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,
2008 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship exceptions of Antrim, Carlow, Clare, Kilkenny, Leitrim, London, Sligo, Waterford and Wicklow. (These nine teams played in the Tommy Murphy Cup as a result of their participation in Division 4 of the 2009 National Football League.) The sixteen teams competing in the first round were Cavan, Derry, Donegal, Down, Kildare, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary, Tyrone and Westmeath. Unlike previous years, teams that played each other in their provincial championships were permitted to meet again in the qualifiers. The first round draw took place on 29 June 2008. The first team drawn had home venue provided