SATURDAY
All-Ireland SHC round 1
Clare v Laois, Nowlan Park, 1.15pm
Dublin v Cork, Semple Stadium, 3.45pm
Joe McDonagh Cup round 3
Carlow v Meath, Netwatch Cullen Park, 2pm
Christy Ring Cup Round 2B
Derry v Offaly, Pairc Esler, 1.30pm
Nicky Rackard Cup Round 2B
Monaghan v Tyrone, Clontibret, 1.30pm
Longford v Leitrim, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 1.30pm
SUNDAY
Christy Ring Cup Round 2B
Roscommon v Sligo, Athleague, 12pm
Lory Meagher Cup round 3
Cavan v Louth, Kingspan Breffni, 2pm
TV
Clare v Laois, live on GAAGO (worldwide). Dublin v Cork, live on Sky Sports Mix (Sky channel 416, Virgin Media 409/439). Highlights of all games on The Sunday Game, RTÉ2, 9.30pm.
RADIO
Live commentaries on Clare v Laois and Dublin v Cork on Radio 1's Saturday Sport. Updates on other games.
ONLINE
Live blogs on RTE.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app
WEATHER
Saturday will be a cloudier day, with outbreaks of rain in Munster and south Leinster edging slowly northwards through the day and becoming light and patchy. It will likely hold mostly dry in parts of the north and northwest. More persistent rain will move into the south later in the day. Highest temperatures of 9 to 13 degrees in light to moderate easterly breezes. Sunday will be a cloudy day with patchy outbreaks of rain and drizzle. Highest temperatures of 11 to 14 degrees in light to moderate east to southeast breezes. More on met.ie
End of the line
We are only two weeks into the All-Ireland SHC campaign but it's going to be the end of the season for at least two counties on Saturday.
The likes of the Tyrone and Monaghan footballers might not have a whole lot of sympathy for them, having departed after just one game - at least whoever goes out in the hurling will have been beaten twice.
Tipperary and Wexford await the winners of the two clashes in round two of the qualifiers, which will be an open draw unless Laois and Dublin both win (no repeat pairings allowed).
Lifting the Banner
Clare were reasonably impressive in the first half of their Munster quarter-final against Limerick, going in 0-15 each at the interval.
Limerick eased clear after the break though, racking up a huge points tally to seal a 0-36 to 1-23 win.
Banner boss Brian Lohan will be concerned at the number of points a previously stingy defence conceded (36 was half the total they allowed in five league games), particularly the unanswered six that came in a post-interval surge.
Another issue is the lack of scoring support alongside Tony Kelly, who matched the championship record of 17 scores (0-17, 9f) against Limerick but was one of only five Clare players to register from play as opposed to their opponents' 11.
Key men like captain John Conlan (cruciate) and Peter Duggan (travelling) are still missing but whether this weekend's opponents have enough to capitalise on any Clare crisis of confidence is doubtful.
Paul Flanagan and Colin Guilfoyle will make their championship debuts while Aaron Cunningham is again kept in reserve. Aidan McCarthy and Aron Shanagher also come into the starting line-up at centre-back and full-forward respectively.
Laois never looked like repeating last year's heroics in their 2-31 to 0-23 defeat to Dublin.
Some of that margin can probably be ascribed to the shoulder injury that restricted sharpshooter Mark Kavanagh to just the second 35 minutes but the Rathdowney-Errill man is ready to start this time and is one of two introductions to the team, along with 2019 All-Star nominated wing-back Jack Kelly.
Brennan paid tribute to Kavanagh's commitment ahead of this week's clash, saying: "Mark has worked closely with our physio and they have worked miracles to get him back into the position to be able to play again. It is also testament to him as he is extremely committed to the cause and really wants to play for Laois."
However, Kavanagh's return is tempered by the news that Laois are without at least two of the players who faced Dublin.
Full-back Ronan Broderick damaged his cruciate ligament and will be out for a considerable period of time while forward James Ryan (broken thumb) is also out. Éanna Lyons was nearing contention but has damaged his hamstring. Corner-forward Stephen 'Picky' Maher is named to start despite Brennan rating him as doubtful midweek.
Clare were eight-point winners when the teams met in the Allianz Hurling League in February and a similar scoreline would not be a huge surprise.
Clare: Eibhear Quilligan; Rory Hayes, Conor Cleary, Paul Flanagan; Stephen O'Halloran, Aidan McCarthy, Seadna Morey; David McInerney (c), Tony Kelly; Cathal Malone, David Reidy, Colin Guilfoyle; Shane O'Donnell, Aron Shanagher, Ryan Taylor.
Laois: Enda Rowland; Lee Cleere, Sean Downey, Donnchadh Hartnett; Jack Kelly, Padraig Delaney, Ryan Mullaney; Fiachra C Fennell, Patrick Purcell; Aaron Dunphy, Willie Dunphy, James Keyes; Mark Kavanagh, Ross King, Stephen Maher.
Rebels need yell
The second qualifier clash looks a lot closer to call.
Cork were hot favourites against Waterford last weekend but failed to deliver as the Déise brought their miserable Munster run to a close in Liam Cahill's first game in charge.
Cork were beaten by just four points but the margin would have been greater if not for Waterford's profligacy (14 first-half wides) and a late consolation goal by Patrick Horgan.
Speaking on RTÉ 2fm's Game On earlier this week, former Tipperary star Shane McGrath suggested that "teams actually like playing against Cork these days".
"Because they know they're going to be allowed hurl and they know they're going to get space on the ball," he elaborated. "And that's what they gave to Waterford.
"And then on top of getting time and space on the ball, Waterford brought a ferocious work-rate, which all Liam Cahill's teams do.
"They wanted it more and they worked way, way harder than Cork. Look at the amounts of turnovers they had compared to Cork."
Kieran Kingston, who was in his first spell in charge when the counties last met in 2017, has to address that against a Dublin team who appear more physically robust this campaign.
Even though they eventually lost by a point to Kilkenny, Mattie Kenny's side outscored the winners 2-15 to 0-07 in the second half and the Cats were very relieved to hang on in the end.
.@mrjackietee and @usulajacob react to Kilkenny's narrow win over a resurgent Dublin. Wexford v Galway live on @rte2 and @rteplayer now #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/5ctCESG42o
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) October 31, 2020
You would expect Cork to be fitter having now played a game, but the Dubs have had two. If they can avoid the early concession of goals that cost them dearly against Kilkenny - far from a given against a team with Patrick Horgan - then Dublin will be confident they can win this one and banish the memories of 2013 and 2016.
Kingston has rung the changes in response to last weekend's result. Jack O'Connor and Declan Dalton will make their first championship starts alongside Horgan at full-forward while Colm Spillane, Luke Meade and Robbie O'Flynn return from injury or suspension (O'Flynn) to make five switches in all.
Christopher Joyce, Sean O’Leary Hayes, Daire Connery and Conor Lehane are on the bench while Alan Cadogan, who played 57 minutes against Waterford, isn't even in the 26.
Eamon Dillon scored 1-01 off the bench against Laois and added another four as a sub against Kilkenny, more or less forcing Kenny to include him. Dillon and Ronan Hayes - a goalscoring sub against the Cats - come in for Davy Keogh and Liam Rushe.
I's a sign of the most competitive-looking Dublin attack in years that veteran Conal Keaney hasn't appeared at all and Liam Rushe has played around an hour in total.
Donal Burke (1-28, 18f) and Chris Crummey (1-04) have also led the way in the scoring stakes while captain Danny Sutcliffe and Cian Boland scored from play in both games.
Halloween has passed but we might see more fireworks yet.
Cork: Anthony Nash; Damien Cahalane, Colm Spillane, Sean O'Donoghue; Tim O’Mahony, Robert Downey, Mark Coleman; Bill Cooper, Luke Meade; Seamus Harnedy, Shane Kingston, Robbie O’Flynn; Jack O’Connor, Declan Dalton, Patrick Horgan.
Dublin: Alan Nolan; Paddy Smyth, Eoghan O'Donnell, James Madden; Conor Burke, Daire Gray, Cian O'Callaghan; Sean Moran, Riain McBride; Cian Boland, Chris Crummey, Danny Sutcliffe; Donal Burke, Ronan Hayes, Eamonn Dillon.
Crunch time in Joe McDonagh Cup
Carlow play Meath on Saturday with both teams in dire need of points. Kerry are out in front with two wins from two and Antrim are second after they needed a dramatic levelling goal with the last puck of the game last week to share the spoils with Carlow.
That was Carlow's first match of the competition and defensive frailties aside it will surely stand to them as they prepare to face a Meath team who were convincingly beaten 1-20 to 0-13 by Kerry in their only game to date.
Carlow’s top scorers were the Kavanagh brothers Marty and Jack with 0-11 between them and Chris Nolan who bagged 0-05 from play. Pádraic O’Hanrahan top scored for Meath last time out with 0-08, 0-06 from frees and a '65’.
All eyes on Offaly in Christy Ring Cup
All eyes are on Offaly, Liam MacCarthy Cup champions in 1998 and finalists in 2000, who now find themselves in hurling’s third tier and who had to hand a walk over to Kildare in the opening phase of the competition due to Covid complications.
Managed by Kilkenny great Michael Fennelly they need Eoghan Cahill to continue his razor sharp shooting form of the league and meet a hard-working Derry team who looked well capable of beating Down last week but had to play the final 20 minutes with 14 men after a red card and lost out 1-13 to 0-13.
On Sunday, Roscommon meet a Sligo team who have had two years of solid and steady progress up through hurling’s ranks. The Covid outbreak which has kept the county footballers out of the Championship also forced Sligo hurlers to forfeit their opening game against Derry. Roscommon lost their first game to Wicklow 2-19 to 3-14 but were unlucky not to record a stunning comeback victory having trailed 2-11 to 0-04 at one point.
Nickey Rackard Cup
It’s D-Day for teams in the Nickey Rackard Cup. Leitrim were 1-21 to 0-12 adrift of Armagh in their last game and facing a Longford side who gave a fancied Donegal a huge scare before losing 2-13 to 1-14.
Monaghan and Tyrone meet with both sides having suffered heavy defeats at the hands of Mayo in the last two weeks – 25 points and 18 points respectively. Tyrone earlier in the season when the sides met in the Allianz League.
Lory Meagher Cup
A place in the final against Fermanagh is the prize as Cavan and Louth meet on Sunday. Cavan failed to halt a late flurry of Fermanagh points and had a 1-13 to 0-16 draw with the Erne men last weekend. A week earlier two dramatic late goals had given Fermanagh a 3-10 to 1-15 win over Louth.
