SATURDAY
DIVISION ONE, ROUND ONE
Kerry v Armagh (Austin Stack Park, 1.30pm, live on TG4)
Dublin v Mayo (Parnell Park)
DIVISION TWO, ROUND ONE
Cork v Westmeath (Páirc Uí Rinn)
SUNDAY
DIVISION ONE, ROUND ONE
Kildare v Waterford (Hawkfield Centre of Excellence)
Tyrone v Meath (Newtownstewart)
DIVISION TWO, ROUND ONE
Clare v Donegal (Doonbeg, 1pm)
NEW Donegal boss James Daly will hope to get off to a winning start against Clare in what is a highly competitive Division Two, where every point is precious.
There will be a fine line between teams avoiding relegation and challenging for promotion and Daly will want to ensure his charges do not fall into the former bracket as early as possible.
Donegal are without former captain Niamh McLaughlin and Amy Boyle-Carr, who are in Australia on AFLW duty, but Daly has 11 or so of the squad – including Abigail Temple Asokuh, Katie Dowds, Shannon McLaughlin and Niamh Carr – who defeated Kildare to save their senior championship status at the end of last season and he has named Roisin Rodgers as captain, with Evelyn McGinley and Suzanne White as vice-captains.
Clare have been a solid presence in the second tier over recent years but where promotion has just been out of reach and with Galway and Tipperary now down as well, getting up to Division One has become much more difficult.
Roscommon v Monaghan (Clann na nGael)
MONAGHAN’S preparations for their opener against Roscommon have not been ideal with the sudden departure of manager Darren Greenan just over a week ago.
Emyvale manager Darren Swift has stepped in as interim manager for a tough game against a team who were promoted from Division Three last year as league finalists.
Monaghan themselves finished just outside the relegation zone, their two wins and a draw enough, to keep them above Cavan and Laois.
Tipperary v Galway (Tipperary)
DIVISION THREE, ROUND ONE
Laois v Carlow (LOETB Centre of Excellence)
Limerick v Down (Mungret, 12.30pm)
DOWN manager Colm Donnelly takes charge of his first competitive game when his side travel to Limerick to take on the newly-promoted side who won the Division Four league title last year.
The Mourne County have been in and around the top three of the Division Three table come the end of league but have always missed out on a chance of promotion. That will be a big aim for Donnelly and his players, who hope to continue to build on the overall progress of the last couple of years under Peter Lynch and Caoibhe Sloan, under whom Donnelly was a coach last year.
This is a repeat of the 2023 All-Ireland junior final, which Down won.
Louth v Cavan (O’Raghallaighs GFC)
IT was a difficult season for Cavan last year with relegation from Division Two, but it’s a fresh start for the Breffni girls under new manager Emmet Daly, who will hope to hit the ground running with an opening victory.
Daly replaced Mickey O’Rourke at the helm and immediately went to work in bringing back some hugely experienced players who were unavailable last year like Aisling Sheridan, Mona Sheridan, Aisling Gilsenan, Lauren McVeety and Catherine Dolan.
This is a big game for the Ulster side who want to get three early points on the board and give themselves every opportunity to try and get straight back up to Division Two.
Wexford v Offaly (Bellefield)
DIVISION FOUR, ROUND TWO
Derry v Fermanagh (Owenbeg)
DERRY host Ulster rivals Fermanagh for this second-round fixture. Fermanagh made the perfect start last weekend with an impressive away victory over Leitrim, while Derry lost down in Longford.
Fermanagh will be favourites to make it two wins from two, but they know that when it comes to games against Derry, their fellow Ulster side can make things tricky, and CJ McGourty will be out to ensure complacency does not creep in.
Longford v Kilkenny (Kenagh)
Sligo v Antrim (Ballymore GAA, 2pm)
ANTRIM and Sligo both had opening wins last week and will come into this game with an extra spring in their step and early confidence.
The Saffrons were too strong for Kilkenny and know they will certainly not get it as easy against Sligo, who defeated Wicklow last weekend.
These two sides were both relegated from Division Three last year and will be keen to finish in the top four and give themselves a chance of going straight back up again. This corresponding fixture last year gave Antrim their only league win but it was not enough to save them from the drop.
Wicklow v Leitrim (Blessington GAA)
l by Louise Gunn
