Wayne Freeman’s reign as Louth manager will begin with a trip to Antrim on the first weekend in February and is followed by home fixtures against Limerick and Leitrim before the end of the month.
They follow that with two away games in Derry and Offaly before their final group outing when they host Carlow on March 29th. A condensed schedule, which still accommodates the O’Connor Cup finals weekend, will see the regular league games completed by the end of March.
The big news when the National League schedule was announced recently was that the semi-finals have been scrapped so each tier’s top two will now go through to to a divisional decider.
The straight final format mirrors the GAA National League with the major difference that, with only one promotion place up for grabs at each level, those showdowns will have a really competitive edge with more than a title and trophy at stake.
Having to make the top two to qualify for the knockout stages rather than simply finishing in the upper half of the table will make each league game more meaningful with less margin for error from the start of the campaign.
The National League Finals will take place on April 18-19, three weeks earlier than their traditional date which is expected to make space for the inter provincial tournament to be restored to a date prior to the commencement of the provincial Championships
Meanwhile Wayne Freeman has finalised his backroom team with the addition of former county star Roisin Soraghan (formerly Roisin Hanlon) to his backroom team. One of Louth’s most decorated players, between her club, Cooley Kickhams, and County, Roisin is the holder of 3 All-Ireland medals, 3 Leinster medals, 10 SFC medals and 10 league medals.
In her latter years added to that tally with a league Division 2 and IFC medal with the Geraldines. She was part of the Louth management team headed by John O’Leary and Fergal McNally in 2017
Brigid Russell, who was a member of Darren Bishop’s set-up in 2018 and 2019 continues as liaison officer with the team.
The full management team now is Wayne Freeman, Lee Hunt, Roisin Soraghan, Brigid Russell and Pat Carr.
Louth NFL Fixtures 2020
- Feb 2nd v Antrim (A)
- Feb 9th v Limerick. (H)
- Feb 23rd Leitrim (H)
- Mar 8th v Derry (A)
- Mar 22nd v Offaly (A)
- Mar 29th v Carlow (H)
- League Final on April 18th or 19th.
Leinster Intermediate Championship
- Quarter Final on June 7th : Louth v Longford (H)
- Semi Final on June 14th : Louth or Longford v Meath or Westmeath
- Leinster Final on June 27th
Leinster Minor Championship
- Feb 15th Louth v Kilkenny (H)
- Mar 15th Westmeath v Louth (A)
- Apr 5th , Louth v Carlow (H)
Leinster Under 16 Championship
- Feb 29th Louth v Carlow (H)
- Mar 14th Louth v Offaly (A)
- Apr 11th Louth v Wicklow (A)
Under 14 Leinster Championship (to be played in a Blitz format)
- Feb 22nd, v Kilkenny, Carlow, Offaly, Kildare and Longford
- Mar 14th, v Wicklow, Westmeath, Dublin, Longford and Kilkenny
- Mar 28th, v Meath, Laois, Longford, Wexford and Kilkenny
- Apr 13th Leinster Final
