Eight teams will exit the All-Ireland football race this weekend and there is the potential for a shock or two.
Remember all games must be decided on the day: if teams are level after 70 minutes there will be two periods of ten minutes extra-time, followed by two more of five if necessary, and, finally, a free-taking competition.
SATURDAY 9 JUNE
Wexford v Waterford, Innovate Wexford Park, 1.30pm
Derry v Kildare, Owenbeg, 3pm
Meath v Tyrone, Páirc Tailteann, 5pm
Limerick v Mayo, Gaelic Grounds, 6pm
Offaly v Antrim, Bórd na Móna O'Connor Park, 6pm
Wicklow v Cavan, Joule Park, 6pm
Westmeath v Armagh, TEG Cusack Park, 7pm
SUNDAY 10 JUNE
London v Louth, Ruislip, 2pm
ONLINE
Live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News Now App from 1pm on Saturday and 1.30pm on Sunday.
RADIO
Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 from 2pm will have live commentary on Derry V Kildare, Meath v Tyrone and Limerick v Mayo, with regular updates on the day's other games. Sunday Sport will have updates from Ruislip on London v Louth.
TV
Meath v Tyrone live on Sky Sports. Highlights of all Saturday's qualifiers on The Sunday Game Live, following Dublin v Longford around 5.30pm.
SECOND CHANCE SALOON - WHO'S THIRST WILL BE SATISFIED?
The two big sharks circling in the qualifying waters at this stage are Mayo and Tyrone.
Unlike previous seasons, the westerners begin their latest trek on the road to September (it still is September for this year anyway) in the opening round. They now have to win nine games if Sam is to finally reside in the county over the winter months.
Mayo have had a month to dust themselves down after Galway ended their Connacht aspirations for the third year running. Much of the analysis naturally enough centred on the horrific injury to Tom Parsons, Diarmuid O'Connor's sending off and the worrying trend of key Mayo players getting the line, poor shooting when guilt-edge chances presented themselves and most pointedly whether this Green and Red outfit can do the hard hard yards again this summer.
A trip to the Gaelic Grounds to face Limerick is an ideal match to get things up and running again. It will be only the second championship clash between the sides - Mayo prevailed in a Round 3 qualifier game by 0-13 to 1-09 at Dr.Hyde Park in 2002.
Expect the margin to be a lot wider by the banks of Shannon with Stephen Rochford likely to give some game time to the likes of Rob Hennelly, Barry Moran, Neil Douglas and Evan Regan.
Tyrone are a dab hand at navigating the qualifying route and before you know it they are in the All-Ireland series. They should have enough to get to the Super 8s and before that they could even meet their Ulster conquerors Monaghan again. That clash with the Farney on 20 May was nip and tuck for the most part until Malachy O'Rourke's side upped the tempo late on.
Colm Cavanagh was subbed off at half-time in that game, much to the chagrin of his brother Seán, who felt that the change stripped his side of a man who thrives in those pressure-cooker situations.
The younger Cavanagh will start against Meath in Navan in a game where Richie Donnelly makes his first start of the year for Tyrone at full-forward.
This will be the fifth championship meeting between them, with wins standing at two each from the previous four. Meath won the 1996 All-Ireland semi-final (2-15 to 0-12) and the 2007 quarter-final (1-13 to 2-08) while Tyrone won qualifiers in 2013 (0-17 to 2-09) and 2015 (1-09 to 0-10).
After gaining promotion to Division 1 in the spring, Cavan will not want their season to end now. Too many fallow periods encapsulated their Ulster preliminary round defeat to Donegal.
On The Sunday Game, Seán Cavanagh didn't hold back when assessing the Breffni performance.
"You associate with Cavan with tough, committed hard-hitting players. There weren't that many challenges over the 70 minutes from Cavan players.
"Ballybofey is a really difficult place to play, I found that out on more than one occasion, but the space and freedom Donegal players got was just too much."
This will be the third championship game between Wicklow and Cavan, with one win each from their previous two meetings. The Leinster side won by 1-12 to 0-08 in Aughrim in 2009 while Cavan won by 0-15 to 2-08 in Kingspan Breffni Park a year later.
MANAGER WATCH - THE PRESSURE COOKER
It's 51 weeks since Kildare last won a competitive match and they were really good that evening when accounting for Meath in the Leinster semi-final. Subsequently, they acquitted themselves well against the Dubs in the decider. Hopes were high that 2018 would continue on an upward curve.
Relegation from Division 1, while not the complete disaster, still saw them pick up no points. Before their championship opener against, Tomás Ó Sé wrote that manager Cian O'Neill and his troops must take a hard look at themselves. If they did, well it didn't have much effect as Carlow ran out comfortable winners.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport after the game, O'Neill described his team's performance as "shockingly poor" and said that everyone involved with the set-up - and first and foremost himself - would have to look at themselves.
"It's hard to know what to think about that. It's hard to know what you're doing, what we're doing, what any of us are doing in a set-up when you come out with a performance like that," he said after the game.
"It was just catastrophic - that's the word I would use.
"We just never got going. What obviously happened was we had some great opportunities. We were 0% from placed balls, including a penalty, in the first half and we were only 30% from play. So our shooting and our execution was way off and that can seep into a team."
A defeat to Derry will probably end O'Neill's Lilywhites tenure.
Kildare's last championship encounter with their Ulster opponents ended with a Round 4 qualifier success - 0-19 to 0-13 in Croke Park back in 2011.
They met in last year’s Allianz League Division 2 when Derry won by a point. The latter went down by 2-16 to 0-16 against Donegal a fortnight ago.
Meath manager Andy McEntee will also be feeling the heat if the Royals make their summer exit to Tyrone. Most of their fans expected a date with Dublin this weekend, but Longford's deserved win over the once great Meath put pay to that. In the current scheme of things, it was hardly a shock, coming on the back of a spring campaign where Meath just about survived in Division 2.
Last season, McEntee's men showed great resolve in going down to Donegal in the back door. They'll need more of the same to worry Tyrone, but in front of their own supporters are capable of raising a decent gallop.
Kieran McGeeney's time as Armagh boss could also be in jeopardy if they fail to overcome Westmeath in Mullingar. Last year, 'Geezer' oversaw a run to the All-Ireland quarter-final in 2017 and after a successful Division 2 promotion quest, hopes were high of another productive summer.
It may still happen, but Armagh need a much improved showing from that which characterised their limp Ulster exit to Fermanagh. They registered seven points at Brewster Park - four of which came from frees.
Westmeath seek their own redemption after Laois comfortably dispatched them from Leinster.
The midlanders and the Orchard meet in the qualifiers for a second successive year, with Armagh having won a Round 2 tie by 1 -12 to 1-7 in Mullingar last July.
Armagh also beat Westmeath in this year’s Allianz League (Division 3) winning by 2-17 to 1-11 in Mullingar in early February.
FAITHFUL DEPARTED FOLLOWED BY ARRIVALS
After the management ticket headed by Stephen Wallace were no longer wanted in Offaly, the county board turned to UCD history lecturer Paul Rouse to guide the county's fortunes after the traumatic loss to Wicklow.
Antrim, after their loss to Down a fortnight ago, are the visitors to Tullamore on Saturday evening.
Rouse has coaxed the likes of Brian Darby, Johnny Moloney and Eoin Rigney back into the fold and is now pouring his energy into lifting morale ahead of the game
"If you look at the players who are now on the panel, I think it's very instructive that all the players who were there previously came back in to play for Offaly. .
"And it's also very instructive that a half a dozen other players joined the panel and expressed a willingness to play for Offaly.
"That says an awful lot and about commitment and about what they want to do. This is the start of a process."
There's a new man in Offaly, and he's determined to rouse them for a summer push, reports @MartyM_RTE #RTEgaa pic.twitter.com/BdB5IiNIR8
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) June 7, 2018
A first championship game between Offaly and Antrim while their last Allianz League clash was last year when Offaly won a Division 3 meeting by 0-23 to 1-07.
Elsewhere, Wexford host Waterford for the first time in the championship. A case of two struggling sides hoping for another day out in two weeks' time. In McGovern Park, Ruislip, London welcome a Louth side who have had a horrid time under Pete McGrath. They meet in the championship for the first time since 1913 when Louth won an All-Ireland semi-final by 3-6 to 1-02.
WEATHER
Saturday will also be warm with hazy sunshine. The morning will be dry but in the afternoon scattered heavy and thundery showers will develop inland, with a risk of spot flooding. Some areas will escape, remaining dry. Maximum temperatures 19 to 23 degrees, in light variable breezes, a little cooler on coasts. For more go to met.ie
On Sunday there is an increased threat of thundery showers in London.
