BY HARRY WALSH
THE 2012 Donegal Senior Football Champions St Eunan’s and beaten finalists Naomh Conaill have been paired with one another in Group 1 of this year’s competition.
Eamon O’Boyle’s charges will open the defence of the Dr Maguire when they lock horns with Malin in a game which has been initially been pencilled in for the June Bank Holiday weekend with Naomh Conaill welcoming Cloughaneely to Davy Brennan Memorial Park at the same time.
The meeting between local rivals Ardara and Four Masters and Gaoth Dobhair and Dungloe appear to be the stand-out games in Groups 2 and 3 respectively but it is Group 4 which has being attracting all the early interest since the draw was made last evening in Derrybeg.
Bundoran, St Michael’s, Kilcar and Glenswilly have been paired in what has been dubbed the ‘Group of Death’ with the first two named at least having the advantage of playing two out of their three group games at home.
According to Sean McGinley, Assistant Secretary, the opening games in this year’s Championship have been scheduled for the June Bank Holiday weekend although much will depend on which clubs reach the Gaeltacht finals which are on the same weekend.
Week one sees Bundoran and Kilcar at home to St Michaels and Glenswilly respectively with Glenswilly v Bundoran and St Michael’s v Kilcar on match day two with Bundoran v Kilcar and St Michael’s v Glenswilly on match day three.
The top two teams from each of the four groups will qualify for the quarter-finals. The championship season is over for the third placed teams while the bottom clubs in each of the four groups play one another in relegation semi-finals and then a relegation final, the loser of which drops down to the Intermediate Championship in 2014 with this year’s Intermediate champions taking their place in next year’s Senior Championship.
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