SUNDAY
Meath v Laois, Croke Park, 2pm
Dublin v Kildare, Croke Park, 4pm
ONLINE
Live blogs on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News Now App from 1pm on Sunday.
TV
Highlights of both games on The Sunday Game at 9.30pm.
RADIO
Live updates of Meath v Laois and Dublin v Kildare on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport.
WEATHER
Some brights spells in the morning will give way to patchy rain in Dublin with temperatures around 15 degrees.
Resurgent Royal braced for Laois battle
It's the first time these two counties meet in the Championship for seven years, and though the gloomy consensus would be that they're fighting for the right to be beat by Dublin in the decider, there's pride and momentum at stake here.
Even a good showing in defeat to the raging hot favourites for the Delaney Cup would be something. The Dubs' stranglehold on the provincial crown hasn't loosened since 2010 when Meath famously, and controversially, beat Louth in the final.
Laois haven't gone all the way since the summer of 2003; the landscape has changed, a Blue skyscraper utterly dominating.
Meath did bounce into the Championship off a fine spring that saw them return to Division 1 for the first time in 13 years.
Wins over Offaly and then Carlow send them into this last-four clash with their tails up.
"If everyone was being brutality honest with themselves, they would admit that the performance against Offaly was a below par performance," boss Andy McEntee told RTÉ Sport after the win against Carlow.
"The good thing and the fortunate thing was that we got a chance to show ourselves in a better light. The truth of the matter is that it was a better performance today, in the end it was a little bit more relaxed."
Laois didn't have to negotiate a preliminary round and ground out a 0-12 to 0-10 win over Westmeath in the quarters, having the last laugh after losing to the Lake County twice in Division 3 of the league.
They deserved that success, Evan O'Carroll leading the way with a haul of 0-08, and are 70 minutes away from a second successive Leinster final appearance.
After sliding down to Division 4, Laois have regrouped, back-to-back promotions giving the county a badly needed shot in the arm.
"Meath weren't convincing against Offaly, they looked sluggish," said RTÉ GAA Tomás Ó Sé. "They improved against Carlow and they'll need to improve again.
"I expect Bryan Menton and Mickey Newman to power Meath through."
Meath: Andrew Colgan; Seamus Lavin, Conor McGill, Shane Gallagher; James McEntee, Donal Keogan, Gavin McCoy; Bryan Menton, Adam Flanagan; Cillian O'Sullivan, Bryan McMahon, Ben Brennan; Sean Tobin, Michael Newman, Thomas O'Reilly.
Laois: Graham Brody; Stephen Attride, Denis Booth, Gareth Dillon; Sean O'Flynn, Robert Pigott, Patrick O'Sullivan; John O'Loughlin, Kieran Lillis; Daniel O'Reilly, Conor Boyle, Damien O'Connor; Paul Kingston, Colm Murphy, Evan O'Carroll.
Last five Championship meetings
2012: Laois 1-15 Meath 1-12 (All-Ireland qualifiers)
2010: Meath 2-14 Laois 0-10 (Leinster quarter-final replay)
2010: Meath 2-13 Laois 1-16 (Leinster quarter-final)
2006: Laois 2-13 Meath 0-13 (All-Ireland qualifiers)
2004: Laois 1-13 Meath 0-09 (Leinster semi-final)
Bullish Kildare aiming to stun the Dubs
What do Dublin and Celtic have in common?
They're both going for nine in a row.
The Sky Blues have lifted the title in their own province every year from 2011 to date. Jim Gavin wouldn't dare say it, but Leinster is just a means to an end at this stage, that end this year being a historic fifth All-Ireland in a row.
They demolished Louth 5-21 to 0-10 in the quarters in a typically ruthlessly showing and anything other than a Dublin win here would send shock waves throughout the country.
Not that it's dampened Cian O'Neill's optimism and he sounded a bullish note after Kildare's replay defeat of Longford last weekend. "We are going to win that match," he said. "You have to go into every match believing you can win, it doesn't matter who it is. The nature of the game of football is that in any one day if you perform to your best you are in with a shot."
O'Neill was buoyed by a much improved display from the Lilywhites after their absorbing draw first time out against Longford. They made no mistake second time round with a 1-19 to 0-10 success.
It's understandable that O'Neill is trying to instil belief in his players going in to this one but it's a daunting task.
"I don't give Kildare one chance," is Ó Sé's verdict. "I think the sense of inevitability that surrounds Dublin in any match in Leinster is obvious."
Last five Championship meetings
2017: Dublin 2-23 Kildare 1-17 (Leinster final)
2015: Dublin 5-18 Kildare 0-14 (Leinster semi-final)
2013: Dublin 4-16 Kildare 1-09 (Leinster semi-final)
2011: Dublin 1-12 Kildare 1-11 (Leinster semi-final)
2009: Dublin 2-15 Kildare 0-18 (Leinster final)
Kildare: Mark Donnellan; Mark Dempsey, Mick O'Grady, David Hyland; Peter Kelly, Eoin Doyle, Keith Cribbin; Kevin Feely, Tommy Moolick; David Slattery, Paddy Brophy, Fergal Conway; Adam Tyrrell, Ben McCormack, Neil Flynn.
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