SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY
Division 1
Mayo v Kerry, Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, 7.30pm
Division 2
Derry v Meath, Owenbeg, 5pm
Division 3
Tipperary v Antrim, FBD Semple Stadium, 6pm
Division 4
Wicklow v London, Aughrim, 1pm
SUNDAY 19 FEBRUARY
Division 1
Roscommon v Armagh, Hyde Park, 1.45pm
Monaghan v Donegal, Clones, 1.45pm
Galway v Tyrone, Tuam Stadium, 1.45pm
Division 2
Louth v Limerick, Ardee, 2pm
Clare v Kildare, Cusack Park, 2pm
Cork v Dublin, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 3.45pm
Division 3
Fermanagh v Down, Brewster Park, 1pm
Cavan v Longford, Kingspan Breffni, 2pm
Westmeath v Offaly, TEG Cusack Park, 2pm
Division 4
Sligo v Waterford, Markievicz Park, 1pm
Carlow v Laois, Netwatch Cullen Park, 2pm
Wexford v Leitrim, Chadwicks Wexford Park, 2pm
ONLINE
Live blogs each day on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app.
RADIO
Live commentaries and updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday and Sunday Sport.
TV
Live coverage of Derry v Meath (Saturday 5pm, throw-in) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, coverage commencing at 4.30pm. TG4 will show the meeting of Mayo and Kerry, coverage starting at 7.10pm for a 7.30pm throw in.
On Sunday, TG4 broadcasts live coverage of Roscommon v Armagh (1.45pm throw-in) followed by Cork v Dublin (3.45pm). Deferred coverage of Galway v Tyrone from 5.35pm. Highlights and reaction to all the weekend's action on Allianz League Sunday, RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player, from 9.30pm.
WEATHER
Saturday: Mostly cloudy with occasional showers spreading eastwards across the country in a fresh westerly breeze. Good dry periods too, with some hazy sunny spells. Highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees.
Sunday: Rain over Ulster will clear eastwards during the morning, leaving a mostly dry day though there will be some patchy light rain and drizzle, mainly in the west and northwest. Highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in moderate southwest winds, freshening in the northwest and west through the afternoon. For more, visit met.ie.
Saturday night lights in MacHale Park
While the movers and shakers in officialdom will be holed up in GAA HQ debating the future direction of the association, around the country, action continues as ever with a full programme in the Allianz Football League.
The headline clash is in Castlebar, where the All-Ireland champions, bolstered by the return of their A-list cast of forwards, take on a host team enthused by their showings over the opening two games.
This pair have had many memorable and drama-choked championship encounters, of course, albeit last year's All-Ireland quarter-final will not go down as one of them.
The watching public, both inside and outside the stadium, seemed a little drained after the anarchic drama of the Armagh-Galway quarter-final and the delayed Kerry-Mayo match felt curiously like an afterthought. In the end, a slightly nervy but functional Kerry side comfortably dispatched a Mayo team patently on its last legs and ravaged by injury. James Horan called it quits the following day.
While Mayo have yet to win a league game under their new manager, Kevin McStay sounded borderline ecstatic at the manner of their draws against Galway and Armagh, especially the latter, even after they had surrendered a five-point lead in the dying minutes.
Aidan O'Shea, so often maligned for his performances on the biggest day, was widely hailed as player of the match at the Athletic Grounds, causing havoc in the Armagh defence and clipping over a point. The notion of O'Shea as a full-forward had been apparently discredited after the 2021 All-Ireland final, but RTÉ columnist Lee Keegan pointed out that O'Shea may avail better service in the inside line now that Mayo have resolved to adopt a more kick-pass heavy game.
Diarmuid O'Connor returns to the side in the half-forward line, while Castlebar Mitchel's Donnacha McHugh comes in for the injured Jack Coyne - another casualty of the Sigerson.
Now, they have Kerry coming to town for another bumper evening under lights in Castlebar. Confirmation arrived on Friday evening that David Clifford and Seanie O'Shea - the former sampling the fare at Mounthawk Park last night - would be part of the match-day 26, likely to feature at some point. The team is at it was against Monaghan, except Paudie Clifford is named to start this time in place of Adrian Spillane.
While they lost narrowly in Ballybofey, the league already feels a success for Kerry, with their largely second string outfit demolishing Monaghan in Killarney, the inside forwards Donal O'Sullivan - Kilgarvan's first ever county senior - and Darragh Roche revealing themselves as serious options.
Elsewhere in the top tier, we've a top of the table match-up in the Hyde. The Rossies have been zinging from Division 2 to Division 1 and back again for the guts of seven years but they're in position to go better in 2023, after early wins against a subdued Tyrone in Round 1 and then a dramatic victory in a grimly low-scoring affair in Salthill.
There was evidence of disquiet bubbling up in the Armagh camp this week, Aidan Nugent and Aidan Forker commenting publicly that none of their squad had received a penny of expenses since returning to training in November. Either way, his words had their due effect. The matter was reportedly resolved by Wednesday with the GPA attributing the delay to the web portal system's difficulty processing sterling payments.
With one point from two games, Galway return to their spiritual heartland, their happy place - aka, Tuam - for the visit of Tyrone. It was at the same venue three years ago that Padraic Joyce's all-singing, all-dancing side ran riot against 13-man Tyrone, their third win from four league games. Shortly afterwards, the virus took hold on Irish soil and Galway's early momentum drifted away with it. The 2022 All-Ireland finalists are a little light up top at present, with Rob Finnerty and Damien Comer both injured and Shane Walsh still on brief sabbatical.
Touted as likely league contenders at the outset, those expectations have had to be recalibrated.
Tyrone, still struggling to recover the burst of form that carried them to an unforseen All-Ireland title in 2021, did at least get back on track the last day with a routine win over Donegal in a drab match in Omagh. Darragh Canavan was a major bright spark, stroking over 0-03 from play.
Donegal, meanwhile, travel to Clones for a game between two perceived relegation candidates still feeling their way. Monaghan have been relegation candidates for a long time and have survived until now. The early evidence is it might be a bridge too far this time. If they're to stay up, one imagines they'll need a result against Paddy Carr's outfit, themselves still feeling their way in the post-Michael Murphy era. As if Donegal weren't undergoing enough transition, Paddy McBrearty suffered a hamstring injury in Omagh, although Carr insisted he wouldn't be out for long and the corner forward undergoes a late fitness test ahead of Sunday's game.
Division 2 clashes hog the limelight
Irish Rail issued a warning that their Cork-Dublin services are "extremely busy" on Sunday 19 February, as the Hill decamps to the new Páirc Uí Chaoimh. How many of them remember the famous semi-final replay in 1983?
The Dubs have sleepwalked through their opening two games, lumbering past Kildare in a low-paced game in Croke Park on the opening night. Against Limerick - supposed relegation fodder - they were rather underwhelming, the hosts even managing to win the second half (to quote Mick Doyle). Dublin had their work done in the first 35, it should be said, and the result was never in doubt.
Ross McGarry and Con O'Callaghan plundered four points apiece, while Skerries Harps' Greg McEneaney has started both matches, sallying forward from corner-back to pop the first point in the Gaelic Grounds. Lucan Sarsfields' Daire Newcombe was another new-ish name - to outsiders - to feature, and score, in Limerick.
Their opponents this weekend are on a relative high after their bracingly one-sided win over a miserable Kildare side in Newbridge last time out. John Cleary said afterwards that the team were hurt by the opening day loss to Meath and was adamant that the team hadn't played badly, merely conceding goals at critical moments.
The most enticing game in Division 2 is definitely in Owenbeg, RTÉ cameras on hand for live coverage of the top of the table clash between Derry and Meath.
Colm O'Rourke, the latest starter in the field of senior inter-county management, has presided over two wins from two and delivered his first fiery public rant, branding the load placed on players by the timing of the Sigerson Cup as a "disgrace".
O'Rourke was incensed at losing promising inside forward Shane Walsh to injury after 13 minutes against Clare, attributing it to "overuse" due to Sigerson involvement. Walsh is, however, back in the starting line-up for the trip to Derry.
Meath's score difference is something of a curiosity, having conceded a cumulative tally of 13 more points than they've scored in both games. Scoring seven goals and conceding none will make up for it - though whether this is sustainable as a winning model is questionable.
Rory Gallagher, having tossed the Glen players into league action surprisingly early, has overseen two wins from two, although they found the going hard against Louth in Ardee in Round 2. A late goal from Niall Toner after a route one ball into the mixer proved enough.
Elsewhere in Division 2, Kildare's margin for error is narrowing alarmingly following their dismal loss at home to Cork. Glenn Ryan was curt in post-match interviews, plainly miffed and frustrated by the manner of the no-show. It doesn't get much easier, with a trip to Ennis to face a Clare side who've been getting the best of themselves for a decade under Colm Collins. Spending 2023 in the Tailteann Cup feels almost unthinkable for a county of Kildare's resources and potential.
After pulling victory out of the fire against Louth in the opening week, Clare had a moral victory of sorts against Meath - though they wouldn't embrace the idea, no doubt - recovering from three early goals to lose on the rather odd scoreline of 4-08 to 0-16.
In the remaining game, the two promoted teams collide in Ardee. Mickey Harte's side have been desperately unlucky in their two matches, to date and are surely due a result from the Gods. Limerick have shipped two heavy defeats but plugged away gamely in the second half against the Dubs.
Divs 3 and 4: Moving day
In Division 3, an in-form Cavan take on a grotesquely out-of-form Longford in Kingspan Breffni. Mickey Graham has treated the league lightly in seasons' past. Anxious to get out the third tier and back in the Sam Maguire race, they are taking a different view this year and appear hot favourites to escape the division.
In another blow to the credibility of the O'Byrne Cup - as if it could take much more - the 2023 champions have probably been the most out-of-sorts team in the league. Longford shipped a horrifying 19-point loss at home to Westmeath the last day. Worse again, they led 0-08 to 0-04 after half an hour - they lost the remainder of the match 4-12 to 0-01.
Westmeath and Offaly face off in an enticing clash in Mullingar, the visitors having scraped a narrow win over Fermanagh in Round 2 and they sit pretty on maximum points. Dessie Dolan's team lost out to Cavan at the end of the January - what odds they'll meet again in the league final?
Down may yet emerge to nick a promotion spot. They edged out Antrim at home in their last game, though suffered a bad blow with the injury to Barry O'Hagan. They travel to Fermanagh, the hosts having smashed Longford in the opening round at Brewster Park. Tipp and Antrim, still on nul pois, meet in Thurles, though the visitors are unlucky not to have scraped a result thus far.
In the bottom tier, Laois make the short trip to Netwatch Cullen Park in the game with most implications for the promotion battle. Billy Sheehan's side have begun strongly, with wins in Sligo and at home to Wexford.
Andy Moran's Leitrim survived a second half scare in Ruislip and will seek to maintain their 100% record with a testing trip to Wexford.
Oisín McConville, meanwhile, is still seeking his first win as Wicklow manager, with London coming to Aughrim early on Saturday.
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Follow Derry v Meath (throw-in 5pm) via our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport or the RTÉ News app, alternatively watch live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, from 4.30pm. Highlights and reaction to all the weekend's action on Allianz League Sunday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 9.30pm.
Live commentary and updates also on Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport, RTÉ Radio 1.
