This weekend sees the first fixtures of the new second-tier hurling Championship - the Joe McDonagh Cup.
Named in honour of the Galway All-Ireland winner and former GAA President who passed away in 2016, the competition offers the chance of promotion to next year's Leinster or Munster round-robins and a path into the knockout stages of this season's Liam MacCarthy Cup.
Antrim, Carlow, Kerry Laois, Meath and Westmeath will all play each other, in just five weeks, with each team being guaranteed a minimum of two home games.
The top two sides will meet in a final at Croke Park on July 1 as part of the Leinster final bill.
The champions will replace the lowest-placed finisher in the Leinster Championship for next year, unless Kerry win it.
To gain promotion to the Munster Championship, the Kingdom must win a play-off against the lowest-placed Munster finisher, a situation our hurling columnist Richie Power has called "unfair and wrong".
The winning and losing finalists will play the third-placed finishers from Munster and Leinster respectively, for a place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
In order to reduce the number of teams in next year's Joe McDonagh Cup to five teams, the bottom side will be relegated while the fifth-placed team will face the Christy Ring Cup winner in a relegation/promotion play-off.
Simple, eh?
THE TEAMS
Antrim
Managers: Terence McNaughton and Dominic McKinley are in their third season in charge.
The Saffrons were relegated from Division 1B after losing to Laois in the play-off but will be heartened by their victory over Leinster participants Offaly and the narrow margin of the defeats to All-Ireland champions Galway and Dublin.
After losing two Christy Ring finals in a row, including the controversial 'ghost-point' final against Meath in 2016 that required a replay, the Ulster men are back with a chance of competing at the top level.
Former All-Ireland winning Tipperary boss Liam Sheedy is involved this year as an adviser to 'Sambo' and McKinley and they will be confident of competing for a place in the final.
Player to watch: Nigel Elliott proved dangerous from open play in the league, the forward scored in every game except the clash with Dublin.
Carlow
Manager: Tipperary native Colm Bonnar is in his second campaign in charge of the Scallion Eaters.
Under the old format, Carlow would have been in the Leinster Qualifier Group, having won their third Christy Ring Cup last year.
They finished behind Westmeath in Division 2A this spring but reversed the result of their opening-day defeat in the final to seal promotion to 1B for next season.
Player to watch: James Doyle (above) has an eye for goal - he found the net in three league games.
Kerry
Manager: Fintan O'Connor takes the reins for a second season
The Munster men were back in Division 2A this season after two years where they held their own in 1B.
They only lost to finalists Carlow and Westmeath in the league but will want to be to more competitive than they showed in those two seven-point defeats.
The system is unfairly stacked against Kerry gaining promotion to Munster should they win the Joe McDonagh Cup but avoiding being sucked into the relegation mix should be more of an immediate priority.
Player to watch: Captain Padraig Boyle (pictured) always chips in with a couple of scores, he racked up 1-15 (3f) in Division 2A.
Laois
Manager: Former Kerry and Offaly boss Eamonn Kelly is in his second year in the hotseat
The O'Moore Men are the deserved favourites to win the Cup.
They beat rivals Kerry, Meath and Westmeath in last year's Championship and got the better of Antrim twice to preserve their Division 1B status.
Player to watch: Forward Stephen 'Picky' Maher is available again for the first time since injuring his cruciate ligament last summer.
Meath
Manager: Nick Fitzgerald is in his maiden campaign
The Royal County have been making solid progress in recent years - in 2016 they claimed the Christy Ring title for the first time and last season won promotion to Division 2A.
They beat London and Kildare to preserve that league status and will have similar ambitions in the Joe McDonagh - a repeat of last year's Leinster victory over Kerry would go a long way to achieving that goal.
Player to watch: Jack Regan (22) scored 2-47 in five League games.
Westmeath
Manager: Waterford native Michael Ryan is the longest-serving boss in the competition (fourth year)
Despite the disappointment of losing the league final to Carlow, Westmeath won all their other games and will fancy their chances of being challengers for the Cup.
They beat Meath but lost to Kerry and Laois in Leinster last year and will need to defeat at least one of those two if they are to be in the mix for a spot in the final.
Player to watch: Captain Tommy Doyle was perhaps unlucky not to gain an All Star nomination at full-back last year.
Round 1 fixtures
SATURDAY 5 MAY
1500 Meath v Antrim, Páirc Tailteann
Antrim will be favourites for this one after a respectable showing in Division 1B but Meath will have no fear given they won the last meeting between the sides in the 2016 Christy Ring decider.
Only Paddy Burke, Nigel Elliott, Simon McCrory, Conor Johnston and Eoghan Campbell start from the Saffrons XV that day however.
Meath: Shane McGann; Niall Weir, Sean Geraghty, Stephen Morris; Joe Keena, Damien Healy, Shane Brennan; Keith Keoghan, Adam Gannon; James Kelly, Cathal McCabe, Eamonn O Donnchadha; Alan Douglas, Gavin McGowan, Jack Regan.
Antrim: Ryan Elliott; David Kearney, John Dillon, Ryan McCambridge; Paddy Burke, Conor McKinley, Joe Maskey; Nigel Elliott, Simon McCrory; Conor Carson, Conor Johnston, Neil McManus; Donal McKinley, Michael Armstrong, Eoghan Campbell.
1500 Laois v Westmeath, O'Moore Park
A tough first test for the Lake County as they travel to the favourites' back yard.
Westmeath haven't beaten Laois in the Championship since 1968 and it would be a surprise if they can end that run here.
Former Laois panellist and now Westmeath keeper Paddy Carroll faces his native county for the first time.
Teams TBC
SUNDAY 6 MAY
1400 Carlow v Kerry, Netwatch Dr Cullen Park
Carlow won the Division 2A meeting between the sides by 1-18 to 1-11 but Kerry will have learned a lot from the last two seasons in Leinster, including victory over today's opponents in 2016.
A tough contest to call and one that will quickly put the losers under pressure.
Teams
Carlow: TBC
Kerry: Martin Stackpoole; Sean Weir, John Buckley, Bryan Murphy; Brandon Barrett, Daniel Collins, Tom Murnane; Shane Nolan, Brendan O’Leary; Dáithí Griffin, Mikey Boyle, Jordan Conway; Jack Goulding, Padraig Boyle (captain), Shane Conway.
ONLINE
Live scores on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News Now App from 1500 on Saturday and 1400 on Sunday.
Watch The Sunday Game preview show at 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player, with live coverage of London-Sligo and New York-Leitrim on RTÉ.ie, the News Now App and RTÉ Radio 1. The RTÉ coverage will be officially launched on Sunday Sport at 2pm on RTÉ Radio 1.
