Leitrim U20s face Westmeath in All-Ireland B semi-final while Minors drawn to face Down

Leitrim will take on Westmeath in the Electric Ireland All-Ireland U20 B Championship Semi-Final tonight (Wednesday May 14), while the Green & Gold Minors open their Electric Ireland Minor B Championship by hosting Down on Saturday in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada.

Barry McWeeney’s U20 side take on the Lake County side in the King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park at 6.30pm after the midlanders won the Leinster decider last week while the GAA have announced that Leitrim will host a Down team who defeated them 5-19 to 1-12 in last year’s Tier 3 semi-final.

Monaghan await the winners of tonight's 20 B Semi Final after the Farney men prevailed in a high scoring encounter with Limerick. Monaghan won 3-17 to 0-24 to set up a final match against the winners of the Leitrim v Westmeath clash.

Leitrim's challenge could be hampered by the county's Tailteann Cup involvement. Although the semi-final falls outside the 60 hour rule introduced last year, it is still a major load for young players to face three games in the space of nine days with six members of the Senior squad involved with the U20 team.

Senior team stars Jack Foley, Ben Guckian, Darren Cox & Eanna McNamara were all involved in last Saturday's Tailteann Cup clash with Kildare, although McNamara was withdrawn early in the second half. Neither Paul Honeyman or Brian Cull were members of the match day squad in Newbridge.

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Leitrim booked their place in the B Semi-Final by defeating Galway 5-13 to 4-12 in the Philly McGuinness Cup Final in Kiltoom while Westmeath defeated Offaly 3-17 to 1-5  to win the Andrew Carden Cup Final.

The Lake County side also beat Offaly by six points in the first round of the Leinster championship but lost 0-19 to 0-12 to eventual finalists Meath and 2-20 to 3-9 against a Dublin side who fell to eventual champions Louth in the semi-finals. In the B grade, Westmeath beat a strong Longford challenge 2-15 to 2-11 before easily seeing off Laois 6-13 to 0-7 in the semi-final.

For the Minors, the Tier 2 Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor series is shrouded in some confusion with two of the participating teams not yet confirmed as the Ulster Minor Championship Semi-Finals will only take place this coming weekend, meaning the two defeated semi-finalists have not yet been confirmed.

Westmeath host Armagh and Derry are at home to Tipperary in Saturday’s other games Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Galway and one from Cavan or Donegal and Tyrone or Monaghan to come into the competition, which is organised on a knockout basis, in the next round.