O'Dowd's campaign to start against Longford

Mick O'Dowd's term as Meath manager will get underway with a trip to Longford in the opening round of the O'Byrne Cup on Sunday 6th January. This year's O'Byrne Cup will be run on a league format with four groups of four teams and the winner of each group advancing to the semi-finals. Meath are drawn in group A and will face Longford, Louth on Wednesday 9th January in Navan and UCD in Navan on Sunday 13th January. The semi-finals are scheduled for Sunday 20th January with the final fixed for Sunday 27th January. There will be no O'Byrne Shield competition. The other groups are: Group B - Carlow, Wicklow, Dublin, DCU; Group C - Offaly, Westmeath, Laois, Athlone IT; Group D - Wexford, Kildare, DIT, Carlow IT.