The draw for the Senior 2 Cup was broadcast live on NEAR 90.3fm before Christmas, with defending champions Laois 1 given a "trip" into the unknown. Laois have never played Dundrum, and so will welcome the Division 4 side to Laois for the first round match with no experience to rely on. Since entering the Senior 2 Cup for the first time in 2013, Dundrum have had a reasonable return, with their run to the semi finals in 2013 being the best.
Leinster 2 will travel to Druids Glen to play Greystones 1 - another first meeting between two sides. It is also another tie with a Division 3 side playing a Division4 side, and as such, Leinster will start as favourites. Greystones are more than capable of springing a surprise though, as they showed by beating both North County 2 and The Hills 2 in last year's cup, the first time they had entered the second tier cup in Leinster competitions. Leinster will be looking for their ninth Senior 2 Cup, but their first since 1985.
North County 2 will host Civil Service 1, in the third match in a row that sees Division 3 play Division 4. The sides met in the league once last year (when North County were also in Division 4), with County running out winners by 58 runs. The last North County team to win the Senior 2 Cup was in fact North County 1 in 1989, when North County were on their way to being the best team in Ireland. Civil Service have won the competition twice, both wins being in the 1960s - the last in 1969, and haven't got to the semi finals in the past five seasons.
Two Division 4 teams clash in the Phoenix Park, where Railway Union 2 travel to play Phoenix 2. There has been a definite swing in the balance of power between the two. Railway won five matches on the trot from 2011 to May 2013, but Phoenix have won the three matches since then. Remarkably for a club of its history, Phoenix have only won this cup once, beating Laois in the final in 2004. Railway have three wins against their name - in 1942, 1962 and 2006 and came close again in 2013, when they lost to CLontarf by 1 run in the final.
The Hills 2 have drawn the short straw by getting 2015 Division 3 champions Merrion 2 in the first round. Merrion have won the last four meetings between the clubs, one of those being the 2014 Senior 2 Cup quarter final, which Merrion won by 108 runs thanks to 103 by Chris Allwright. Famously, all of Merrion's seven titles have come since 1992, with the last in 2011. The Hills also had a productive end to the last century, winning the cup four times between 1982 and 1999.
The tie of the round sees two Division 3 heavyweights lock horns. Twelve time winners Clontarf 2 will face five time winners Pembroke 2. Clontarf will be keen to atone for last year's failure - the lost to Merrion by 10 runs in the first round, thus preventing a three in a row in the Senior 2 Cup. Despite Clontarf's overall superior record in the last few seasons, Pembroke have the golden touch against Clontarf, and have won the last five encounters. with Clontarf's last win being in May 2012, and their last win at home being all the way back in July 2011.
Malahide 2 and YMCA 2 both have byes to the quarter finals, and both are looking to end a long, long wait for the crown. Malahide 2 won their second Senior 2 Cup back in 2001, whilst YMCA 2 only have one win to their name, in 1992.