SATURDAY
FOOTBALL
Leinster semi-finals
Tullamore v Ballyboden St Enda's, Glenisk O'Connor Park, 1.30pm
Athy v Portarlington, Cedral St Conleth's Park, 2pm
HURLING
Ulster final
Slaughtneil v Naomh Eoin, Box-IT Athletic Grounds, 6pm
SUNDAY
FOOTBALL
Connacht final
Maigh Cuilinn v St Brigid's, Dr Hyde Park, 1pm
Ulster semi-final
Scotstown v Newbridge, Box-IT Athletic Grounds, 4pm
HURLING
Munster final
Ballygunner v Éire Óg, FBD Semple Stadium, 3pm
TV
Live coverage of the Ulster club hurling final between Slaughtneil and Naomh Eoin on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 5.45pm on Saturday.
On Sunday, TG4 will broadcast a double-header, beginning with the Connacht club football final between Maigh Cuilinn and St Brigid's (1pm throw-in) and the Munster club hurling final between Ballygunner and Éire Óg (3pm throw-in).
ONLINE
Live updates of Sunday's provincial finals in Connacht and Munster alongside reports from the rest of the senior provincial championship across the weekend on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app.
RADIO
Live commentaries and updates on Saturday Sport & Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 - and Spórt an tSathairn and Spórt an Lae on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.
WEATHER
Saturday: Will start off quite cloudy with scattered outbreaks of rain and drizzle sinking southeastwards across the country during the morning. Dry and bright weather will follow from the northwest with spells of sunshine developing. Showers will develop near western coasts after dark. Highest temperatures of 6 to 9 degrees.
Sunday: Cold and frosty to start with some winter sunshine in the morning. Cloud will build from the west early and gradually spread eastwards with outbreaks of rain and drizzle. Highs of 4 to 8 degrees in light to moderate southerly winds. For more, visit met.ie.
Ballygunner seek to reclaim perch against Ennis side on crest of a wave
The most celebrated footage from Éire Óg's Munster semi-final victory over Loughmore-Castleiney - relocated to Sixmilebridge at the 11th hour - didn't even concern the match itself, though the game proved dramatic enough in any event.
The game was switched from Cusack Park due to a burst water pipe at the Ennis venue and it was classic winter hurling, a dogged low-scoring affair.
Éire Óg, seeking a first Munster final appearance since 1990, also the year of their last Clare SHC title, equalised at the death thanks to a terrific point into the wind from Danny Russell, who landed 1-14 overall in a stellar performance.
In the interregnum, while the crowd were waiting for the teams to re-emerge for extra-time, a roar went up as those watching on their phones reacted to Troy Parrott's historic late winner in Budapest. The subsequent footage of kids in Éire Óg tracksuits leaping about excitedly on the grass bank behind the goal has gone everywhere, included among the various compilations of young lads going nuts in beer gardens.
As an example of sporting ecumenism, the scene was a far cry from Euro '88, when then GAA President John Dowling was asked whether he'd be watching the Ireland-England game from Stuttgart and responded that he'd be "doing the garden".
Éire Óg dominated the extra-time period, overwhelming the Tipp champions 1-07 to 0-03 in the additional period, with teenager Darren Moroney burying the goal that effectively sealed it.
The Clare champions are under the stewardship of former Clare co-manager Gerry O'Connor, and their inter-county talisman Shane O'Donnell floated over 0-02 from play, with fellow Clare team-mate David Reidy stationed in midfield.
It's only the Ennis side's second ever appearance in the Munster decider, after the aforementioned '90 game, where they were beaten by Patrickswell on the eye-wateringly low scoreline of 0-08 to 0-06.
The recent history of their opponents is rather different. Ballygunner's domination of Munster hurling in the current decade was rudely broken up last year, when they were stunned by Cork SHC runners-up Sarsfields in the decider - on an afternoon when the general election count was still chugging away.
It seems bizarre to say, but there's still a sense that the 2022 All-Ireland champions, despite winning four of the last six Munster titles, have under-achieved beyond their own county.
With Ballyhale Shamrocks removed from the equation in Kilkenny the last two years, Ballygunner had been installed as heavy favourites in both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. They were shocked by eventual champions St Thomas' after a penalty shoot-out in the former season and then taken down by Sarsfields last year.
They're looking as formidable as ever before at the minute. For the seventh year in a row, they took down the Limerick SHC winners - Na Piarsaigh again on this occasion - in the first round and then gained revenge against Sarsfields in the semi-final. Their county players were to the fore, Dessie Hutchinson hitting 2-01 from play with Pauric Mahony reliable on the frees.
Serial winners face off in the Hyde
A dinger of a provincial club final in the Hyde at Sunday lunch-time, involving two recent winners and proper All-Ireland contenders.
Maigh Cuilinn have yet to lose a Connacht senior club game, though, one should add, this is only their second time to compete in it.
The club - which is in the eastern-most fringe of the Galway Gaeltacht - won their first Galway SFC title in 2020, when the provincial and All-Ireland club championship was rendered a casualty of the pandemic.
They did get a run at Connacht after winning Galway again in 2022, fully giving notice of their All-Ireland credentials with a lop-sided demolition of Westport in the provincial opener.
They accounted for Tourlestrane with reasonable ease in the Connacht final, though disappointment awaited in the All-Ireland semi-final.
They were edged out by future champions Glen at GAA HQ, their attacking talisman Peter Cooke guilty of several wides in the second half as he sought to personally drag them back into the lead.
Corofin reclaimed their throne in Galway in the intervening seasons but they were taken down by a star-studded Salthill forward line - boasting Rob Finnerty, Matthew Thompson and Tomo Culhane - at the semi-final stage this year.
Maigh Cuilinn, however, sunk their glamorous opponents in the Saturday night final on 1 November, with Galway captain Sean Kelly hitting the goal and Cooke landing two mammoth two-pointers.
On the podium, captain David Wynne paid tribute to the late Don Connellan, the former Roscommon player who'd managed them to the two previous Galway titles, and who'd passed away at just 51 last August.
He also gave a shout-out to acclaimed sport psychologist Caroline Currid, who'd been assisting them this year and who, rather ominously, is reported to be back working with the Limerick hurlers for 2026.
In the decider, they face off against the modern aristocrats of Roscommon football, who overcame Corofin to win their fifth Connacht title in 2023, their first since the All-Ireland winning season of 2012-13.
Brigid's, under the wily management of former Galway hurling/ Roscommon football boss Anthony Cunningham, dispatched reigning champions Padraig Pearses in the county decider after a replay.
Subsequently, they utterly devoured Ballina Stephenites in the Connacht championship, maintaining Mayo clubs' wretched recent record at provincial level. (No Mayo side has won the Connacht senior club title since Castlebar Mitchels in 2015).
County stars Ben O'Carroll and Ruadhrí Fallon were especially prominent in the win, landing 0-03 and 0-4 respectively, while much of the focus on the 40-year-old former inter-county marksman Senan Kilbride.
The veteran of the 2013 All-Ireland triumph, who retired from the inter-county scene in 2016, returned from Abu Dhabi at the beginning of the year, spent the summer playing masters football and was subsequently tossed into the fray in the dying embers of the drawn county decider.
It was his first appearance for the Brigid's seniors since 2020 and yet he was to start the replay, kicking a point and then registering the only goal against Ballina.
Provincial semis in Ulster and Leinster
The Ulster club season has been blown off schedule by Joe McQuillan's contentious decision to abandon last weekend's Scotstown-Newbridge game halfway through, after deeming the Healy Park surface unplayable due to the mud and heavy rain.
McQuillan told RTÉ Sport that "The pitch was in decent condition when we were starting, but heavy rain fell consistently during the whole first half and the pitch just got progressively worse and worse."
It will have been sickening for Scotstown in particular, whose extensive modern history in the Ulster club has been marked by frustration and frequent misfortune.
The Monaghan champions, who have won 12 county titles since their last Ulster club triumph in 1989, were leading 1-04 to 0-03 when McQuillan called a halt, on an afternoon where scores were fiendishly hard to come by.
Now they have to start over against a Newbridge side containing Padraig McGrogan and Conor Doherty.
Newbridge, who secured the back-to-back in Derry after a controversial campaign, are seeking to become the ninth club from the county to win the Ulster title, an astonishing record. However, the 2021-22 All-Ireland champions Kilcoo await in the provincial decider.
Early on Saturday afternoon, we have the two Leinster semi-finals, with Tullamore facing off against 2016 All-Ireland champions Ballyboden, while Athy play Portarlington in Newbridge.
The Offaly champions, who ran Cuala close last year in Leinster, are under the management of former Mayo manager Stephen Rochford, who previously won the All-Ireland club title with Corofin.
They withstood a late rally from The Downs in a goal-heavy quarter-final. Full-forward Harry Plunkett plundered 1-05, while Offaly star Cormac Bourke - soon bound for Essendon Bombers in the AFL - also found the net.
Not since tiny Mullinalaghta (the 'half-parish') in 2018 have a team from outside Dublin won the Leinster senior club title and so, the natural assumption is that Ballyboden St Enda's are favourites for the province.
They won a first Dublin title in six years with a four-point win over Na Fianna, Galway midfielder Céin D'Arcy ramming home the crucial goal, while former Antrim star Peter Healy landed a vital two-pointer from centre-back at one stage.
There is, nonetheless, a general assumption that Leinster could be a trickier proposition for the Dublin champions this time around, largely due to Athy's intimidating form in Leinster so far.
Having stunned Philly McMahon's Naas in the Kildare final, they've made easy progress in Leinster so far, beating both Baltinglass and Summerhill by double-digit margins.
Portarlington secured their fifth Laois title in six years in remarkably dreary fashion against Courtwood - 1-07 to 0-07 was the score in the replay, the losers failing to score from play. They accounted for Carlow champs Old Leighlin in Leinster, a game which was televised on RTÉ, though one suspects viewing figures weren't hectic.
The Laois champions are, however, experienced in Leinster and will likely provide a stiffer challenge for Athy than they've faced thus far in the province.
Ulster showdown
Saturday evening is the RTÉ televised game, where Slaughtneil are bidding for a second title on the trot against Belfast outfit St John's (or Naomh Eoin).
We've been used to Antrim hurling at the top level being dominated by clubs from the famous hurling enclave in the north-eastern corner of the county - Cushendall, Loughgiel, Dunloy.
However, the west Belfast club - who won the Ulster football crown in 1977 - are in the decider after pipping Loughgiel by a point in the county decider, winning a first Antrim crown in 52 years.
Watch the Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship final, Slaughtneil v Naomh Eoin, on Saturday from 5.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
