Six championship games this weekend, a trio of Leinster encounters on Saturday, alongside the meeting of Antrim and Cavan in Corrigan Park.
Sunday sees the prime-time clashes of Donegal and Armagh in Ballybofey and the big one out west as Mayo host Galway in Castlebar.
ULSTER SFC

Antrim v Cavan
This is going to be a great game in a nice setting. Cavan would be most people's vision of favourites but Antrim were operating at a Division higher in the league. Cavan ended up Division 4 champions, with Antrim right in the hunt for promotion from Division 3 up until they were beaten by Louth. I think Antrim at home have a great chance.
Verdict: Antrim
LEINSTER SFC
Carlow v Louth
The Louth team are really on the march now after successive promotions under Mickey Harte. Carlow had a very bad league campaign in Division 4, only winning one game. It's hard to see anything other than an impressive Louth win here.
Verdict: Louth
Wexford v Offaly

Wexford struggled in Division 4, winning just two games. Offaly were a bit unfortunate to go down from Division 2; they were a bit unlucky in games against Meath and Cork. I think it should be a convincing win for Offaly.
Verdict: Offaly
Wicklow v Laois
Two teams here who were relegated from Division 3. Wicklow won one game, with Laois winning two, so on form there wouldn't look to be much between them. In the game between them in Aughrim, Laois won by 1-17 to 0-08. I think we are going to have a similar scoreline in this game.
Verdict: Laois
ULSTER SFC (SUNDAY)
Donegal v Armagh

This is going to be a cracker. Their league form was quite similar; both ending up on seven points in Division 1. The game between them ended up with Donegal winning by a point - a game which which gave rise to all these suspensions that subsequently were rescinded by the appeals committee.
The Armagh lads have all got off now - Rian O'Neill, Stefan Campbell and Aidan Nugent. Donegal accepted their fate, so they are missing Odhrán McFadden-Ferry and Neil McGee, though McGee wasn't probably going to play a part with injury.
It undermines the whole disciplinary process, where one body rescinds the decision of another one. It will be interesting to see what the referees will do now. Will they intervene in melees at all anymore? If they feel they are not going to be backed up at central level, they may say 'why would be bother'? It will also be interesting to see what Armagh county board do at club level if there are melees because they wouldn't have the moral authority any more after getting their players off in this case.
It should still be a great game on Sunday. Donegal in Ballybofey have proven difficult to beat and I'm going with Donegal.
Verdict: Donegal
CONNACHT SFC
Mayo v Galway
They have taken turns in winning this of late. Mayo have won the last three championship games between them and Galway have won the previous three.
When they met in Croke Park last summer Mayo, with a great comeback, won 2-14 to 2-08 in the Connacht final but Galway are now a team with a huge amount of potential. The only problem is in the Division 2 final against Roscommon they gave away 1-20, still if they can shore up their defence they have a great chance.
It's a game like this where Mayo are going to miss the likes of Tommy Conroy. Mayo have had their injury problems so I'm going to go for Galway.
Verdict: Galway
Colm O'Rourke was speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
***