SATURDAY
Connacht SFC
London v Galway, McGovern Park, 3pm
SUNDAY
Connacht SFC
Leitrim v Sligo, Avant Money Páirc Sean MacDiarmada, 3.30pm
New York v Mayo, Gaelic Park, 8pm (Irish time)
Ulster SFC
Monaghan v Cavan, Clones, 4pm
Leinster SFC
Wexford v Carlow, Chadwick's Wexford Park, 2.30pm
Longford v Meath, Glennon Bros Pearse Park, 3pm
Westmeath v Wicklow, Laois Hire O'Moore Park, 3.30pm
Munster SFC
Waterford v Tipperary, Fraher Field, 2pm
Cork v Limerick, SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 2pm
ONLINE
Live blogs each day on RTÉ Sport Online and RTÉ News app.
TV
Live coverage of Monaghan v Cavan on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Sunday at 4pm.
GAAGO will broadcast live coverage of London-Galway (Sat, 3pm throw-in) and New York-Mayo (Sun, 8pm throw-in).
Highlights and reaction to all the weekend's action on The Sunday Game, RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, 9.30pm.
RADIO
Live commentaries and updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport, and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta Spórt an Lae.
WEATHER
Sunday: Bright and blustery on Sunday with sunny spells and scattered showers, some of them heavy. Highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in fresh to strong and gusty southwesterly winds with gales on western and northwestern coasts during the morning, gradually easing later. For more, visit met.ie.
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast on the RTÉ Radio Player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
TEAMS: Rory Beggan named in Monaghan squad for Cavan tie
Connacht - big two on foreign shores
The 2024 All-Ireland football championship begins not with a drumroll but rather to the sound of a hissing barbecue and a marquee band testing the acoustics on the outer fringes of north-west London.
Galway, hithertofore the only Connacht county never to receive so much as a scare in Ruislip, made heavy weather of their last trip there in 2019. Level at half-time, they only won by four in the end, perhaps the strongest indicator that the Kevin Walsh regime was on its last legs.
For Galway, there's still no sign of the cavalry returning, with their league forward line getting another runout in Connacht. Their staggering injury-list has been one of the more puzzling elements of the spring campaign.
In the aftermath of the draw with Roscommon in Round 2, Padraic Joyce sounded upbeat about the prospect of most of his A-list absentees seeing action in the league - with the exception of Cillian McDaid whose injury was always accepted as long-term - but as things progressed, the prognosis on Comer, Walsh et al seemed to become gloomier with each passing week.
They do have plenty of experience in midfield, with Paul Conroy - 35 next month - and the enormously influential Sean Kelly making up that duo. John Maher, impressive since returning to the set-up last year, is another absentee, however.
Cillian Ó Curraoin, a relatively free-scoring newcomer, makes his championship debut at full-forward, as does Liam O'Conghaile in the corner. Cathal Sweeney, scorer of the decisive goal in the one-point win in Omagh (the most important result in Galway's successful battle for survival), is named at centre-forward.
The Exiles had a fairly standard league campaign, registering their now obligatory victory over Waterford and snatching a point against Tipperary through a late point from Cahir Healy. Otherwise, it was all defeats although none by double-digit margins. Native born Londoner Michael Maher has done well to maintain London at a respectably competitive level.
Awaiting in the semi-final are the winners of Leitrim-Sligo. The game had been switched to Hyde Park due to pitch upgrade work at Páirc Sean, though it was decided late on to press pause on that until after the Connacht opener.
Andy Moran's men may still be buoyant after earning promotion from Division 4, notwithstanding their cold shower in the league final. Sligo are presumably content enough with their league performance, but could be inclined to wonder what might have been after their six-point win over eventual champions Westmeath in Round 7.
Sean Carrabine and Niall Murphy continued to do the heavy lifting on the scoring front, though Alan McLoughlin of St Molaise Gaels impressed through the campaign, racking up 0-05 from play against Westmeath. Luke Towrey and Pat Spillane are named to start this weekend.
Tony McEntee is entering his fifth campaign in charge, though only his fourth championship as the county had to offer a walkover due to a Covid outbreak in 2020. On the back of successive U20 Connacht titles, there's a sense that Sligo football is on an upward curve again after a decade and a bit in the doldrums.
While Sligo overcame Leitrim on penalties in their 2022 Tailteann Cup encounter, it was actually Leitrim who won their most recent Connacht SFC match way back in 2011.
It's five years since New York's Mexican community found their beloved 'Cinco de Mayo' celebration hijacked by a bunch of green and red clad football supporters from Connacht, in what some might term a brazen act of cultural appropriation.
The hordes that descended on the Big Apple for the 2019 first round game in a damp Gaelic Park was another marker of Mayo fanaticism. In his column this week, Lee Keegan characterised the New York game as part championship game and part fundraising summit.
New York proved there was more to them in the last couple of years, famously taking out Leitrim on penalties on a dramatic night in the Bronx. Indeed, they ran Sligo very close a year previously.
Cavan man Alan O'Hara took over as NY boss in December, outlining the challenges in an interview with RTÉ Sport this week. As usual, there is plenty of turnover, with inter-county hurlers Johnny Glynn and Mark Ellis unavailable to them this summer. However, they do have four-time All-Ireland winner - albeit not a starter - Emmet Ó Conghaile in their ranks, alongside Clare defender Cian O'Dea.
However, their fixture with Mayo has never been close, with 11 points in 2009 the narrowest margin.
After last year's Connacht ambush, Kevin McStay appeared content to guide his team to league safety and no further this year. The visitors have avoided the injury crises of their neighbours and have named a strong side, Tommy Conroy and Ryan O'Donoghue in the full-forward line and the revitalised Fergal Boland on the 40.
Connacht draw
Quarter-finals
New York v Mayo
London v Galway
Sligo v Leitrim
Semi-finals
New York/Mayo v Roscommon
Sligo/Leitrim v London/Galway
Ulster - Beggan back in town
As expected, the most vibrant province, football's answer to the Munster SHC, produces the weekend's televised tie.
Monaghan, the longest running residents of Division 1 outside of Kerry, are facing up to life outside the glamour tier next year.
Vinny Corey's side did rage against their fate in grand style in the penultimate game in Omagh, when Conor McManus and Jack McCarron had goal chances at the death to seal a comeback win.
Ultimately, they couldn't overcome the loss of so many front-rank players for most of the season, Rory Beggan most prominent among them.
Beggan's novel spring, spent kicking field-goal attempts across the pond in front of watchful scouts, may have come to an end. While he waits to hear whether an NFL contract is forthcoming, he's back with the Monaghan squad.
While not named to start, nothing is certain. Monaghan certainly suffered in his absence, shipping 14 goals in the league, three apiece against Kerry, Derry and Galway.
Aside from Beggan, Monaghan were without McManus and All-Star wing-back Conor McCarthy for most of the campaign, that pair only returning as subs in the Round 5 loss to Galway.
The last time the pair met in the championship, it was Beggan's opposite number who emerged as the hero of the hour. He's now the Cavan manager, assuming the job after Mickey Graham departed. After a Beggan long range free had levelled it deep in injury-time of extra-time, Raymond Galligan stood up, and from even further out, landed the winner.
Perhaps surprisingly, it was Cavan's second successive championship win over neighbours, having also eliminated them from Ulster in 2019.
While Cavan have almost definitely guaranteed themselves a place in the Sam Maguire group stage, their morale may have taken a pummelling in the latter stages of the league.
The indecent hammering that Armagh handed out in Round 6 made a mockery of Cavan's pretensions to promotion and they followed it with a loss to Fermanagh, though in mitigation, there was little on the line for them.
Dara McVeety and Killian Clarke are not involved in the matchday squad for Cavan, who have two Oisin Kiernans in the side, not to be confused with one another (one from Castlerahan, one from Denn).
"Both teams have had mixed leagues," Paul Flynn observed on Morning Ireland on Friday. "In Paddy Lynch, Cavan have a focal point and they need to get good supply into him, try and isolate him against this Monaghan defence which has been porous.
"For this Sunday, the interest is will Rory Beggan start for Monaghan. If I was Vinny Corey, I'd absolutely be starting him. He brings solidity in goals, experience in organising the defensive structures, scoring presence, a playmaker. Tough on Darren McDonnell if he does come in but you have to make these tough decisions at this level.
"I would tip a Monaghan win by the closest of margins."
Ulster draw
Preliminary round
Monaghan v Armagh
Quarter-finals
Down v Antrim
Fermanagh v Armagh
Derry v Donegal
Tyrone v Monaghan/Cavan
Semi-finals
Down/Antrim v Fermanagh/Armagh
Derry/Donegal v Tyrone/Monaghan/Cavan
Leinster - No fury like a Wexford scorned
The three Leinster preliminary rounds involve three sides who spent the spring in Division 4 and another who are heading that way in 2025.
Wexford football supporters may still be raging at the circumstances of their failure to secure promotion from said division. They finished the campaign as the form team in the bottom tier, aside from Laois, recording crushing victories over Carlow, Tipperary and Longford in the closing weeks.
Needless to say, the fury at the mystifying last-minute penalty awarded to Leitrim in the Round 3 game in Carrick, controversial enough in real-time, came flooding to the surface again.
Others argued it showed up the capricious randomness of prioritising head-to-head results rather than score difference across an entire campaign - on which basis, they would have been comfortably promoted ahead of Leitrim.
They host Niall Carew's Carlow, whose promotion push fizzled out badly after a bright start. Indeed, it was Wexford's final quarter demolition job in Netwatch Cullen Park that really did for their chances, and they followed up a limp defeat to Longford in Pearse Park.
All told, John Hegarty's side should be heavy favourites, with Louth lying in wait in the quarters.
Longford beat Meath in Leinster in 2018, their first championship win in the fixture since 1982, incidentally the last match of the pre-Sean Boylan era.
The midlanders have regressed since then, however - their emergence as the 'Limerick' of the O'Byrne Cup, notwithstanding. Under Paddy Christie, they have first fallen into, and now failed to escape from, Division 4.
For Colm O'Rourke's side, there is no guillotine hanging over them in this Leinster campaign, their place in the Sam Maguire already assured.
They stayed in Division 2 without too much drama, after home wins over Louth and the hapless Kildare and, arguably more impressively, a draw in Cavan which probably should have been a win. Shane Walsh and Matthew Costello were particularly lively in the inside forward line that night, as was Daithí McGowan in midfield.
Westmeath are back in action eight days after their Division 3 triumph, much to Dessie Dolan's annoyance. He's similarly miffed that they're not certain of a spot in the Sam Maguire, though that'll possibly hinge on a meeting with Kildare in the quarters (though should they lose and then Kildare proceed to lose to Louth, Westmeath will still make it).
Before that, they've to navigate the challenge of Wicklow, who slipped back down to Division 4 with a bit of a whimper. They did at least squeeze out one win against Limerick, in a match which looked like a forerunner of another Div 4 match-up next year.
Unlike his fellow NFL traillist Beggan, Mark Jackson is not in an inter-county squad this weekend so Wicklow will have to do without.
Westmeath had six to spare in a sleepy Round 3 league game in February and this time it's on neutral turf.
Leinster draw
Preliminary round
Westmeath v Wicklow
Carlow v Wexford
Longford v Meath
Quarter-finals
Kildare v Westmeath/Wicklow
Louth v Carlow/Wexford
Dublin v Longford/Meath
Offaly v Laois
Semi-finals
Kildare/Westmeath/Wicklow v Louth/Carlow/Wexford
Dublin/Longford/Meath v Offaly/Laois
Munster - luck of the draw
Given the provincial championships are under-fire to begin with, it could certainly be argued they're pushing their luck by refusing to seed their draws. (Alternatively, one could look at it as an insolent power play).
Last year, the lop-sided Connacht draw gift-wrapped Sligo a place in the Sam Maguire at the expense of the Division 3 champions - Cavan.
This year, Clare are the lucky ones. After taking a pasting off Down in their final league game in Newry, they only have to beat one of Tipperary or Waterford - the two poorest performing county teams on the island in 2024 - to displace Conor Laverty's side in the All-Ireland round robin.
None of which, of course, is to take away from Mark Fitzgerald's side's unexpectedly strong showing in the league, after surviving a heavy player exodus in the off-season.
They face the winner of Waterford-Tipperary in Fraher Field this week. Home team manager Paul Shankey assured us that the Déise footballers would not be going the way of Kilkenny, though having to offer such a reassurance is never a positive sign.
The Meath man stressed that club football in the county is reasonably healthy, as if underage football up to 16. As for the seniors, he acknowledged they were short a couple of Cliffords.
Their one point in Division 4 came against Sunday's opponents, at least. Tipperary's shockingly poor league campaign indicated a precipitous fall from the heady days of the 2016-20 period.
They could only draw with both London and Waterford, though they did manage to secure an early away win over Longford, hard to credit in retrospect. Throughout, they relied heavily on Sean O'Connor for scores. They mustered a combined tally of 0-17 from their final two league games against Wexford and Leitrim.
Cork's Micheál Ó Cróinín didn't shy away this week from declaring their intention in Munster was to put silverware back on the table. The 12-year gap to their last provincial title is comfortably longer than anything they had to endure in the 70s and 80s.
To do so would entail winning in Killarney for the first time since 1995. Before that, they have to account for Limerick, which on league form at least should be no great imposition.
Jimmy Lee insisted at the Munster launch that there were green shoots evident despite seven losses from seven and a second successive relegation.
Cork were in a hole themselves midway through the campaign, with the spectre of the Tailteann looming large following their third third straight loss, at home to Cavan.
The smart money at the time said at the time, they were better equipped to rally than Kildare and so it proved. Though had Maurice Shanley not tapped home an injury-time goal to sneak a win in Fermanagh, who knows what course things could have taken.
Their league effort finished on an upward curve with a humdinger of a draw at home to the already promoted Armagh, Steven Sherlock missing a late chance to win it.
Most importantly, they wound up in fourth spot at the finish, meaning that, despite the adverse Munster draw, their chances of falling out of the Sam Maguire are quite remote.
Munster draw
Quarter-finals
Tipperary v Waterford
Limerick v Cork
Semi-finals
Clare v Tipperary/Waterford
Kerry v Limerick/Cork
Watch Monaghan v Cavan in the Ulster Football Championship on Sunday from 3.15pm on RTÉ2, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to updates from all matches on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Follow a live blog on New York v Mayo in the Connacht Football Championship on Sunday from 8pm on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app
