*Brian McNamara in action against Offaly during the 2025 NFL. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE’s senior footballers have received a home draw against Offaly in the first round of the Tailteann Cup.
In what will be Clare’s very first involvement in the Tailteann Cup and they will welcomed Offaly side who are joint managed by three-time All-Ireland winning manager, Mickey Harte to Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg. The fixture will take place on the weekend of May 9th/10th.
An eight point loss to Kerry in Saturday’s Munster semi-final coupled with Clare’s failure to secure promotion to Division 2 of the Allianz National Football League has them lining out in the second tier competition.
Offaly have yet to win a competitive fixture so far in 2026. They were relegated from Division 2 of the League following seven successive defeats and suffered a 3-12 0-12 defeat to Laois in the preliminary round of the Leinster SFC.
Although Offaly secured league promotion at Clare’s expense in 2025, Clare did defeat Offaly 2-14 2-9 in the final round but missed out on jumping up due to scoring difference.
In the 2024 league campaign, Clare emerged from O’Connor Park, Tullamore with a 2-10 1-12 win over Offaly thanks to a late goal from Diarmuid O’Donnell.
Though the sides have never met in the Tailteann Cup, the most recent championship encounter between the sides was in 2018 when Clare were 1-19 2-14 winners, Cillian Brennan and Eoin Cleary are the only surviving members of the Colm Collins managed team on that day.
Limerick who are coached by Quilty’s Evan Talty with Shannon Gaels clubman Dylan Kenny as S&C coach are away to Wexford in the first round.
The winners of the eight ties will progress to Round 2A, with four teams from that stage advancing to the Tailteann Cup quarter-finals. The eight losers of the ties will face off in Round 2B, after which the four losers of those ties will exit the championship. The four winners of the Round 2B ties will face the four losers of the Round 2A ties, the winners of those ties advancing to the quarter-finals.
Pairings were confirmed on Monday lunchtime via the GAA’s streaming service GAA+.
Tailteann Cup Round 1:
Fermanagh vs Longford
Laois vs Wicklow
Clare vs Offaly
Carlow vs Antrim
Wexford vs Limerick
Down/Westmeath/Cavan vs Leitrim
Sligo vs Tipperary
Waterford vs London
The majority of the Round 1 fixtures will be played on the weekend of May 9th/10th. However, any games involving a team knocked out of their provincial championship on the weekend of May 2nd/3rd will take place on the weekend of May 16th/17th.
