The latest battle for the Flanagan Cup set to kick off

DIVISION 1 ATHLONE Last year: 4th in Division 1B. Athlone have been perennial underachievers in recent years. Last year, two wins from the opening couple of games against Coralstown-Kinnegad and St Malachy's, put them in a great position to progress to the knockout stage, but three straight losses to Tyrrellspass The Downs (by two points), and finalists St Loman's (by four points), quickly ended another anti-climatic campaign for the Páirc Chiaráin men. Manager: Malachy Gately. Selectors: James Kilroy and Denis O'Sullivan. Players in/out: Athlone's panel remains much the same this year with their backbone of experienced players, including the likes of Joe Fallon, Fergal Murray and Rory O'Connell, remaining on board. The club, who also have several excellent young players in John Connellan, John Egan, and the Bannons (Dermot and Paul), have suffered a loss in defence though, with David Keena returning to Clann na nGael, and Tom Stuart-Trainor in China due to work commitments. Athlone also have major injury headaches heading into the championship, with Dermot McManus (broken arm), Dermot Bannon (cruciate knee ligament), and Mickey Greene (groin), struggling to make the opening few games. Soundbite: manager, Malachy Gately - "Our last couple of performances in the league have been good, but we're only looking to win our first game (v St Loman's). The standard of football in Westmeath is very good and there's not much between the teams, but we've had difficulties in recent weeks due to lads having rugby commitments and injuries. Hopefully, we can get off to a good start against St Loman's and take it from there, but we're wary of what's happened Athlone in recent years after pretty good starts." MARYLAND Last year: 3rd in Division 1A and quarter-finals. Maryland returned to senior championship football after a break of 28 years and Finbar Egan's fairly outfit surprised most observers by sealing a quarter-final berth, largely on the back of victories over Bunbrosna and Killucan. A draw with Mullingar Shamrocks in the final group fixture saw them pip Castledaly to a place in the quarter-finals, before eventually exiting the competition at the hands of Tyrrellspass. Manager: Finbar Egan. Selectors: Noel Browne, Vinny Claffey and Pat Dunlea. Players in/out: Maryland's hopes of bettering last year's efforts could rely heavily on the form of Joe Harte, who returns to the set-up after more than a year in London. Harte had been free-scoring for Maryland in recent years and his return boosts their ambitions. Anthony Reynolds' injury problems also seem to have subsided, while Tom Browne and Stephen Martin also rejoin the set-up. Vinny Browne, however, is moving to Canada, while they could run into problems replacing goalkeeper John Murray, whose employment takes him to New Zealand. Soundbite: Manager Finbar Egan - "Our aim for the year remains the same - to maintain senior championship football in Maryland. You have to remember we're a very young squad, although that extra year at senior level will stand to the lads' this year. We're building slowly at Maryland and were delighted to reach the quarter-finals last year. We're in an evenly-balanced group this time. Our league form has been patchy, winning twice (v Mullingar Shamrocks and Athlone), and losing twice to Coralstown-Kinnegad and Castledaly." TUBBERCLAIR Last year: 1st Intermediate Division 1B and eventual Intermediate champions. They followed up last year's intermediate county final victory over Ballynacargy with a run to the Leinster Intermediate decider, where they were beaten by Maynooth. Manager: Tom Lennon. Selectors: Carthage Conlon and Kieran Slevin. Players in/out: Jack Byrne is expected to return to the fold after suffering from injury all throughout last year and otherwise Tubberclair's panel remains unchanged. Michael 'Junior' Hopkins and Thomas Doogan are likely to miss the first couple of games through injury, while Tubberclair will be keeping fingers crossed that influential forward Fergal Wilson can stay fit after suffering from several knocks in the past year or so. Soundbite: Tom Lennon is relishing senior championship action, saying: "This is a new challenge for the lads' and we're looking forward to it. We've won three of our four league games, so preparations are going okay. We hope to still be a senior championship team at the end of it, although it's vital to get a good start. The pace of the game is faster than intermediate football and we have to settle into games much quicker. If we start off slowly in senior games, we'll be punished." ST LOMAN'S, MULLINGAR Last year: 3rd in Division 1B and eventual runners-up. Despite losing to both Tyrrellspass and Coralstown-Kinnegad in last year's group phase, St Loman's recovered to reach their first senior county final since 1968, before getting plainly outclassed by Garrycastle in the decider at Cusack Park. Manager: Walter Burke. Selectors: Peter Dale and Davy Doolin. Players in/out: St Loman's prospects of repeating last year's performances are hampered by the departure of last year's captain Kenny McKinley, while Conrad Reilly and Adrian Gilmore are heading for the States in the summer. Seanie Murphy, currently studying for medical examinations, will also miss the first two games, as will Stephen Gilmore and Kelvin Reilly. David Rushe comes back after recovering from a cruciate ligament injury, but the influential Tommy Lambden is a major injury concern after recently picking up a disc problem in his back. Soundbite: Manager Walter Burke - "When you reach the semi-finals and the final in the space of two years, and still emerge empty-handed, it can take its toll on the players. It's very hard to keep lads motivated, but you only have to look at some of last year's performances to see the ability in the panel. We need to have to same hunger and desire as last year, and hopefully we'll get out of the group," Burke said. CORALSTOWN/KINNEGAD Last year: 1st in Division 1B, lose out to St Loman's in the semi-finals. Manager: Colm Coyle. Selectors: John Fleming and Kieran Goggins. Players in/out: Coralstown-Kinnegad will be running with largely the same panel as last year, although they could feel the loss of Davy Kilmartin, whose travelling to South America. A handful of good underage players could also make the step-up to the club's senior panel. Soundbite: Colm Coyle -"We obviously want to progress as far as possible and feel we should have reached the final last year. We met a more determined St Loman's side in last year's semi-finals and it was a very disappointing way to bow out of the competition, but we'll try to improve again this year.£ KILLUCAN Last year: Killucan began last year's campaign with an encouraging two-point win over Castledaly, but that win proved a false dawn, and a battle against relegation ensued. Manager: Dermot Brady. Selectors: Aidan Lennon. Players in/out: Killucan will be without the services, for at least a couple of games, of Padraig Leavy (knee injury), while Niall Flanagan is also expected to be missing from action for a lengthy period. Soundbite: Manager Dermot Brady - "Every team sets out to win the championship, but we have a very young team and are in a difficult group. We were lucky to avoid relegation last year, but hopefully we can lay down a marker for the campaign by winning our first game against Tubberclair. We definitely hope to avoid relegation worries this year and making the knockout stages would represent real progress for us," said Brady. DIVISION 2 GARRYCASTLE Last year: 1st in Division 1A and eventual champions. Garrycastle proved too strong for all challengers on last year's county scene, going unbeaten throughout the entire competition, and easily disposing of St Loman's in the final. Anthony Cunningham's men subsequently enjoyed a run to the Leinster final but were disappointed by their performance when losing to Portlaoise. Manager: Anthony Cunningham. Selectors: Richie Murray, Aidan Dunning and Shay McDermott. Co-ordinator: Jack Veale. Players in/out: If anything, Garrycastle have strengthened further from last year, with Rory McGowan returning after a stint in London. Sean Brennan and Gary Mullery are promoted from the club's youth ranks, while John O'Shaughnessy finally looks injury-free going into the championship. Justin McAteer and Damien Rushe have also been added to the panel and should further strengthen Garrycastle's lot. Soundbite: Manager Anthony Cunningham is telling his players' to forget last year's success, saying: "What's been done in previous championships counts for absolutely nothing. Last year is over, done and dusted, and we've been given a difficult group this year. We need to be fully focused and concentrated, or we'll be caught out." CASTLEDALY Last year: 4th in Division 1A. After winning the championship for the first ever time a year previously, Castledaly were always likely to struggle to emulate that success. An opening day defeat to Killucan meant they were slow getting out of the blocks and, in truth, they never really recovered, despite wins over Bunbrosna and Maryland. Ultimately, losing three group games left them with far too much to do to qualify for the knockout phase. Manager: Enon Gavin. Selectors: Joe Sheerin and Mick Young. Players in/out: Although James Kinahan has left, Castledaly look, on paper, to have improved their panel, with long-term injury casualty JP Casey expected to play a bigger role this year. Manager Enon Gavin is also looking at calling up youngsters Liam Fitzpatrick, Eoin Fleming and Alan Stone. Soundbite: Former Clann na nGael manager Enon Gavin is now in charge and acknowledged they face a tough task to emerge from Division 2. "We're up against it from the off in that division. Any group containing the likes of Garrycastle, Mullingar Shamrocks and Tyrrellspass is always going to be very tough. I've been getting great commitment from the players' though, and it's a challenge we have to look forward to," Gavin said. TYRRELLSPASS Last year: 2nd in Division 1B and semi-finalists. Injuries to key players didn't help their cause and they eventually lost in slightly embarrassing style to Garrycastle (1-16 to 0-6) at the semi-final stage. However, any team containing the likes of Denis Glennon and Martin Flanagan, if fit, should be a handful year in year out, and they will be determined to make up for last year's disappointment. Manager: Laz Molloy. Selectors: John Hyland and Frank Ryan. Players in/out: Both David Glennon and Gavin Hoey have now fully recovered from injury, and should be key components of Laz Molloy's team, while Denis Glennon and Martin Flanagan also look fit and ready. On the down side, Trevor John Gonoud and John Brennan are major doubts for the start of the championship, with Gonoud almost definitely ruled out of the opener against Garrycastle. Soundbite: Manager Laz Molloy - "In such a difficult group, there's no room for falling behind, so we need to come out all guns blazing against Garrycastle. Our campaign suffered a lot with injuries last year but things are picking up on that front. Denis Glennon, in particular, is in great shape and seems fully focused on helping Tyrrellspass win a championship. We hope to win as many games as possible and do have aspirations to win another championship for Tyrrellspass." ST MALACHY'S Last year: St Malachy's championship form was very poor last time out, winning just one game against fellow strugglers The Downs, a win which ultimately led to them avoiding a relegation play-off. Manager: Joe Giles. Selectors: Mick Fagan, Fergal Kelly, Frank Kiernan and Andrew McCabe. Players in/out: As well as planning on introducing a couple of promising young minors, St Malachy's welcome back Shane Carey and Blaine Le Harte, both of whom return from Australia. Soundbite: Manager Joe Giles is determined to improve upon last year's showing, saying: "Our main aim has to be to get out of the group, but most of the teams in our group have histories of winning county titles. We have a very competitive list of matches coming up and must improve on finishing joint-bottom of last year's group." THE DOWNS Last year: 6th (bottom) in Division 1B. The Downs simply crashed and burned last year, and endured a turbulent campaign before eventually surviving relegation thanks to a play-off win over Bunbrosna. Manager: Johnny Murray. Selectors: Noel Cleary and Tommy Cleary. Players in/out: A big loss to The Downs will be full-back Jack Hogan, whose heading to America, while they are also relying on a few younger players, including Niall Folan, coming through the ranks. Much of their hopes could also be pinned on 1995 All-Ireland minor winner Tommy Cleary, who has battled back to fitness after back and ankle problems. Soundbite: Manager Johnny Murray - "Last year was a disaster for The Downs and we want more stability this time. I think The Downs went through four or five different managers during last year's championship, and you can't do that. We are unbeaten in the league and I think the team has got a bit more composure and confidence because of that," said Murray. MULLINGAR SHAMROCKS Last year: 2nd in Division 1A and quarter-finals. Shamrocks somewhat surprisingly came unstuck against Mullingar rivals St Loman's in the quarter-finals (after a replay). Manager: Ray Smyth. Selectors: John Corroon. Players in/out: Shamrocks expect to lose at least a handful of players during the summer months, with ace defender Kieran Gavin among those rumoured to be moving to America. Soundbite: Manager Ray Smyth - "I suppose we've been placed in the Group of Death, but we've a talented bunch of lads. Our panel has been decimated by injuries and county commitments during the league, but it's slowly coming around now, and we know that if we want to do well in the championship then we have to face these tough teams, and do our best to beat them," Smyth said.