals
A – Creggan v Prelim 2
B – Cargin v Prelim 4
C – St John’s v Prelim 3
D – St Gall’s v Prelim 1
Semi-finals
A v C – B V D
Intermediate Hurling champions, Sarsfields
Intermediate Hurling Championship
Preliminary round
1 – Gort na Mona v St Gall’s
2 – Glen Rovers v Creggan
3 – Lamh Dhearg v Glenariffe
4 – Cloughmills v Clooney Gaels
Quarter-finals
A – St Enda’s v Tir na nÓg
B – Prelim 1 v Prelim 3
C – Carey Faughs v Prelim 4
D – Rasharkin v Prelim 2
Semi-finals
A V B and C V D
2017 Intermediate football champions, St. Brigid’s will meet Ahoghill in the 2018 Senior Championship
Intermediate Football Championship
Preliminary round
1 – Gort na Mona v Aldergrove
2 – St Enda’s v St Paul’s
3 – Tir na nÓg v Moneyglass
Quarter-finals
A – All Saints v Rasharkin
B – Davitt’s v Prelim 2
C – Sarsfields v Prelim 3
D – Dunloy v Prelim 1
Semi – finals
A v D – C v D
Davitt’s celebrate after defeating All Saints in the Junior B Hurling Championship final
Junior B Hurling Championship
Loch Mor Dal gCais v St Agnes’
All Saints v Davitt’s
Junior A Hurling champions, Gort na Mona
Junior A Hurling Championship
Preliminary Round
1 – Con Magees v St Paul’s
2 – Cushendun v Junior B winners
Semi-finals
Prelim 1 v Prelim 2
St Teresa’s v Glenarm
Junior Football champions, Sarsfields
Junior Football Championship
Preliminary round
1 – Laochra Loch Lao v Pearses
2 – St Patrick’s Lisburn v Eire Og
3 – Mitchell’s v St Agnes
4 – Ballycastle v Ardoyne
Quarter finals
A – Con Magee’s v Prelim 1
B – O’Donnell’s v St Comgall’s
C – Prelim 2 v Prelim 4
D – St Malachy’s v Prelim 3
Semi-finals
A v B – C v D
Minor A Football champions, Rossa
Minor A Football Championship
Preliminary round
1 – Aghagallon v Cargin
2 – Creggan v Con Magees
3 – St Brigid’s v St Paul’s
4 – St Gall’s v All Saints
5 – Portglenone v Dunloy
Quarter finals
A – Prelim 4 v Prelim 2
B – Prelim 5 v Lamh Dhearg
C – Prelim 3 v Aldergrove
D – Tir na nÓg v Prelim 1
Semi-finals
B v C – D v A
Minor B Football champions, St. James’ Aldergrove
Minor B Football Championship
Preliminary round
1 – Moneyglass v Glenavy
2 – Rossa v St Enda’s
3 – St John’s v Gort na Mona
Quarter finals
A – Prelim 3 v St Comgall’s
B – Prelim 2 v Prelim 1
C – Sarsfields v Clan na Gael
D – Rasharkin v St Brigid’s
Semi-finals
C v D – B v A
Minor A Hurling Championship
Quarter finals
A – Ballycastle v Rossa
B – Loughgiel v St John’s
C – St Gall’s v Dunloy
D – Cushendall v Glenariffe
Semi-finals
C v D – B v A
Minor B Hurling Championship
Preliminary round
1 – Glenarm v Lamh Dhearh
2 – St Enda’s v Tir na nÓG
Sem-finals
Loch Mor Dal gCais v Prelim 2
Prelim 1 v St Paul’s
Reserve Cup Hurling Championship
1 – Loughgiel v St John’s
2 – Rossa v Portaferry
3 – Dunloy v Cushendall
Sem-finals
Prelim 3 v Prelim 2
Prelim 1 v Ballycastle
Reserve Cup Football Championship
A – St Gall’s v St John’s
B – Lamh Dhearg v Portglenone
C – Creggan v Moneyglass
D – Cargin v Rossa
Semi-finals
D v A – B v C
Reserve Shield Football Championship
Preliminary round
1 – Gort na Mona v St Paul’s
2 – Rasharkin v St Enda’s
3 – Dunloy v All Saints
4 – Ahoghill v Con Magees
5 – St Comgall’s v St Agnes
6 – St Brigid’s v Aghagallon
Quarter finals
A – Prelim 2 v Glenavy
B – Prelim 6 v Prelim 4
C – Aldergrove v Prelim 1
D – Prelim 3 v Prelim 5
Semi-finals
A v C – D v B