Cork prepare for group games with Armagh and Waterford as U14s ready for All-Ireland final

The dates and times have been confirmed for Cork’s two games in the round-robin series of the TG4 All-Ireland ladies football championship.

They will be at home to Antrim on Saturday, June 6. Their second game will be on Saturday, June 13, away to Waterford at 7.30pm.

That means that Cork will be out two weeks in a row as, in a group of three, Waterford will be looking on at the clash of the Rebels with Antrim. Both games are due to be shown live on TG4.

Originally the Cork v Antrim tie was due to be played on Sunday, but common sense prevailed and it was changed to avoid a clash with the Munster hurling final between Cork and Limerick at 2pm the same day at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

That means that the ladies football game can now go ahead at Páirc Uí Rinn, which would not have happened had it stayed on the Sunday.

With that potential clash sorted Cork have to just concentrate on the games and prepare for what will be a tough test against the Ulster champions, a game they must win if they are to progress to the knockout stages of the All-Ireland series. 

After a magnificent league campaign, it didn’t go their way in the Munster championship as they lost to Tipperary, Kerry and Waterford to finish bottom of the group.

They have to put that behind them now and focus on the challenge ahead and they can’t look past the Antrim tie and hopefully get off to a winning start.

Ahead of that game the Cork U14 side are in action this Saturday in their All-Ireland final. They head to Athlone to take on Armagh in the final at Kiltoom, Roscommon, with a 4pm throw-in.

They started with a 6-4 to 1-13 over Limerick in the Munster final before moving on to the All-Ireland series.

IMPRESSIVE

They had impressive wins over Galway and Tyrone before losing to Meath, but by then they had qualified for the last eight. In the quarter-final they faced Limerick again, this time winning by 1-9 to 1-2, before taking on Galway in the semi-final.

Another impressive performance by the Rebels, winning 5-7 to 1-9 secured their spot in the decider against Armagh.

The Cork U20 team are also in action this weekend in the round robin of their All-Ireland championship. They are at home to Meath on Sunday, with a 2pm throw-in at Mourneabbey.

They started with a good win over Dublin, before losing out to Galway last weekend. So, they will be hoping to get back to winning ways to secure their spot in the knockout stages.