All-Ireland Championship Team news: The Dublin County Board met last night to confirm Setanta Sports will televise live this year's football club championship matches from Parnell Park.

The Dublin County Board met last night to confirm Setanta Sports will televise live this year's football club championship matches from Parnell Park.

Starting on the weekend of May 20th to 22nd, holders Kilmacud Crokes top the bill against 2003 champions St Brigid's, while recent winners Na Fianna and UCD also meet in the first round. The only potential stumbling block to these dates is if Dublin draw with Longford in Sunday's Leinster Championship opener. The dates and times are expected later today.

Meanwhile, it was a difficult scenario at yesterday's Vodafone player of the month awards as both recipients, Clare's Brian Lohan and Wexford's Philip Wallace, were on the wrong end of heavy defeats in the recent National League finals. The full backs produced stirring performances in April but over the May bank holiday weekend the full forward lines of Kilkenny and Armagh exposed Clare and Wexford, in the hurling and football deciders, respectively.

"Not many remember the matches beforehand when you get such a drubbing in the final," said Lohan. "I suppose they just upped the pace and we were unable to respond to it. We thought we were in a good situation going into it but, as it turned out, it went as wrong as it could possibly go wrong for us. We just really have to go back to the drawing board and learn from it."

Lohan, and the whole of Clare, will be interested observers of Sunday's duel in Semple stadium between Tipperary and Limerick as they face the winners on June 5th.

"Limerick at the beginning of the league got a drubbing from Cork," continued Lohan. "It was on television and most people saw it. There was a lot of attention from that but I think they got themselves sorted out. They seem to be working hard. They are doing the early morning sessions. There is a good spirit."

The Kilkenny experience and last year's heavy defeat to Waterford ensures Clare do not go into the championship over-confident. "Maybe last year we got a bit sucked into believing some of the things that people were saying about us. They were starting to say it coming up to the league final but they are not saying it now."

For Wallace, and Wexford football, the defeat to Armagh was a case of uncharted territory and a lesson they had to learn at some stage. "Certainly it was an experience," he said. "We had never been involved in a big game like that before with the press and the big crowd and all the expectation that comes with it. We probably didn't perform as well as we could have on the day so hopefully we are going to learn from that.

"When you get to that level people start to analyse you a bit more and criticise you a bit more. They start to look for holes. We have to prove them wrong and the only way we can prove them wrong is in the Leinster championship."

Wexford return to Croke Park to face Carlow on June 5th.

"It was a big day for Wexford but we fizzled away badly. We have four or five weeks to prepare for the Carlow game. Once you are playing in Croke Park, you are winning games. So you want to keep going back there."