Players from 16 counties attended Croke Park today to mark the official launch of the Tailteann Cup 2023.
Uachtarán CLG Larry McCarthy formally launched the second year of the new senior football competition which saw Westmeath oust Cavan in the inaugural decider last summer.
The Tailteann Cup will begin this weekend with teams seeded based on their Allianz League position into four groups of four.
The top teams in each group automatically advance to the quarter-final knockout stages. The four second placed teams go to preliminary quarter-finals where they are joined by the three best third placed teams along with New York.
Uachtarán CLG Larry McCarthy said: “We are confident the Tailteann Cup will grow and grow but we are also not complacent. And as I have said before about being wary of a sophomore slump, we are determined to ensure that we build further on the excellent foundation laid in the Tailteann Cup last summer and see even more progress made this year.
“That success is built on our commitment to its marketing and promotion, the use of Croke Park, the prominence given to its crucial fixtures in our calendar, as well as a dedicated awards ceremony, a holiday prize fund and the guarantee of a place in the Sam Maguire Cup in 2024 for its champions.
“These significant gestures will only ever be a supporting cast. The real stars will always be the games and the players on centre stage and what the Tailteann Cup showed was that when teams of equal ability meet, the games are hugely competitive and hugely enjoyable.”
Longford begin their campaign with a visit to the TUS Gaelic Grounds on Saturday (Throw-in: 6pm) to take on Limerick with a home game against Wicklow on May 20th to follow, before the final Group 3 game against Carlow at a neutral venue on June 3rd-4th.