PREVIEWS: TG4 All-Ireland Championships get underway with 5 Intermediate fixtures 

The 2023 TG4 All-Ireland Championship will roar into life on Sunday – with five games down for decision in the Intermediate grade.

The three provincial champions – Kildare, Antrim and Roscommon – are all in action, as are Clare, the Munster Senior B winners.

The Intermediate Championship is comprised of three groups of three and one group of four – with the top two from each group progressing to the quarter-finals.

All five games on Sunday are available to view via the LGFA’s live-streaming portal: https://bit.ly/3oktfD5

Sunday June 11

TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship – Round 1

Group 1

Leitrim v Kildare; Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada, Carrick-on-Shannon, 2pm  

Leitrim will look to put a couple of disappointing recent defeats behind them as they commence their TG4 All-Ireland Championship campaign.

Leitrim lost out to Antrim in the Lidl National League Division 4 Final before suffering defeat to Roscommon in the Connacht decider.

But they’ll have learned plenty from those two outings and will need to be on top form against high-flying Kildare.

The Lilies captured the 2023 Lidl NFL Division 3 title before successfully retaining their Leinster title.

And they’ll start the All-Ireland series harbouring serious ambitions of going all the way to Croke Park on August 13.

Leitrim: M McNulty; C Tyrrell, J Maye, M Murphy; S Reynolds, K Bruen, C Le Guen; M McGovern, A Gilmartin; L O’Dowd, A Clancy, S Quinn; L Fox, M Guckian (capt.), E Bruen.

Kildare: M Hulgraine; L Burke, L Lenehan, A Clifford; L Gilbert, R Sergeant, S Munnelly; G Clifford (capt.), A Rattigan; C Sullivan, N Dooley, R Byrne; E Dowling, T Duggan, L Curran.

Group 2

Offaly v Clare; Bretland Park, Clara, 12pm 

Group 2 of the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship is the only four-team pool in the competition – and it’s highly competitive.

Former winners Tyrone are also in the mix and getting off to a good start here is crucial for both Clare and Offaly. 

Clare won the Munster Senior B title recently with victory over Limerick and that win will have helped to erase some of the heartbreak from the Lidl NFL Division 3 Final loss to Kildare after extra-time.

Offaly failed to make the semi-finals in the Leinster Championship but the Faithful County did survive in Division 3 of the Lidl NFL this year.

Offaly: T Roe; E Nally, A Dolan, N Farrelly; A Grehan, N Buckley, K Flynn; M Mann, R Ennis; A Hand, A Gavin Mangan, S McGuinness; E Bailey, R Cockram, S Doyle.

Clare: A Lenihan; O Devitt, S Ni Chonaill, G Harvey; L Griffin, C Harvey (capt.), A Keane; C Blake, A Reidy; S Considine, C Moloney, A Sexton; L Griffey, C McCarthy, F Marrinan.

Tyrone v Wicklow, Lannleire GFC, Dunleer, Co. Louth, 2pm 

Tyrone began the 2022 All-Ireland series as one of the favourites for the title but fell at the quarter-final stage against Wexford.

In the recent TG4 Ulster Final, the Red Hands lost out to a rising Antrim side but will now look to regroup for a crack at the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup.

As a recent Senior force, Tyrone have plenty of talent in their ranks and will look to emerge from Group 2 as one of the leading sides.

Their opponents, Wicklow, didn’t make the semi-finals in Division 4 of the Lidl National League and failed to make the last four in the Leinster Intermediate Championship.

The Garden County did win the TG4 All-Ireland Junior Championship as recently as 2021, however, and they’ll be confident of acquitting themselves well this season.

Tyrone: S McVey; M Corrigan, C Magee, E Quinn; J Lyons, C Campbell, E Hegarty; E.J. Gervin, A McHugh (capt.); A Horisk, G Rafferty, S Byrne; M Canavan, N Hughes, A McGahan.

Wicklow: E Griffin; S Evans, S.J. Winders, R Byrne; N Kenny, L Dunne, J Byrne; A Maher, A Gorman; E O’Sullivan, N Cullen, Y Dagge; S Delahunt, M Kealy, H Dowling.

Group 3

Roscommon v Wexford; Dr. Hyde Park, 2pm 

A really interesting tie lies in store at Dr. Hyde Park. This is a repeat of the 2022 All-Ireland semi-final between the counties, which was won by Wexford, and the sides also contested last year’s Lidl NFL Division 3 Final, won by Roscommon.

There’s usually little to separate these two sides when they lock horns and we can expect another closely-contested encounter on Sunday.

Monaghan are the other team in Group 3 and this is a section that should have some twists and turns.

Roscommon were relegated from Division 2 of the Lidl NFL, but did win the Connacht Intermediate title, while Wexford lost out to Kildare recently in the Leinster Intermediate Final.

Roscommon: H Cummins; E Hagan, E Irwin, S Wynne; J McDermott, R Fitzmaurice, N Feeney; C Cregg, N Fitzgerald; M Hagan, A Gavin, R Wynne; A Hanly, L Fleming, A Feely.

Wexford: L Moore; A Halligan, S Murphy, K English; B Breen, R Murphy (capt.), S Harding Kenny; A Walsh, C Banville; B McDonald, A Lacey, C Donnelly; C Fox, A Murphy, C Murray.

Group 4 

Westmeath v Antrim; St Loman’s, Mullingar, 2pm 

This could the game of the day. Westmeath will fancy their chances of going deep into the Intermediate Championship and bouncing back to the Senior grade at the first attempt, following relegation last year.

But they come up against an Antrim team with wind in their sails following TG4 All-Ireland Junior glory last year, followed up by 2023 glory in Division 4 of the Lidl National League and the TG4 Ulster Intermediate Championship.

Longford are the third team in Group 4 and this will be a pool to keep a close eye on.

Victory for either Westmeath or Antrim on Sunday will put the winners in pole position to secure one of the two quarter-final slots on offer from each group.

Westmeath: L McCormack; M Dunne, L Power, A Roche; K Boyce-Jordan, T Dillon, C Kelly; V Carr, J Quinn; A Ruane, C Blundell (capt.), R Dillon; C Clarke McMahon, A Jones, A Connolly.

Antrim: A McCann; D Coleman, E Ferran, A Keenan; O Corr, C Brown, S O’Neill; A Mulholland, Á Tubridy; T Mellon, C Carey (capt.), L Dahunsi; B Devlin, O Prenter, M O’Neill.