Irish GAA
By Aiden Begley

It’s Back To Business For The GAA Boys

The All-Ireland series is the Blue Riband event of Gaelic Games. The sight of a packed Croke Park is an awe-inspiring sight for any youngster who is looking to get involved in playing for his county at the biggest occasion the Irish sporting calendar.
But before all this happens, there is a little matter of the Allianz National League championships in both Football and Hurling to compete for.
All 32 Irish Counties and London play in the leagues (except Kilkenny who do not enter a football team) which act as a traditional curtain-raiser to the All-Ireland championships and provide a good indicator as to who may be a good bet for either the Football or Hurling titles.
Last year’s Sam Maguire winners Tyrone are in the top tier for the National League – division 1A. Their very first game against Dublin saw a number of punch-ups and sendings off. Players from both teams have received suspensions from the GAA, which you can read about in the Sports Shorts section on this page.
Defeated finalists Kerry also play in 1A along with other traditionally strong footballing teams in Dublin, Cork and Mayo. Making up the rest of 1A are Fermanagh, Offaly and Monaghan.
Division 1B includes teams of note such as Galway, Kildare, Armagh and Derry. The likes of Donegal and London compete in Division 2A, while football minnows such as Wicklow, Louth and Cavan compete in Division 2B, which is the bottom league.
The National Hurling League is split into six leagues, with current Liam McCarthy holders Cork playing in Division 1A, but at present, they are yet to secure themselves their first victory. The All-Ireland winners are in the same grouping as Waterford, Offaly, Clare, Wexford and Down.
Defeated 2005 Hurling finalists Galway play in Division 1B and look set for some difficult fixtures if they want to progress into the top league. Recent Liam McCarthy winners Kilkenny are also in 1B along with Antrim, Limerick, Tipperary and Laois.
Teams of note from the other leagues include Dublin and Meath are both in Division 2A; Kerry, Mayo and London in 2B, Donegal and Leitrim are in 3A, and while they may rule the roost in football, Tyrone ply their Hurling trade in Division 3B.
Over the coming months The Harp will be keeping an eye on the movers and shakers in the National Leagues, and you can keep right up to date by picking up a copy every month.