Galway’s ladies footballers will begin their 2018 competitive campaign at home against Monaghan on Sunday, January 28th after the ladies football association announced the spring fixtures.
Defending champions Cork will face Munster rivals Kerry on the same day while All-Ireland winners Dublin will travel to last year’s league runners-up Donegal.
The Tribeswomen will also make the trip to the North West seven days later to take on the outfit that put five goals past them in last year’s semi-final before entertaining neighbours Mayo on February 11th.
That latter contest is on the same day as their male counterparts host Stephen Rochford’s team in Pearse Stadium and hopes will be high that a double header can be arranged.
Galway’s next three outings are all away as they travel to Kerry (February 25th), newly promoted Westmeath (March 4th) and Dublin (March 25th).
Stephen Glennon’s team finish with a home fixture against Cork who sent them packing in the All-Ireland quarter-final and will hope to repeat their 2017 feat of reaching the final four.
Should they achieve that target, the semi-finals will take place on the weekend ending April 22nd with the final scheduled for Sunday, May 6th.
The LGFA is also in a position to announce a restructure of the TG4 championship format for the 2018 season. The provincial championships will run off as normal but seedings for the new round-robin phase of the All-Ireland series will be based around performances in the provincial campaigns.
The TG4 All-Ireland championships will commence in July, with the All-Ireland finals moving back a week to Sunday, September 16.
Details about the respective Connacht championships will be announced in due course but the semi-final and final dates for the minor, under 16 and under 14 competitions are known.
Champions! Captain Emma Madden and the Galway girls celebrate their All Ireland Ladies Football Under 14 A Final win! #GAA pic.twitter.com/E2jAdYZVb4
— Sportsfile (@sportsfile) July 1, 2017
Galway are defending under 14 and under 16 champions while they reached the previous year’s minor decider. Padraig Kilcommins will oversee the under 14s preparations and should they retain the Connacht crown, their semi-final is set for May 26th with the final on the weekend ending June 17th.
Stephen Hession has taken up the under 16 role and will hope his charges see action in the All-Ireland semi-final on July 4th with the final three weeks later.
(Youtube Video – Fiona O’Rourke)
And Kieran Collins has the minors for 2018 with their semi-finals scheduled for June 30th and the final down for Sunday, July 15th.
Full details of all National League games and the provisional 2018 Master List can be found HERE.
