SATURDAY 10 February
Division 1 Group A
Wexford v Offaly, Chadwicks Wexford Park, 5pm
Cork v Kilkenny, Pairc Uí Chaoimh, 7.30pm
Division 2A
Down v Kerry, Ballycran, 1pm
Division 2B
Donegal v Derry, Letterkenny, 2.30pm
Division 3A
Cavan v Louth, Kingspan Breffni, 2pm
Division 3B
Longford v Warwickshire, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 1pm
Leitrim v Fermanagh, Ballinamore, 2pm
SUNDAY 11 February
Division 1 Group A
Waterford v Clare, Walsh Park, 1.45pm
Division 1 Group B
Tipperary v Galway, FBD Semple Stadium, 3.45pm
Westmeath v Limerick, TEG Cusack Park, 2pm
Antrim v Dublin, Corrigan Park, 1.45pm
Division 2A
Carlow v Meath, Netwatch Cullen Park, 2pm
Kildare v Laois, Hawkfield, 2pm
Division 2B
London v Wicklow, Ruislip, 1pm
Tyrone v Roscommon, Carrickmore, 2pm
Division 3A
Armagh v Sligo, BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, 2pm
Monaghan v Mayo, Castleblayney, 2pm
ONLINE
Live blogs each day on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app.
RADIO
Live commentaries and updates from around the grounds on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday and Sunday Sport.
TV
Live coverage of Cork v Kilkenny on RTÉ2 on Saturday evening from 7pm [7.30pm throw-in]. TG4 will broadcast live coverage of Wexford v Offaly on Saturday [5pm throw-in].
On Sunday, TG4 will broadcast live coverage of Waterford v Clare [1.45pm throw-in] and Tipperary v Galway [3.45pm]. Afterwards, TG4 will broadcast deferred coverage of Antrim v Dublin from Corrigan Park.
Highlights and reaction to all the weekend's action on Allianz League Sunday, RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, 9.30pm.
WEATHER
Saturday: Showers in southern areas at first, extending over much of the country through the afternoon with spot flooding possible. The best of the dry weather along with any sunny spells will be in the north and northwest. Highest temperatures of 7 to 10 degrees in mostly light to moderate variable winds but with a fresher northwesterly wind developing in the southwest.
Sunday: Fog, frost and ice clearing in the morning to leave a day of sunny spells and scattered showers, most frequent over the western half of the country where some of the showers will turn wintry. Highest temperatures of 6 to 9 degrees in moderate to fresh west to southwest winds. For more, visit met.ie.
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TABLES
Division 1 Group A
Division 1 Group B
Clash under lights in Páirc Uí Chaoimh
In the league, teams don't have the option of refusing a trip to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh and so the scenic but logistically challenging venue will host a humdinger of a league clash under lights on Saturday evening.
Cork's need for a result became more acute following their loss in Cusack Park last weekend. There were optimistic noises in Cork ahead of the league, following their decent but unrewarded series of displays in the 2023 Munster campaign.
Their half-back line, a much lamented weak point for so long, is emerging as one of the strengths of the time, with Ciaran Joyce and Tommy O'Connell continuing to establish themselves as key players.
In Round 1, Kilkenny appeared set for another defeat against their [modern] bogey team Wexford until Billy Drennan's introduction with 20 minutes remaining. The 20-year old corner forward hit 2-03, albeit all from placed balls to turn the game.
They were on the brink of victory until Eoin Murphy repelled Lee Chin's fizzer of a shot, but Wexford replacement Cian Byrne swept home on the rebound to rescue a draw.
Their experience in the new Páirc Uí Chaoimh hasn't been too encouraging. They were battered in last year's League decider by the All-Ireland champions and previously lost by four to Cork in the 2022 league semi-final.
O'Shea returns to old haunt
On Sunday afternoon, Tipperary and Galway will rattle into one another for the seven millionth time and much of the focus will be on the presence of Eamon O'Shea in the Galway management team.
O'Shea's arrival into the Galway set-up had been touted so long, it might have been assumed by now it would never happen. The former Tipp player and manager had been living in the west for many years, as head of the Economics department at the University of Galway.
The fact that his son Donal - an All-Ireland minor champion in 2018 - has for a few years been on the fringes of the Galway panel might also have encouraged his involvement.
While O'Shea's three-year stint as numero uno in Tipp between 2013 and 2015 failed to yield an All-Ireland title - though the county did play their part in perhaps the greatest of all All-Ireland finals in the drawn 2014 decider - he has been hailed as a coaching maestro under Liam Sheedy for the successes of 2010 and 2019. O'Shea was particularly celebrated for his influence on Tipp's famously fluid forward play in the late 2000s and again in 2019.
Last September, it was disclosed that O'Shea would be coming on board alongside Henry Shefflin for the 2024 season. Given his bona fides, one can assume a large part of the brief will be to extract more from Galway's highly talented but at times individualistic forward line. They created a welter of goal chances against Westmeath - only converting four of them partly thanks to the heroics of tracksuited stopper Noel Conaty - but the calibre of opposition means we can't draw much from it.
They face a Tipp team on whom they inflicted a "two-point hammering" [the phrase was used heavily after the game] in last summer's All-Ireland quarter-final in the Gaelic Grounds.
Liam Cahill's side tore into the league last year, winning four group games, before all that promise eventually fizzled out down the back end of the Munster championship. One conclusion was that they failed to time their run properly and had refused to phone it in during the league, as many others had.
The evidence of last weekend is that Cahill and co haven't taken this lesson. Tipp were purring early on in Parnell Park, racking up 0-11 inside 14 minutes, most of it from play. Jake Morris was especially potent, hitting 1-04, while Cashel's Eoghan Connolly impressed at midfield.
With the league a touch less attritional or perilous for the top sides in Group B, finding new players will be the primary objective. For the westerners, Clarinbridge's Gavin Lee looked like a potential championship starter on the limited evidence of last Saturday.
Waterford-Clare
The Davy Fitz-Lohan narrative has chugged along for so long, with no evidence of a thawing in relations, at least from Lohan's side, that there's isn't much left to say on it. We'll park it there.
Clare's effort in the league was cursory in both 2022 and 2023 before they embarked on big Munster championship campaigns. With Tony Kelly sitting out the league after undergoing surgery at Christmas and Shane O'Donnell, as before, resting in spring-time, there was little to assume 2024 would be any different.
However, the imperative of breaking into the top three may have encouraged a different attitude. They began with a victory in Ennis over Cork last week, Seadna Morey hitting 1-01 off the bench, while David Fitzgerald and Robin Mounsey clipped over a couple of points apiece from play.
Waterford were flattered by their margin of victory away to Offaly in Round 1, benefitting from the hosts' first-half profligacy in front of goal.
Despite three first-half goals, two of them from Stephen Bennett, their lead was even whittled down to three points in the second half, before Leon Fox's sending off and a succession of frees from Bennett saw them stretch it out in the finish.
All told, the league is of limited interest to a Waterford team, who need a big Munster SHC campaign after four successive flops in the round robin format.
Division 2A: Carlow make statement
The Joe McDonagh champions won handsomely in Tralee, leaving themselves in pole position for the Division 2A campaign.
Chris Nolan and Martin Kavanagh hit 1-06 and 1-04 from play respectively as they ran out 12-point winners against a side who traditionally challenged strongly at this level.
They'll be big favourites at home to Meath, who themselves had a decent opening-day win against neighbours Kildare in Navan.
Debutant Jer Quinlan hit 1-03 as Laois had to dig in to hold off a spirited Down in Portlaoise. They're away to Kildare in Hawkfield this weekend, while Down host Kerry in Ballycran in a game available to those with access to the BBC iPlayer.
Watch Cork v Kilkenny in the Allianz Hurling League on Saturday from 7.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to updates on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch highlights on Allianz League Sunday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 9.30pm, follow a live blog every Sunday afternoon on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live updates on Sunday Sport
