Pat Gilroy's first game in charge of Dublin will be a trip to Offaly for their opening O'Byrne Cup defence on January 4. The Dubs, who are bidding for a three-in-a-row of successes in the Leinster pre-season competition, could run into difficulties, however, if they advance to meet either Wicklow or Carlow in the quarter-finals as they are due to travel to La Manga for some warm weather training. Last year's runners-up Longford, who are now under the guidance of Kildare legend Glenn Ryan, meet Athlone IT in the first round, while arguably the tie of the round is the meeting of neighbours and fierce rivals Meath and Westmeath in Navan. O BYRNE CUP S.F. 1. Longford v Athlone I.T. Jan 4 2. Louth v UCD, Jan 4 3. Offaly v Dublin, Jan 4 4. Wicklow v Carlow, Jan 4 5. Kildare v Wexford, Jan 4 6. Meath v Westmeath, Jan 4 7. Laois v DCU, Jan 4 8. Kilkenny v DIT, Jan 4 9. 1 v 2, Jan 11 10. 3 v 4, Jan 11 11. 5 v 6, Jan 11 12. 7 v 8, Jan 11 13. 9 v 10, Jan 18 14. 11 v 12, Jan 18 Final: 13 v 14, Jan 25 O' BYRNE S.F. SHIELD 1. Loser 1 v Loser 2, Jan 11 2. Loser 3 v Loser 4, Jan 11 3. Loser 5 v Loser 6, Jan 11 4. Loser 7 v Loser 8, Jan 11 5. 1 v 2, Jan 18 6. 3 v 4, Jan 18 Final: 5 v 6, Jan 25 Tweet

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