Division 3 preview: Sam Maguire prize may land for duo

A competitive third tier to say the least, with fine margins likely to decide it all when we reach a conclusion on the Easter weekend, and that's not even mentioning the prospect of gaining a ticket for the Sam Maguire race in the summer.

The two promoted teams could end up playing in the All-Ireland round-robin, irrespective of how they fare in their provincial championship.

Clare, in the last year of the Colm Collins regime, are probably still feeling cross that they fell through the Division 2 trap door.

Narrow defeats to Meath and Kildare more than underlined their competitiveness, but the most galling of all was the loss to Dubs at Croker. Two points in it at the end, but it was the Banner who called the tune for the most part.

Mark Fitzgerald, who was interim manager of Limerick for a few months in 2023, is the new bainisteoir

Down and Westmeath will also be looking up. The Mourne County reached last year's Tailteann final (lost out on promotion on the head-to-head), while the midlanders' draw with Tyrone saw them narrowly miss out an All-Ireland quarter-final place.

Andy McEntee will be looking to build on a solid first year with Antrim, more evidence of their worth was evident in their Tailteann Cup campaign.

After the sudden death of Liam Kearns, Martin Murphy guided Offaly for the final few games in the 2023 league, before then overseeing a notable win over Meath in the championship. A Croke Park cracker, that went to extra-time, saw them subsequently fall short against Louth.

Defeat to Wexford at the preliminary quarter-final stage of the second-tier competition ended their season. The Offaly board then named Declan Kelly as the new permanent manager. A move welcomed by Faithful fans as Kelly steered the county to an