03 July 2007 Cork avoid Group of death Share this Article 0 0 0 Shares! 0 Shares! Cork avoid group of death, as draws made. By Fr Liam Kelleher On Monday night at Croke Park under the spotlight of a live broadcast by TG4, Cork the reigning All-Ireland champions for the past 2 years avoided the group of death and will be firm favourites to advance to the quarter finals. They have been handed a tough opening game against rivals Galway who they defeated in the 2006 All-Ireland final, the game will be shown live on TG4 on the 21st of July. The championship will be run on a Champions league format this year with the top 2 teams from each pool of 4 qualifying for the knockout stages. Cork were represented at the draw by Manager Mary Collins, players Valerie Mulcahy and Norita Kelly. Mary Collins was quite pleased with the draw and was happy to avoid the group of death which contains Mayo, Kerry, and Waterford who have won 19 senior titles. Kerry 10 Waterford 5 and Mayo 4, while Dublin were runners-up to Mayo in 2003 As well as Galway, Corks group contains Monaghan and Roscommon. Monaghan like Cork have won the title twice in 1996 and 1997 while Galways sole win came in 2004 and Roscommon won for the only time in 1978. Group 3 contains Laois, Tyrone, Sligo and Donegal. And that group has just one winner Laois in 2001. Group 2 consists of Armagh, Kildare Meath and Down and incredibly the draw should dictate that none of these counties have ever won the Brendan Martin cup. Could it be that the eventual winners could come from this group. A lot of pundits will have their fancies on who will advance, my 8 against the field would be, Mayo, Kerry, Cork, Galway, Laois Tyrone, Armagh and Meath and I wonder what odds Paddy Power would give on this transpiring. Launched by an Taoiseach. Earlier in the evening the Championships were launched by and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD, who lauded the foresight of the Association for ensuring the championship was within the grasp of so many teams. Ceannasai of TG4 Pol OGallchoir again reiterated the commitment of TG4 to ladies football and an indication of this is the fact that 16 games will be televised live. President Geraldine Giles stated our Championship season instills great excitement throughout the country, old rivalries renewed and great anticipation for success . We can indeed look forward to an exciting Summer if and when it returns before the finals take place in Croke Park on the 23rd of September Share this Article 0 0