SATURDAY
All-Ireland SFC Group 1
Galway v Derry, Pearse Stadium, 5.30pm
All-Ireland SFC Group 2
Mayo v Cavan, Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, 5pm
All-Ireland SFC Group 3
Clare v Cork, Cusack Park, 6pm
All-Ireland SFC Group 4
Kerry v Monaghan, Fitzgerald Stadium, 3pm
Tailteann Cup Group 1
Waterford v Kildare, Fraher Field, 5pm
Tailteann Cup Group 2
Tipperary v Sligo, FBD Semple Stadium, 2pm
Wexford v Antrim, Chadwicks Wexford Park, 4pm
Tailteann Cup Group 3
Carlow v Fermanagh, Netwatch Cullen Park, 3pm
Tailteann Cup Group 4
Limerick v Offaly, Rathkeale, 3pm
London v Down, McGovern Park, 6pm
SUNDAY
Tailteann Cup Group 1
Longford v Leitrim, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 2.30pm
Tailteann Cup Group 3
Wicklow v Laois, Aughrim, 3pm
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WEATHER
Saturday: Overall a good deal of dry weather on Saturday with just a few light showers mainly in the south and east, some bright or sunny intervals too, with the best of the prolonged sunny spells in the evening. Highest temperatures generally 17 to 21 degrees but a little cooler in the north and northwest with a light or moderate northerly breeze.
Sunday: A mostly dry day on Sunday with sunny spells with just an isolated shower possible in the northwest. Highs of 17 to 21 or 22 degrees Celsius with light northerly or variable breezes.
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Derry's comeback mission
There’s no soft landing for either Galway or Derry as they begin their All-Ireland group stage with what is possibly the decisive game ahead of fixtures against Armagh and Westmeath.
A small sample size, sure, but Year 1 of the new format demonstrated that topping the group is a massive advantage. Three of the four sides that managed that in 2023 made it to the semi-finals with Armagh the exception, although their loss, naturally enough, came via penalties as Monaghan edged them.
The psychological line-out here appears nearly as important as the talent on show given their differing paths to this Pearse Stadium encounter.
The hosts come into this on the back of a thrilling Connacht final win over rivals Mayo. Manager Pádraic Joyce unleashed a bit of frustration on the media afterwards and the celebration scenes were telling. That was a big win, and the completion of a provincial three in-a-row is a notable achievement that should have them buoyant.
It was something Derry were hoping to do in Ulster too but, instead, they were left shell-shocked as eventual champions Donegal came to Celtic Park and slammed four goals past them.
Mickey Harte has had nearly a month to work on their recovery and although they have lost key defender Paudie McGrogan to a cruciate injury, Cormac Murphy is in a race to be fit and Matthew Downey and Conleith McGuckian have stepped away from the panel, they have had a great preparation window for this game.
All eyes will be on Odhran Lynch, the Oakleaf goalkeeper who was caught from home for three of Donegal’s four goals as he aggressively pressed in midfield.
Evolution, not revolution is likely to be the outcome, although Galway captain Seán Kelly’s comments on the situation was interesting.
"You kind of have to adjust on the fly nearly in game, be like 'what’s happening here?’ If they don’t (let Lynch roam) they’re probably a body down in the press and it’s something we can look to exploit as well.
"Who knows what they do but it’s just learning in game as quick as you can to take advantage of whatever they’re trying to do."
Kelly’s positioning will also be of interest tomorrow too. He may just be positioned that little bit deeper than he has been this season to allow him to punch holes from further out. It will also ensure a body closer to Johnny McGrath who will once again be expected to pick up Shane McGuigan – Derry’s top scorer with 3-69 this season.
This is the fifth meeting of the sides in championship football and the Tribe County have won all four – all by three points or more too.
Derry travel as favourites though and after their Ulster no-show, they should be primed and ready to attack the home side in search of the win that will set their group campaign up beautifully.
Monaghan searching for rare Kingdom joy
Monaghan wins in Kerry are as rare as hen’s teeth - but some of the current players have experienced it. The 2015 four-point league success in Tralee was the Oriel County’s first in the Kingdom since 1987, but they only had to wait another two years for their next.
Championship wins over Kerry are even rarer, indeed the Ulster side are still awaiting their first.
They first clashed in the 1930 final with John Joe Landers helping himself to 2-03 to ease Kerry to glory with Mikey Sheehy grabbing a hat-trick in the '79 semi-final as the Munster champions had a massive 22 points to spare.
The last five meetings have been different though. There was the 1985 semi-final that required a replay before two huge Croke Park battles in 2007 and ‘08 when Seamus McEnaney’s side brought war, but couldn’t get deliver the kill shot.
Last time out, in a Super 8 clash at Clones six years ago, it needed an eye of the needle goal from David Clifford to earn Kerry a draw.
Vinny Corey travels south light though. Darren Hughes, their defensive shield, is out after suffering a slight fracture of his tibia and a rupture of the medial collateral ligament (MCL) during their Ulster loss to Cavan. All three of the Breffni County’s majors came after Hughes’ 48th-minute substitution. That's no coincidence.
Rory Beggan was the man in nets that day, and he starts again tomorrow after an NFL try-out with the Carolina Panthers came to nothing this month.
Not much is expected of the visitors on Saturday, but the long grass is where they seem to scheme the best and in Conor McManus, Jack McCarron, Stephen Mooney and Micheál Bannigan they have four reliable shooters.
Kerry paced their way to an 11th Munster title in 12 seasons, facing stiff challenges against both Cork and Clare before coming out on top.
The feeling was that the Kingdom weren’t at their best, or maybe were still in a lower gear, but they still hit 0-41 in just over 140 minutes of football. Roughly 71% of that has come from play.
The concession of 2-25 over those games is a worry though, and the defensive instincts of absent midfielder Jack Barry are still causing teething issues. Graham O’Sullivan remains out with a groin injury.
And what of the battle of the Shanes in goals? Shane Murphy started his first championship game in six years against Clare and pulled off a couple of good saves but Shane Ryan has an All-Star and an All-Star nomination banked over the last two seasons. With the All-Ireland series coming into view, it's Ryan who gets the nod here.
As manager Jack O’Connor said after the Munster final win, "the championship starts here."
Mayo out to avoid Cavan banana skin
There’s the whiff of an upset hanging over this Castlebar clash as a Cavan side with little to lose come up against a Mayo outfit aiming to get over their Connacht final heartache
It’s been a good opening season for new Breffni boss Raymond Galligan. They were comfortable in Division 2 and followed it up with a brilliant Ulster derby win over Monaghan. If Brian O’Connell had opted to fist across goal for a team-mate rather than over the bar to force extra-time, they could have been looking at a win over Tyrone too.
It’s still a good, solid base, although they have been rocked by the loss of star forward Paddy Lynch, the top scorer across the entire Allianz Football League, to a cruciate injury picked up on club training duty with Crosserlough.
Galligan has tried to stem the bleeding. Conor Madden, a real goal machine, has been brought back into the panel recently, as has Jack McKenna. Under-20s Darragh Lovett and Matthew Smith, who play up front, and midfielder Evan Crowe have also received the call.
They also have James Burke in their backroom team, a man who spent four years with the Westerners under James Horan.
Kevin McStay replaced Horan two years ago and his Mayo side enter this match with a few question marks hanging over them, as usual. Big calls went against them late in the Connacht final - McStay refused to point fingers at anyone other than themselves, it must be noted - and on another day they could have been heading home with the Nestor Cup in tow.
"They’re being really talked down," he said. "They had a reasonable league campaign, they did what they had to do against Roscommon and were very close to winning a Connacht title.
"They may not be in as bad a position as people think.
"Obviously there’s question marks around their forward line and the role of Ryan O’Donoghue, there’s a lot of pressure on him to get the scores.
"Tommy Conroy has shown a little spark in the last couple of games, he seems to be getting a little bit of confidence back and adding something in that forward line."
This is the first championship meeting of the sides since 2007 when Mayo hit an impressive 1-19 to advance in the qualifiers but Derry made short work of them the next day out.
Munster rivals battle for early points
Clare are the only side in this year’s All-Ireland race to qualify through the provincial finalist rule, but that doesn’t mean that the Banner are going to be cannon fodder in Group 3 as they prepare to host Cork.
The Rebels don’t need reminding of that having lost out to Clare in last year’s Munster quarter-final by the minimum of margins. Keelan Sexton and Eoin Cleary combined for eight of the Banner's 14 scores that day, but neither have been available this season, demonstrating just how impressive a job new boss Mark Fitzgerald is doing.
They gave Kerry plenty to think about at a buzzing Ennis in the provincial final and although a major shock never looked on, there was nothing comfortable for the Kingdom.
Emmet McMahon and Dermot Coughlan were superb against Kerry, and their strong and powerful running will be key here back on home turf.
Having lost their first three Division 2 games, Cork have really started to hit their groove and have lost just once in six games – and that was a decent Munster showing against Kerry.
They have been fine-tuning for this with a couple of challenge games, including one against Cavan, and John Cleary must be happy with where they stand going into this All-Ireland series.
Brian Hurley (0-12) and Chris Óg Jones (1-03) lead their championship scoring charts this season with 11 different scorers in all over the games against Limerick and Kerry. Consistency from those attackers is one of their last major hurdles en route to being a genuine top side again.
At the other end of the pitch, Luke Fahy, arguably their best half-back this season, is set to miss out with a hamstring injury but Rory Maguire could make his return from his own hamstring issues.
Division 1 opposition in the form of Donegal and Tyrone await for both these sides, so the importance of this game is pretty evident.
Tailteann Cup heats up
Performance of the opening round of the Tailteann Cup undoubtedly belonged to London who travelled to Offaly and not only beat the hosts, but pretty much eased to the points.
Ciaran Diver and Stephen Dornan grabbed the goals in the 14-point win, but they will face a much tougher test on home soil this weekend as competition favourites Down visit.
Conor Laverty’s side were far too strong for Limerick in the Newry sun last week, talented soccer player John McGovern enjoying his best cameo in red and black since being called in.
Fermanagh are another side with a good first week under their belts with an unexpectedly easy win over Wicklow, the returning Conor Love hitting a brace of goals from the bench, and they will be hoping for more Leinster joy when they travel to Carlow, who dramatically drew with Laois last week.
Wicklow will be hoping to bounce back at home to the O’Moore County, a game that pits Armagh 2002 All-Ireland winners Oisín McConville and Justin McNulty against each other.
Antrim won a thriller against Tipperary and will be aiming to make it two from two when they come up against a Wexford side that lost to Sligo last Saturday, but not without a fight. The Yeats County make the trip to Tipp.
Kildare will be expected to easily account for Waterford having hit 3-25 against Longford in round one, with Paddy Christie's side hosting Leitrim - who beat the Déise last time out - on Sunday.
The final game sees Limerick host Offaly on Saturday, the latter needing to find some response to their London hammering.
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