Counties of Ireland and the counties they consisted off remained uncertain. In 1598 Meath is considered a province in Hayne's "Description of Ireland", and included the counties of Cavan, East Meath, Longford, and Westmeath. This contrasts to George Carew's 1602 survey where there were only four provinces with Longford part of Connaught and Cavan not mentioned at all with only three counties mentioned for Ulster. During Perrot's tenure as Lord President of Munster before he became Lord Deputy, Munster contained as many as eight counties rather than the six it later consisted of. These eight counties were: the five English counties of Cork,
Geography of the Gaelic Games hurling territory with very little football activity. Most of County Wexford is in the hurling region along with Counties Carlow, Laois and Offaly. The rest of the Leinster Counties are considered footballing counties. Connacht is almost entirely Gaelic football territory with only Galway competing in the Liam MacCarthy Cup. In County Galway the hurling-football divide draws a line from Galway City to Ballinasloe. The divide in Galway probably stands out more than the other counties. The hurling territory in Galway stands out so strongly from the rest of the province which results in the Galway team playing in the Leinster