SATURDAY
Connacht SFC
Sligo v Galway, Markievicz Park, 3.30pm
Munster SFC
Kerry v Cork, Fitzgerald Stadium, 4pm
Waterford v Clare, Fraher Field, 6pm
Ulster SFC
Derry v Donegal, Celtic Park, 6.15pm (Live on RTÉ2)
SUNDAY
Connacht SFC
Roscommon v Mayo, Dr Hyde Park, 4pm (Live on RTÉ2)
Ulster SFC
Cavan v Tyrone, Kingspan Breffni, 4pm
ONLINE
Live score updates on Saturday's games, with a live blog on Sunday's action - on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app.
TV
GAAGO will screen live coverage of Kerry-Cork from Killarney on Saturday (4pm throw-in). Later on, there will be live coverage of Derry v Donegal from Celtic Park on RTÉ2 from 6.10pm.
Meanwhile, BBC2 NI will show Cavan v Tyrone live from Kingspan Breffni Park (Sunday 4pm throw-in).
RADIO
Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 will have live updates and commentary across the weekend. Coverage also on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta's Spórt an Lae.
WEATHER
Saturday: Dry with widespread spells of sunshine. Highest temperatures of 13 to 17 degrees generally with light variable breezes. However, it will be a little cooler near coasts where sea breezes develop.
Sunday: Dry and mainly sunny on Sunday. Highest temperatures 15 to 18 degrees with light variable winds. For more, visit met.ie.
TEAMS
Ulster: Meeting of champs in Celtic Park
The provincial championships continue to rattle along at breakneck pace. Time was that the Kerry-Cork match would be the bumper game in any weekend schedule. This weekend, however, that honour goes to the match in Celtic Park, where the Division 1 and 2 champions collide.
Jim McGuinness, after his unforgettable, whirlwind stint in charge of the Donegal footballers between 2011 and 2014, is back on the Ulster championship sideline. Some of the controversies and resentments of the time still linger, as evidenced by McGuinness' continuing bizarre refusal to speak to The42's Declan Bogue, which generated more heat during the week.
Mickey Harte and McGuinness were opposite numbers in three Ulster SFC games in the early 2010s, the latter winning all three.
The 2011 Ulster semi-final, in particular, was regarded as a landmark victory for Donegal at the time, the strongest confirmation yet that McGuinness's then contentious methods were bearing fruit.
It was also a further sign that Harte's Tyrone were about to enter a transitional period and that many of the veterans of the noughties team were on their last legs.
Donegal's chaotic annus horribilis in 2023 convinced McGuinness it was time to return to the managerial post, with a number of players making excursions to his home to help seal the deal. There are already some parrallels to his first stint, albeit not in playing style. As in 2011, Donegal finished the spring campaign with the Division 2 title.
Ryan McHugh, having decided early that there was little point to seeing out the 2023 season, is back and motoring. Their attack looks especially potent now, with Oisín Gallen's development continuing apace alongside the venerable Paddy McBrearty.
In the league, they played a high octane, high pressing style, running up big scores against Cork, Fermanagh and Meath.
Whether that'll be reined in this Saturday remains to be seen, although the longstanding reverence for McGuinness' tactical prowess means there's plenty of intrigue about Donegal's approach. His named line-up, if you can believe it, looks gung-ho.
Peter Canavan agrees that Derry's chances of All-Ireland glory might be better without another long Ulster campaign but doesn't see Mickey Harte wanting to give Jim McGuinness' Donegal the chance of a springboard
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) April 19, 2024
Listen/watch the RTÉ #GAA Podcast: https://t.co/XIGWeqLIlw pic.twitter.com/nMpPoBGZSf
The bout of handwringing that greeted Harte's arrival in Derry feels like a distant memory and their evolution has continued under his leadership.
The Ulster champions were already perfectly aligned with Harte's own ideas, defending and attacking as a complete unit and the irrelevance of the number on the shirt.
They scored 13 goals across the league proper and three more in the final itself. Of the 16 in total, eight were scored by defenders, although in Derry's case it might be safer to describe them as nominal defenders.
Some observers have speculated on whether a team already in elite 'All-Ireland or bust' territory need to exert energy on pursuing a third Ulster title in a row.
Derry won't hear of this feeble-minded defeatism and are intent on having a tilt at every trophy going, valuing winning momentum above all else.
This again chimes with Harte's own mentality. In January, the manager collected his 13th McKenna Cup title overall.
Their named team for Saturday contains two changes from the side which fell just short against Kerry last July, the newbie Diarmuid Baker replacing Gareth McKinless in the backs, while Lachlann Murray has taken Niall Toner's spot in attack. This alone is a sign of Derry' increasing depth - pegged as a weakness til now - with Toner rampant when introduced in the final quarter in Castlebar last month.
"It's a case of whether in the space of four or five months, Jim McGuinness can... he's managed to improve them, there's no doubt about that. They've won Division 2, but can he bring them on that much in the space of four or five months to challenge what many see as All-Ireland favourites?
"I'm not convinced about that. I do believe that Donegal will certainly give them a game, that they'll make it difficult for Derry, but I just think it's a massive step up in such a short space of time."
On Sunday, in the other game in the vipers' side of the draw up north, Tyrone take their opening bow in the championship away to Cavan in the part-time home of Ulster Rugby, otherwise known as Kingspan Breffni.
It is Brian Dooher's first championship in sole possession of the manager's bib, with Feargal Logan still dealing with health issues.
Getting a handle on Tyrone's league form proved beyond the most seasoned of observers, as they managed to retain their Division 1 status despite throwing in the odd shocker of a performance, most notably against Dublin in Round 7 (admittedly, the game made little odds to them one way or the other).
In their effort to replicate the 2021 success, that's Phase 1 sorted at least - ie, finish the league by conceding a barrell full of goals away from home.
They eventually preserved their top tier status with a three-point win in a highly entertaining game away to Monaghan on the penultimate weekend. It was in part highly entertaining due to their openness at the back, Vinny Corey's side running through them at will.
In attack, things look healthier, Darren 'Dazzler' McCurry's introduction at half-time against Mayo sparking a major revival, while Darragh Canavan has ascended to being one of the elite forwards in the game. At times, it's like watching a carbon copy of his father. The younger Canavan, Ruairí, has been named to start in the corner for Sunday.
They face highly dangerous opponents in Raymond Galligan's Cavan, who finished high up in Division 2, before probably tapering off in time for championship near the end.
They registered their third successive win over Monaghan in championship a fortnight ago and will relish what amounts to a 'free' crack at Tyrone at home on Sunday.
Munster: Kerry and Cork go off Broadway
Demand for tickets is not thought to be hectic as Kerry and Cork meet in Munster for the (insert astronomical number)th time.
The last time they played in Fitzgerald Stadium in 2021, the attendence was restricted. Probably not restricted enough, as far as any Cork supporters were concerned.
Most would, in retrospect, would have preferred it was behind closed doors and also subject to a TV blackout. 4-22 to 1-09 was the score in the finish, as Kerry decided to exact vicious revenge for their shocking loss the previous winter.
Cork won four times in Killarney during their period of ascendency between 1987 and 1995, though haven't done so since. The rivalry remained strong throughout the 2000s and went through something of a golden age at the end of that decade, when they were briefly the best two sides in the country. The 2010 saga, which flipped the usual script - Kerry winning in Munster before Cork won Sam - probably represented the high-point.
The primetime feel no longer attaches to this one, the Saturday afternoon throw-in confirming as much.
After three rounds of the league, Cork fans might have feared victory would be required here to book their spot in Sam. Their resurgence in the second half of the campaign has more or less assured them of their entry into the round robin - barring a highly probable set of results in the next while - and reassured supporters that the progress of 2023 was not illusory.
Kerry won five games from seven in Division 1 yet still the verdict on their campaign was very much 'meh'.
Their sobering loss away to Dublin in the middle of the campaign has generally dominated any post-mortem discussion. While their defence was run ragged on the night, it is worth recalling that David Clifford missed a hatful of chances in front of the Hill in the first half which, had they been converted, might have set the course for a different game.
Elsewhere in the league, their home wins over Mayo and Galway were not considered especially impressive and only in Clones in Round 2 did they display much of the old swagger.
Jack O'Connor hands out three championship debuts this weekend, with midfielder Joe O'Connor, wing-back Sean O'Brien and wing-forward Cillian Burke all named to start.
The least high profile of the championship encounters this weekend is also the most consequential.
Owing to the stubborn refusal of the provincial councils to seed their competitions, one of Clare and Waterford will get the chance to nab the Sam Maguire spot from the 16th ranked team in the league, aka, Down.
Waterford doing so would be especially comical, given they were the worst performing team in the league for the second time in three years. In 2023, they rose to the height of being the second-worst performing.
Paul Shankey's side are surely already living it up in bonus territory, having downed Tipperary in Fraher Field, claiming their first Munster SFC victory in 14 years.
Clare will surely be heavy favourites, in any case. Succeeding the much-lauded Colm Collins felt like a fool's errand from afar, especially given the exodus of so many players.
Mark Fitzgerald, the Kerins O'Rahilly's clubman who previously managed Limerick, had to do without Eoin Cleary, Jamie Malone, Cian O'Dea, Pearse Lillis, Keelan Sexton, Ciaran Russell and Darren O'Neill. On top of that, Podge Collins retired.
Viewed in that context, their league campaign was highly impressive, Fitzgerald's side winning five from seven, and it may have ended in promotion but for a highly contentious square ball call late in their narrow defeat to Westmeath.
Given the nature of the draw, chances are they'd be in the Sam Maguire race this year regardless of their form or condition.
Whether a simple win over Waterford should be sufficient to see them leapfrog Down - who beat them handily in Newry last month - in the Sam Maguire standings is a vexed question. But none of this to detract from the resilience that Fitzgerald and the 2024 Clare footballers have shown so far.
Connacht: Home comforts and discomforts
There was initially some dispute over where Saturday's Sligo-Galway Connacht semi-final was to be held.
The last time the pair met in Pearse Stadium was back in 2018, when Kevin Walsh's Galway ran riot. They subsequently played in Markievicz in the 2019 championship.
Last year's Connacht decider was played in MacHale Park, the home and away arrangement not applying in provincial finals when either Sligo or Leitrim are involved.
The dispute centred on the 2020 semi-final, fixed for Salthill, when a Covid outbreak in the Sligo camp saw them offer a walkover - the only participating county in the shortened championship that were forced into doing so.
This was a fairly novel scenario and whether this unplayed game was to be counted in the books as a home match for Galway was probably open to interpretation.
In the end, Tony McEntee's forceful megaphone diplomacy in the immediate aftermath of Sligo's victory over Leitrim seemed to win the day and the match will proceed in Markievicz.
Sligo's nine-point win over Leitrim - amazingly, their first win in the fixture in Connacht since 2002 - was further indication of their progress. Their promotion tilt in Division 3 was stymied by an early loss to Clare and a heavy defeat to Down, though they finished on a highly promising note with a victory over eventual winners Westmeath.
St Molaise Gaels' Alan McLoughlin hit 0-05 from play that day, with the consistent Sean Carrabine scoring 1-02. Both Pat Spillane and Luke Towey are absent for Saturday's game, with Paddy O'Connor, recently transferred to Kilmacud Crokes, on the bench. Niall Murphy starts at full-forward.
For Galway, the big news is the return of Shane Walsh, Liam Silke and Damien Comer to the set-up, the former two being named to start.
Corofin's Jack McCabe is handed a championship debut in the corner, while Johnny Heaney, injured in the comically lop-sided win over London, has recovered in time to start at wing-forward. Though, Tomo Culhane, who bagged two goals within seconds of one another in an all too brief cameo in Ruislip, has not made it back.
The televised game in Connacht on Sunday is the clash of Roscommon and Mayo in the Hyde.
As noted here before, in games involving Mayo-Roscommon-Galway in Connacht, home turf is as much a disadvantage as it once was in the Ireland-Wales rugby game.
The Rossies have not beaten Mayo in a home championship game since the 2001 Connacht final, when Gerry Lohan pinged home the winner in a wild injury-time period. Against Galway, their barren run is even longer, stretching back to the 1990 Connacht final. In the mean-time, they have won multiple times in both Salthill and Castlebar.
Roscommon were perceived to have regressed in the spring, exiting Division 1 rather limply in the end. No display was more abject than their second half offering in Castlebar, when Mayo cantered home by six on a miserable evening.
They've lost Ciaran Murtagh from last year, though still aren't short of options up front, with Boyle's Daire Cregg impressing in the Sigerson. St Brigid's livewire Ben O'Carroll, injured for most of the league, is named on the bench for Sunday.
Kevin McStay appeared to have little interest in partaking in another league final, though they could probably have afforded it this year, with a three-week gap until they played top tier opposition.
They boast a resurgent Fergal Boland on the '40, flanked by Bob Touhy and Jack Carney; Jordan Flynn is held in reserve. The prolific Ryan O'Donoghue - imperious against Roscommon in the league and racking up 1-13 in NY - starts up front with Tommy Conroy.
Keegan observed in his column that Mayo have won just two of the last eight Connacht titles on offer, both in the pandemic years, arguing that despite the narrative elsewhere, a provincial title will be an early priority for McStay and co in 2024.
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