The Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) has confirmed the groupings for the revamped 2020 TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship, as Mick Bohan's Dublin go for the four-in-a-row.
The 2020 All-Ireland series will consist of two groups of six teams, with the top two teams from each group progressing straight through to the All-Ireland semi-finals, following a minimum of five games.
Holders Dublin have been drawn in Group 2 alongside the 2020 Munster Champions, next year’s beaten Ulster and Connacht Finalists, Ulster’s fifth team, and a Munster semi-final loser.
Group 1 will contain the 2020 Ulster and Connacht champions, the beaten Munster Finalists, a Munster semi-final loser, and the losing Ulster semi-finalists.
The bottom team in each group will contest a relegation play-off, unless they are a provincial winner, and thereby exempt from relegation.
The Provincial Championships are set to be on a knock-out basis, with the winners placed accordingly in the All-Ireland series groups.
*NEWS*
Groupings confirmed for 2020 @SportTG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship@TG4TV @lidl_ireland #ProperFan https://t.co/v6H9R8QHgZ@ConnachtLGFA @LeinsterLGFA @MunsterLGFA @UlsterLadies— Ladies Football (@LadiesFootball) December 4, 2019
The 2020 TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship gets underway on Saturday, July 4th, with the semi-finals scheduled for Sunday, August 23rd between the top two teams in each group.
The All-Ireland Final is pencilled in for Sunday, September 13th. Back in September, the Dubs secured the three-in-a-row with a 2-3 to 0-4 win over Galway at Croke Park on a dour day weather-wise at HQ.
It was the lowest-scoring final in sixteen years, but was witnessed by a record crowd of 56,114 on Jones' Road.
Dublin only managed one score in the opening thirty minutes of the game, but it mattered little and they went on to secure the Brendan Martin Cup once again.
Dublin's Siobhán McGrath was named the TG4 Senior Players’ Player of the Year at the All-Star banquet last month - the Thomas Davis star also claimed her fourth All-Star award at the event in the Citywest Hotel.
Dublin have had a monopoly over the players' award since their mini period of domination began, with Noelle Healy winning in 2017 and captain Sinéad Aherne last year.