FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Division 2A
Kildare v Carlow, Manguard Hawkfield Centre of Excellence, 8pm
SATURDAY
Division 1A
Waterford v Kilkenny, Walsh Park, 3pm
Offaly v Clare, Birr, 3pm
Wexford v Cork, Chadwicks Wexford Park, 3pm
Division 1B
Galway v Limerick, Pearse Stadium, 1.15pm
Antrim v Tipperary, Corrigan Park, 3pm
Dublin v Westmeath, Parnell Park, 3pm
Division 2A
Down v Meath, McKenna Park, 2pm
Laois v Kerry, Laois Hire O'Moore Park, 2pm
Division 3A
Armagh v Louth, BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, 1pm
Cavan v Monaghan, Kingspan Breffni, 1pm
Sligo v Mayo, Kent Park, 1pm
Division 3B
Fermanagh v Longford, Brewster Park, 2.30pm
Warwickshire v Lancashire, Páirc na hÉireann, 2.30pm
SUNDAY
Division 2B
Derry v Roscommon, Owenbeg, 1pm
Donegal v London, O'Donnell Park, 1pm
Tyrone v Wicklow, Dungannon, 1pm
ONLINE
Live blogs each day on RTÉ Sport Online and RTÉ News app.
RADIO
Live commentaries and updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport, and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta's Spórt an tSathairn and Spórt an Lae.
TV
Saturday afternoon will see coverage of the clash of Galway and Limerick on RTÉ1 and RTÉ Player from 1pm.
BBC iPlayer and GAAGO are showing the Belfast meeting of Antrim and Tipperary on Saturday from 3pm.
Highlights and reaction to all the weekend's action on Allianz League Sunday, RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, 9.30pm.
WEATHER
Saturday: A wet day with overnight rain extending nationwide during the morning; persisting for much of the day. Rather breezy too with moderate to fresh southeasterly winds. Highs of 9 to 13 degrees, coolest across the north.
Sunday: Damp locally to begin, however overall a lot of dry weather is expected with sunny spells and scattered showers, some heavy ones possible. A mild day with highs of 12 to 14 or 15 degrees in no more than moderate southwest breezes.
For more, see met.ie.
A big final round of hurling before the knockout stages, not only in deciding who will make the semi-finals and finals, but also where teams will be placed in next season’s restructured divisions.
Quick reminder: The top three in 1A and 1B will form next year’s Division 1A along with the best fourth-placed team.
Division 1B will contain the remaining five teams and the top two sides from Division 2A.
Division 2 will feature third to sixth from this year’s 2A and the top three from 2B.
Division 3 will have the sides who finish fourth to sixth in 2B and the top four in 3A.
Division 4 will have the bottom two in Division 3A and the five teams currently in 3B.
As it’s the final round of fixtures, it’s time to get the pen out and scribble down some permutations, sure to be corrected later by those waiting to pounce on social media.
Seven remain in the hunt
Across Division 1A and 1B, seven teams could yet find themselves in a league semi-final, so there’s plenty to play for in round five.
Clare and Limerick hold two-point leads in their respective divisions, but they could yet miss out.
In 1A, if the Banner lose in Offaly and Kilkenny and Wexford pick up wins over Waterford and Cork respectively – and those wins are by a few points – then Clare will drop to third as all three will end up on seven points and scoring difference will likely see them miss out.
As Kilkenny have the head-to-head advantage on fourth-placed Cork, bettering Wexford’s result will guarantee them a semi-final spot. Wexford, meanwhile, need to win and hope that Clare or Kilkenny slip up and overturn a four-point scoring deficit to the Banner.
Cork can still take second spot and the semi-final that goes with it. They’ll need to beat Wexford and hope for a Waterford win over Kilkenny though.
In 1B, Limerick lead the way with four wins from four and have one firm foot in the semi-finals, but their shoelaces could still get caught in the door.
If they lose in Galway and Tipperary win in Belfast, those three teams will finish level on eight points and the two teams with the best scoring difference will progress.
Limerick (+52) and Galway (+56) are in a much better situation than Tipp (+22) on that front, but the Premier County will be expected to rack up a very big tally against an Antrim side who just look like they want to be put out of their misery. The Saffrons will be without young star forward Joe McLaughlin as he is on schools’ duty in the Paddy Buggy Cup final as Garron Tower take on Blackwater Community School, also on Saturday.
If Limerick win in Galway, even a draw would be enough for Tipp to reach the last four.
Little drama in placings finale
With the league restructuring next season and a genuine top division set to come into play – only teams in 1A will compete for the Division 1 title – a frantic finale was anticipated, but it will be far from the case.
Dublin’s poor league form, their one win a smash-and-grab win over Antrim, has killed off any real tension in 1B. They could still nab that best fourth-place finish, but need a wonderful set of results.
Firstly they’d need to beat Westmeath and hope Cork lose to Wexford. Even then it may not be enough with a 61-point scoring difference between the sides. Westmeath could also do likewise if they beat Dublin and the Rebels falter, but their scoring difference is even worse than Dublin’s.
In 1A, Waterford’s run of narrow defeats have ended their hopes of playing in the top tier next season. Davy Fitzgerald’s side have lost to Clare, Wexford and Kilkenny by a combined six points.
Friday night lights
An unusual fixture appears this weekend as Kildare host Carlow on Friday night in their Division 2A clash.
It’ll be the first league game - by our reckoning anyway - played on a Friday since the football fixture between Armagh and Down back in 2014 when both sides probably spent the rest of the weekend in their sick beds anyway given the torrential rain.
Tom Mulally’s Carlow have already booked a home final so John Michael Nolan, Conor Lawlor and James Doyle, all withdrawn in last week’s win over Down, will have little chance of being risked, nor will anyone who has anything resembling a niggle.
Kildare are one of four teams chasing the second semi-final spot so they’ll be hoping Carlow go as experimental as possible.
Laois too have nothing to play for as they are guaranteed to finish second, so that could be good for a Kerry side who are above bottom-placed Meath on the head-to-head rule.
Down are feeling a bit glum after last week’s loss to Carlow when a few big decisions went against them. Meath are coming to Ballycran, which is a bit of a fortress, and with Kildare playing the night before, they will at least know what they have to do to reach the semi.
Semi-final spots up for grabs
Given their earlier win over Donegal, Derry will be in the Division 2B final, it’s just a matter of who joins them.
Donegal’s home tie with London is a shoot-out essentially for second, but both could still go through if they draw or Derry and Wicklow win their games with Roscommon and Tyrone.
The Garden County sit bottom on two points, not surprising after their managerial hijinks that saw Casey O’Brien step away and Jonathan 'Bosco’ O’Neill appointed six days before their first game.
They do have one longshot route to a league semi-final. They’d need to beat Tyrone, hope for a Donegal win and a Derry-Roscommon draw. After that it would simply be turning around a 38-point scoring difference across those matches...
Connacht and Cavan on the march
The Connacht duo of Mayo and Sligo are guaranteed at least a semi-final spot in Division 3A, and it’s up to the rest to fight for that final knock-out position.
If its Cavan who claim it – and a home win over Monaghan would do it – then it would continue an excellent lower-league hurling story.
The Breffni men, of course, went six years without fielding a team before appearing in the 2017 Lory Meagher Cup and returning to league action the following season.
They’ve made great strides since, winning 3B last year and back-to-back promotions is still on the cards for Ollie Bellew’s side.
Armagh were one of the fancied picks for this division but sit dead last and must beat Louth to avoid the wooden spoon and possibly Division Four hurling in 2025.
Top two battle it out
Fermanagh host Longford in Division 3B this weekend and a draw or a win would be enough for the Erne County to head straight to the final. The visitors require both points on offer.
Leitrim have a watching brief this weekend, and a draw between English sides Warwickshire and Lancashire would be the perfect result.
A Lancashire win would also do as they enjoy head-to-head advantage over them, but any sort of Warwickshire win sees them claim the second semi-final spot.
Watch Galway v Limerick (hurling) and Galway v Dublin (football) on Saturday from 1pm on RTÉ One 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
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