Barrett’s to light up McKenna Cup
November 24, 2009
Ulster GAA President Tom Daly unveiled Tyrone company Barrett Sports Lighting as the new sponsor of the Dr McKenna Cup. The launch of the 2010 Dr McKenna Cup took place on Tuesday in the Armagh City Hotel where the new sponsors of the competition were revealed, having taken over from Gaelic Life the competition sponsors for the previous three years. The Omagh based new title sponsors of the Ulster football tournament have installed the lighting at five of the nine main county grounds in the Province
The Ulster President said “Ulster GAA is extremely grateful for the support from our new sponsors Barrett Sports Lighting. We look forward to working together to raise the profile of the competition to an all-time high. ”We look forward to the beginning of our Inter-County programme for 2010 and an exciting and entertaining month of Barrett Sports Lighting Dr McKenna Cup action in January. I wish all teams well”.
The twelve team competition which sees the nine Ulster counties joined by college teams UUJ, Queen’s and St. Mary’s is, as usual, split into three groups of four with the three group winners and best loser qualifying for the semi-finals. All Sunday games in the Barrett Sports Lighting Dr. McKenna Cup 2010 will start at 2.00 p.m. All midweek games at 7.30 p.m. Extra time to be played in Semi finals & Final if necessary.
New Armagh manager Paddy O’Rourke will have his first competitive outing at Crossmaglen on Jan 10 when his charges will take on Fermanagh in Group A. Possible Ulster Championship opponents Monaghan and UUJ make up the rest of the group. Wednesday night Jan 20 at Inniskeen Armagh will take on their Farney rivals after having enjoyed home advantage again in Crossmaglen the previous Sunday against UUJ.
New Down manager James McCartan will start with a tough trip to Celtic Park against Derry before hosting Queen’s and defeated Ulster finalists Antrim at Pairc Esler in their group C matches.
Reigning title holders Donegal begin their defence at home in Ballybofey and will also have matches with Tyrone and Cavan in group B.
The Fixtures for the 2010 Barrett Sports Lighting are as follows:
Sun 10th January: (Round 1)
Group A
Monaghan v UUJ at Clones
Armagh v Fermanagh at Crossmaglen
Group B
Tyrone v Cavan at Healy Park
Donegal v St. Mary’s at Ballybofey
Group C
Derry v Down at Celtic Park
Antrim v Queen’s at Casement Park
Sunday 17th January: (Round 2)
Group A
Armagh v UUJ at Crossmaglen
Fermanagh v Monaghan at Brewster Park
Group B
Cavan v Donegal at Kingspan Breffni Park
Tyrone v St. Mary’s at Healy Park
Group C
Down v Queen’s at Pairc Esler
Antrim v Derry at Casement Park
Wednesday 20th January: (Round 3)
Group A
Monaghan v Armagh at Inniskeen
Fermanagh v UUJ at Brewster Park
Group B
Cavan v St Mary’s at Kingspan Breffni Park
Donegal v Tyrone at Ballybofey
Group C
Down v Antrim at Pairc Esler
Derry v Queen’s at Celtic Park
Sat 23rd / Sun 24th January:
Semi Finals:
(1) Best Runners Up v Winner of Section C
(2) Winner of Section A v Winner of Section B
Saturday 30th January
Final: 1 v 2
