EirGrid, the state-owned company charged with delivering a cleaner energy future through the minute-by-minute management of Ireland’s electricity grid, has officially launched the 2022 EirGrid GAA Football U20 All-Ireland Championship in Croke Park today.

Armagh U20 football manager Oisín McConville and former Dublin footballer Paddy Christie, now managing the Tipperary U20 footballers, attended the launch.

The 2022 season marks the eighth year of EirGrid’s sponsorship of the U20 Football Championship, where the country’s most promising young footballers compete across all four provinces through to the All-Ireland Final on 14 / 15 May.

Speaking at the event, EirGrid chief executive Mark Foley said “we are very proud that this is our eighth year supporting the GAA as sponsors of the EirGrid GAA Football U20 Championship, a competition that gives the next generation of talented and ambitious athletes a platform to power forward, develop and grow into leaders both on and off the field. “At EirGrid, we draw inspiration from these important championships. This year’s crop of players will be the inter-county players of the future and, like EirGrid, they will have to seize the opportunities and rise to the challenges of the years ahead to realise their ambitions. We look forward to an exciting 2022 championship.”

Speaking on behalf of the GAA, Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael, Larry McCarthy commented: “The EirGrid GAA Football U20 Championship was a hugely exciting competition last year, culminating with the pairing of Offaly and Roscommon in the final in Croke Park that provided a standout day of the GAA season where the Faithful County came out on top in an exhilarating game.We are looking forward to the 2022 championships offering similar levels of drama and excitement in the coming weeks. We are delighted to have EirGrid as a partner in the promotion of this great competition as we work together towards an exciting finale in May.”

The EirGrid Leinster U20 Football Championship commences on Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 April with three exciting fixtures which sees Wexford take on Longford, Wicklow play Laois and defending champions Offaly taking on Louth, all in the hope for a place in the provincial quarter finals which take place the following week.

In Ulster the provincial Championship throws in on Friday, 25 March with a preliminary fixture between Down and Fermanagh. The quarter finals start on Friday, April 1 with a bumper day of action, featuring Monaghan vs Cavan, Derry vs Antrim, Donegal vs Armagh, and Tyrone facing the winner of Down vs Fermanagh.

The Munster competition commences on 11 April with two cracking fixtures expected between Waterford and Limerick, as well as Clare and Tipperary.

The EirGrid Connacht U20 Championship gets underway on 6 April with Mayo facing Galway.