FIXTURES
SATURDAY
Division 1
Tyrone v Mayo, O'Neill's Healy Park, 5.15pm
Dublin v Kerry, Croke Park, 7.30pm
Division 3
Down v Offaly, Páirc Esler, 6pm
Division 4
Wexford v Waterford, Chadwick's Wexford Park, 5pm
SUNDAY
Division 1
Galway v Derry, Pearse Stadium, 1.45pm
Roscommon v Monaghan, Hyde Park, 1.45pm
Division 2
Fermanagh v Cork, Brewster Park, 2pm
Louth v Cavan, Ardee, 2pm
Meath v Kildare, Páirc Tailteann, 2pm
Armagh v Donegal, BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, 3pm
Division 3
Clare v Wicklow, Cusack Park, 2pm
Sligo v Antrim, Markievicz Park, 2pm
Westmeath v Limerick, TEG Cusack Park, 2pm
Division 4
Longford v London, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 1pm
Carlow v Leitrim, Netwatch Cullen Park, 2pm
Tipperary v Laois, FBD Semple Stadium, 2pm
ONLINE
Live blogs each day on RTÉ Sport Online and RTÉ News app.
RADIO
Live commentaries and updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport, and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta's Spórt an tSathairn and Spórt an Lae.
TV
Live coverage of Tyrone v Mayo on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 4.45pm on Saturday afternoon.
Dublin v Kerry will be broadcast live on TG4 and GAAGO on Saturday evening (7.30 throw-in).
On Sunday, Galway-Derry will be live on TG4 and GAAGO (1.45 throw-in). The Division 2 clash between Armagh and Donegal will be available on the BBC iPlayer and GAAGO (3pm throw-in).
Highlights and reaction to all the weekend's action on Allianz League Sunday, RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, 9.30pm.
WEATHER
Saturday: A lot of dry and bright weather on Saturday as rain showers become isolated. Cloud will increase in the southwest during the evening. Highest temperatures of 6 to 10 degrees with a light to moderate northwesterly wind.
Sunday: Mostly dry at first, although there is a chance of some rain or drizzle in the south. Scattered showers will develop in the northwest during the morning and will track southeast in the afternoon, becoming isolated. Highest temperatures of 6 to 8 degrees in a light to moderate north to northeast wind. For more, visit met.ie.
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
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast on the RTÉ Radio Player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts
Division 1: High stakes in the Hyde
The most recent All-Ireland finalists - aka, the default pairing - meet in the primetime clash in HQ on Saturday.
After successive one-point defeats and a fairly uneven first half display, the Dubs found their groove after the break to dispatch the Rossies.
Con O'Callaghan, whose roaming role in Castlebar had displeased the purists, took the MOTM bauble, rattling over 0-07, five from play. Sean Bugler also buzzed about to great effect and was central in the creation of their only goal, slid home by Niall Scully.
The visitors squeezed out a victory in the televised match-up against Mayo in Tralee, even if Jack O'Connor wasn't exactly blown away by their performance.
Veering into L'Equipe territory, Jacko deemed it a "6 out of 10" effort in his post-match debrief. The Clifford brothers, rested for the opening day defeat to Derry, were the difference in the end, racking up 0-09 from play combined. In contrast, Seanie O'Shea, who had been rampant in Clones, was held to a solitary score outside of frees. In the end, it fell to their loose limbed maestro from Fossa to dig out the victory at the death.
While Dublin-Kerry is the most glamorous fixture of Round 4, the meeting of Roscommon and Monaghan in the Hyde stands as surely the most consequential.
Davy Burke was in irritable mood in the wake of their dispiriting second half fade-out in Croke Park, the Roscommon boss bemoaning his inability to gather his full squad together for any of their 65 training sessions - a number which has presumably increased substantially since Saturday.
With one point from three games, they face into what is shaping up as a relegation four-pointer against Vinny Corey's badly-depleted Monaghan outfit. The giddy promise of their opening day upset of Dublin has curdled in the past couple of rounds, following heavy defeats to both Kerry and Derry, where they shipped a combined tally of 6-32.
As of now, there's no sign of the cavalry returning. Rory Beggan is still chasing the Gridiron dream, while 2023 All-Star Conor McCarthy is absent following an injury picked up in the McKenna Cup loss to Donegal.
By contrast, Burke indicated that a number of his recent absentees are nearing a return, including St Brigid's livewire Ben O'Carroll, who had incurred an injury in the Sigerson Cup final warm-up.
Galway-Derry had been originally scheduled for Tuam Stadium, where the famous hay barn is no more - somehow it wasn't designated as a listed building. However, due to ongoing construction work, the annual league fixture in the north Galway football heartland is parked for the year and it's back to windswept Salthill we go.
Derry have been chewing up the ground so far in Division 1, ignoring any hand-wringing about the necessity of squad rotation. The form-guide suggests they'll rarely have a better chance of ending their modern hoodoo against Galway.
Not only have the westerners won all four championship encounters between the pair - three of which were All-Ireland semi-finals (1998, 2001, 2022) - they've also won five on the spin in the league.
The most recent encounter was an effective promotion shootout in Owenbeg in 2022, when Galway blitzed the previously miserly hosts with four first half goals to ensure their return to the top tier. Indeed, Derry lost only two of their 12 competitive games in the calendar year of 2022 - both of them to Galway.
You have to go back to 2010 for Derry's last win in the fixture, when their 2-13 to 1-12 victory in Salthill couldn't prevent relegation to the second tier.
On form and fitness, it's hard to construct an argument that the hoodoo won't end this weekend, against a Galway team who are in the throes of a fresh injury epidemic.
In the circumstances, the westerners did well to dig out a potentially vital win in Omagh, though their manager afterwards gruffly conceded that it "wasn't the greatest game of football ever played." They appeared to have lost two more lads to the treatment table as well, with neither Paul Conroy or Matthew Tierney seeing out the game, though the word (unconfirmed, as yet) in Conroy's case is that it was merely a dead leg.
On Saturday, Mayo become the third Connacht side to visit Healy Park in 2024 for their televised clash against Tyrone.
Following the opening win in Roscommon, the pre-competition gloom has re-asserted itself in Tyrone. Last weekend's loss at home to a patched-up, depleted Galway may prove especially significant.
In the dying seconds, Joe McQuillan tired of their lengthy keep-ball session and promptly blew the whistle before Niall Morgan could pull the trigger on the equaliser attempt.
There was some mitigation in the fact that neither Canavan brother was able to complete the full game - Ruairí being pulled before the start - following their mid-week Sigerson Cup heroics.
As it stands, the 2021 All-Ireland champions are stuck on two points after three rounds, with away games against Kerry and Dublin to come. This weekend, a match against an ebullient Mayo may be a bridge too far, on form.
Division 2: Situation acute for Kildare and Cork
The twin sick men of the Leinster SFC run into each other in Navan this weekend - though the condition of one has become considerably more acute in recent weeks.
Kildare's form has been so alarmingly poor, it's become a matter of national concern - with outsiders baffled at their continued failure to harness their resources.
Glenn Ryan, a beloved hero of the Micko era, may be feeling the heat, as evidenced by his rather unedifying back-and-forth with Leinster Leader journalist Tommy Callaghan, the audio of which has gone everywhere. Managerial switches in mid-season are a rarity in the GAA, though the noise is getting louder on that front.
Defeat this weekend and they would appear to be certs for relegation, with a game against a rampant Donegal still looming down the tracks. Even if they escape the drop, it's probable they'll need to reach the Leinster final - which would entail beating an in-form Westmeath - to make the Sam Maguire starting blocks.
There again, their form is so bad, some fans may decide a spin in the Tailteann mightn't be the worst idea.
The Royals, by contrast, are in comparatively buoyant mood following their rousing comeback win over Louth in Navan last weekend. Trailing 0-09 to 0-05 in the second half, with the wind in their faces, Meath mounted an unlikely surge, scoring 1-06 without reply before a nervy finish.
At the top end, Armagh and Donegal meet in Newry, both on maximum points and having won on identical scorelines last week - 2-16 to 0-08.
This match-up was a Division 1 game in 2023 and the form-book suggests it will be again in 2025 - perhaps only Cavan are in with a chance of upsetting the duopoly.
Donegal could have had four second half goals against Fermanagh, Daire Ó Baoill palming an attempt off the crossbar for what could have been his hat-trick. After a tedious first half, their press utterly devoured their Ulster neighbours, who went home with any pretensions to promotion shattered.
As regards the Tailteann Cup 'threat', Cork may be in technically greater danger than Kildare, given that Kerry bar the way to the Munster final.
On the other hand, their form has been less disquieting, and they may yet fancy their chances of turning over Fermanagh, Meath and Kildare. However, their room for error is down to nil.
John Cleary blamed missed chances after the one-point loss to Cavan - they frittered away two clear goal opportunities when they were dominant in the first half - and they failed to score from play after the break, in which Luke Fahy was sent off.
Raymond Galligan's Cavan travel to Ardee seeking their third win on the road - the odd game out being an agonising one-point loss to Donegal in Breffni. Wins against Louth and Meath will set up for a crack at Armagh in a potential promotion shootout on 16 March.
Division 3: Promotion looking a done deal
Promotion already looks a cut and dried affair in Division 3, with Down and Westmeath looking much too strong for the chasing pack.
Conor Laverty's side easily accounted for a previously unbeaten Antrim in Corrigan Park last weekend, Ceilum Doherty's late, late goal putting a gloss on the scoreboard, leaving the margin at nine points in the finish.
The five-time All-Ireland champions should have secured promotion in 2023. They surely will this year.
They host an Offaly team still stuck on nil pois, following their amazing implosion at home to Clare last Sunday. That defeat provoked some outrage among Offaly's online contingent, county chairman Michael Duignan feeling the need to issue a stern rebuke to the angry tweeters on Sunday evening. The mood is fractious as they face their stiffest test of the campaign.
Elsewhere, Oisín McConville is still confined to the naughty step as his relegation threatened Wicklow side travel to Cusack Park. Clare are coping reasonably in the first season AC (after Colm), though they have been either side of remarkable comebacks in the past two games.
Leading a low-scoring game by five against Westmeath on 59 minutes, they were outscored 0-07 to 0-01 in the closing 10 minutes. However, they subsequently executed an even more unlikely escape in Tullamore last weekend.
Markievicz hosts the battle of the McEntees - not related - where Antrim will seek to bounce back from their sobering loss last weekend. Following their opening weekend loss to Clare - where they were reduced to 13 - Sligo have laboured to rather underwhelming wins over the two relegation favourites, Wicklow and Limerick.
Westmeath, meanwhile, will be expecting to make it four from four against Jimmy Lee's outfit, who have been soundly beaten in all three games thus far.
Division 4: Leitrim seeking to make most of good fortune
A whirlwind spring for Justin McNulty, who spends his weekdays inviting DUP ministers to the revamped Casement Park, and his weekends orchestrating lop-sided victories over Division 4 cannon-fodder.
Laois are surely returning to Division 3 at a rate of knots. Oddly, they failed to score at home to Carlow until the 24th minute, by which point they trailed 0-05 to 0-00. They won the remainder of the game 2-14 to 0-04.
They're away to Tipp this weekend, whose promotion credentials took a hit on Sunday after they were held to a draw in Ruislip - the previous day's trip to Craven Cottage proving the highlight of their weekend.
Leitrim retained their 100% record following an extremely contentious win over Wexford last Sunday, the hosts being awarded an injury-time penalty on grounds which remain unclear even on repeated viewings.
Andy Moran's side appeared set for the first defeat after second half goals from Ben Brosnan and Niall Hughes but Ryan O'Rourke slotted the late pen to complete his hat-trick and nab a one-point win.
They travel to Dr Cullen Park to face a Carlow side smarting from the latest shellacking courtesy of their neighbours. Even so, a win for the hosts would revive their promotion hopes.
After the injustice in Carrick, Wexford host the league's bottom side Waterford.
The Exiles, fresh from their heartening draw against Tipp, are bound for the midlands to face a Longford team who made very heavy weather of beating Waterford in Ballygunner last Saturday.
Watch Tyrone v Mayo in the Allianz Football League on Saturday from 4.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to updates on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch highlights on Allianz League Sunday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 9.30pm, follow a live blog every Sunday afternoon on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live updates on Sunday Sport
