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All you need to know: GAA provincial senior football championship draws

A number of draws will be made on the day
A number of draws will be made on the day

The draws for next year's provincial senior football championships will be made live on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport and online on 21 October.

The round-robin structure in hurling means no draws are required but for the second season in a row the football championship will consist of a traditional knock-out provincial phase, followed by the All-Ireland series and Tailteann Cup.

The eight provincial finalists and Tailteann Cup champions Meath qualify automatically for the Sam Maguire series, with the remaining spots filled based on finishing positions in the Allianz Football League.

Reigning champions Dublin will be one of four teams seeded into the quarter-finals in Leinster, alongside the other teams who reached the semis last year: Kildare, Offaly and Louth, who have appointed former Dubs defender Ger Brennan to replace Mickey Harte.

There will be three first-round games, with one of Carlow, Laois, Longford, Meath, Wexford, Westmeath and Wicklow also receiving a bye to the quarter-finals.

Under the rotating quarter-final system in place in Connacht, Mayo will travel to New York and holders Galway to London.

Two of Leitrim, Sligo and Roscommon will face off in a third quarter-final, with the remaining team getting a bye to the semi-finals. The last four pairings will be decided in a separate draw.

Last year's Munster SFC finalists Kerry and Clare will be in the semi-finals, which will be an open draw that also includes the winners of two quarter-finals between Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford.

In nine-county Ulster, the four teams who contested the preliminary round over the last two years (Tyrone, Fermanagh, Armagh and Antrim) cannot be in the extra round again.

Two from Cavan, Derry, Donegal, Down and Monaghan will be chosen to face off, with that fixture and the remaining seven teams then drawn into quarter-final pairings. The return of Jim McGuinness (Donegal) and Mickey Harte (Derry) to management in Ulster adds even more interest to what has been the most compelling football province in recent years.

Jim McGuinness (L) and Mickey Harte last crossed paths in the 2013 Ulster SFC

The provisional Munster SHC fixtures released recently look set to apply, following the decision of last weekend's Special Congress to retain the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals involving the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists.

Four-in-a-row All-Ireland and five-in-a-row provincial champions Limerick travel to Clare in a rematch of last year's final on the first weekend of action.

The Leinster fixtures have not yet been announced but McDonagh winners Carlow have been promoted to join Antrim, Dublin, Galway, holders Kilkenny and Wexford.

The hurling provincial finals are expected to revert to a Saturday/Sunday split on 8/9 June, having both been played on the same day this year.

Munster SHC 2024 provisional fixtures
Round 1
20-21 April: Clare v Limerick; Waterford v Cork.
Round 2
27-28 April: Cork v Clare; Limerick v Tipperary.
Round 3
4-5 May: Waterford v Tipperary
11-12 May: Cork v Limerick;
Round 4
18-19 May: Clare v Waterford; Tipperary v Cork.
Round 5
25-26 May: Limerick v Waterford, Tipperary v Clare
Final
8-9 June

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