SATURDAY 1 FEBRUARY
Allianz Hurling League Division 1A
Cork v Limerick, SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 7.30pm
Division 2
Derry v Down, Owenbeg, 2pm
Kildare v Kerry, Cedral St Conleth's Park, Newbridge, 1pm
Division 3
Wicklow v London, Echelon Park Aughrim, 1pm
Cavan v Sligo, Kingspan Breffni, 3pm
Division 4
Monaghan v Louth, Emyvale, 2pm
SUNDAY 2 FEBRUARY
Division 1A
Tipperary v Wexford, FBD Semple Stadium, Thurles, 3.45pm
Kilkenny v Galway, UPMC Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, 1.45pm
Division 1B
Antrim v Westmeath, Corrigan Park, Belfast, 2pm
Laois v Offaly, Laois Hire O'Moore Park, 2pm
Carlow v Waterford, Netwatch Cullen Park, Carlow, 2pm
Division 2
Donegal v Tyrone, O'Donnell Park, Letterkenny, 2pm
Division 3
Roscommon v Armagh, King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park, 1pm
Division 4
Warwickshire v Lancashire, Páirc na hÉireann, Birmingham, 2pm
Fermanagh v Longford, Brewster Park, 1pm
ONLINE
Live blogs each day on RTÉ Sport Online and RTÉ News app.
TV
On Saturday, Cork v Limerick is live on the TG4 Player and deferred on TV from 9.15pm.
On Sunday, Kilkenny v Galway is live on the TG4 Player and deferred on TV from 4.30pm. The BBC Player will stream Antrim v Westmeath in Northern Ireland.
Highlights from the weekend on Allianz League Sunday from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
RADIO
Live commentaries and updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport.
WEATHER
Saturday: Breezy and rather dull on Saturday with outbreaks of light rain or drizzle mainly in the west and south. Heavier, more persistent rain will move into the west and southwest by evening. Highest temperatures of 8-12C in a moderate to fresh southerly wind.
Sunday: Wet in the east on Sunday morning. The rain will quickly clear eastwards leaving dry and bright conditions for the rest of the day, but some cloud and drizzle may linger near the southeast coast. Highest temperatures of 8-10C with light west to southwest winds.
For more, visit met.ie.
Division 1A:
There's no debating what the game of the weekend is: Limerick make their first appearance since the five-in-a-row dream died last July, against the team that killed it: Cork.
Confusion has been widespread that the game won't be live on linear TV - main rights holders TG4 are now streaming it, with a deferred broadcast, having chosen to show the football clash between Donegal and Dublin at the same time (7.30pm) instead. Contractually, RTÉ could only have broadcast the match in the earlier evening slot; hosts Cork were not keen on switching to a time that would have clashed with Ireland v England in the Six Nations.
Hopes are high that the match itself will be as hearty as the debate around coverage. A crowd of around 25,000 is expected at the Páirc for the old-school way of viewing what is a rematch of the All-Ireland semi-final, and the dramatic Munster round-three clash that saved the Rebels' season after defeats to Waterford and Clare.
Last year, Limerick couldn't beat Cork, Cork couldn't beat Clare and Clare couldn't beat Limerick, with the end result being the Banner lifting Liam MacCarthy.
John Kiely's men will no doubt have had their hunger sharpened by their first season without a national title since 2017 - though a historic sixth Munster in a row was decent as consolation prizes go.
Graeme Mulcahy and Richie English have retired while Nickie Quaid is out for the season. Former All-Star forward Shane Dowling has made a stunning return as a goalkeeper but it is Jason Gillane, younger brother of Aaron, who starts between the sticks on Saturday night.
A line-up featuring just six of the XV who started the last meeting with the Rebels - Seán Finn, Dan Morrissey, Diarmuid Byrnes, Kyle Hayes, Gearóid Hegarty and captain Cian Lynch - suggests that recapturing the league crown is not a top priority but this is a competition that Limerick have often started slowly before gaining momentum.
Dowling, Seamus Flanagan, Aaron Gillane and David Reidy are on the bench.
Pat Ryan has made four changes from the team that thrashed Wexford. Captain Rob Downey and Seán O'Donoghue (groin) picked up injuries while Declan Dalton misses the first match of a two-game suspension after being sent off for an altercation with Rory O'Connor last weekend. Eoin Roche, Ciarán Joyce, Ethan Twomey and Alan Connolly come in with Brian Roche dropping to the bench.
Eoin Downey, Mark Coleman and the evergreen Patrick Horgan are among the replacements.
Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O'Leary, Ger Milleri ck, Eoin Roche; Ciarán Joyce, Luke Meade, Cormac O’Brien; Tim O’Mahony, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Ethan Twomey, Shane Kingston, Shane Barrett; Brian Hayes, Pádraig Power, Alan Connolly.
Limerick: Jason Gillane; Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Barry Murphy; Diarmaid Byrnes, Kyle Hayes, Colin Coughlan; Adam English, William O'Donoghue; Gearoid Hegarty, Cian Lynch, Aidan O'Connor; Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Shane O'Brien, Patrick O'Donovan.
It probably won't get any easier this weekend for depleted Wexford as they travel to Semple Stadium to take on Tipperary on Sunday.
On top of the retirements of long-time stalwarts like Diarmuid O'Keeffe, Matthew O'Hanlon and Liam Óg McGovern, Keith Rossiter has to deal with injuries to Conor McDonald, Liam Ryan, Damien Reck and Jack O'Connor. Lee Chin is travelling and Rory O'Connor will be suspended for that clash with Dalton, unless his appeal is successful.
Wexford managed only 0-12 last week, and all but five of those points were frees from Cian Byrne.
Liam Cahill's side had a much more positive start, racking up 3-25 in a comfortable win over the Tribesmen as several players impressed on their senior debuts, including Dylan Walsh (1-03 from play).
🚨🚨 Tipp Strike Again
— The GAA (@officialgaa) January 26, 2025
Ronan Maher sends the ball in towards Dylan Walsh who makes no mistake for @TipperaryGAA's third goal
3⃣🙌#AllianzLeagues #GAANOW pic.twitter.com/vdFmN2h8Ab
Galway will also have early relegation concerns - two from seven go down under the new format - unless they can come away with something from Nowlan Park.
In the first game of his second stint as manager, Micheál Donoghue's under-strength side were somewhat fortunate to only lose by 12 points at home last weekend.
However, he will have been heartened by the efforts of the four debutants, Seán Murphy, Michael Garvey, Oisín Lohan (0-03) and Rory Burke, who scored four frees.
Donoghue insisted afterwards that his focus is more on rebuilding the team than results at the moment and expecting anything away to a Kilkenny side that won in Ennis for the first time in a decade and had Martin Keoghan in flying form (0-05 from play) might be optimistic.
The Banner are on a bye-week.
Division 1B: Déise to shuffle the deck
Three teams make their seasonal bows on Sunday after Westmeath v Laois fell victim to the weather last weekend.
The Lake County travel to meet an Antrim team that will be smarting from a double-scores trimming (1-25 to 0-14) to Dublin, when Niall O'Connor and Conor Johnston were forced out with injuries.
Davy Fitzgerald will hope that Corrigan Park remains the fortress it has been in recent seasons.
Conal Cunning (ACL) is out for the season and though James McNaughton was an able replacement on the frees, only he and Niall McKenna managed two or more points from play.
Seoirse Bulfin, who was part of Fitzgerald's management team in Wexford, takes charge of Westmeath in a competitive game for the first time; he took over in July after quitting the Meath hot seat at the end of March.
Laois host Offaly, in what is the neighbours' first meeting since the Faithful County's dramatic Joe McDonagh Cup final triumph last June.
Johnny Kelly will expect more from the his team, who gave up a late equalising free at home to Carlow first day out. Charlie Mitchell was their top scorer from play with four points.
Former Laois hurler and selector Tommy Fitzgerald takes charge of his county for the first time after Darren Gleeson stepped away due to illness.
Waterford begin life without Davy with a trip to Netwatch Cullen Park.
Fitzgerald's former selector Peter Queally is already planning without Calum Lyons, Jack Fagan, Colin Dunford and Neil Montgomery, who are all abroad, while the returning Austin Gleeson (calf), new captain Dessie Hutchinson (shoulder), Conor Prunty (shoulder), Tadhg de Búrca, Stephen Bennett (hip) and Darragh Lyons (groin) are all out.
That could complicate the expected promotion push, and Carlow will be confident at home after Marty Kavanagh's 12 frees secured that point last week, but Queally insists it is "a great opportunity for some of our younger fellas".
In Division 2, promotion hopefuls Down travel to Derry after both teams won their first games: the Mourne men at home to Kildare and The Oak Leafers away to Tyrone, who play Donegal on Sunday. Kerry make their first appearance of the campaign in Newbridge while Meath are off.
In Division 3, week one's two winners Wicklow and London face off at Echelon Park Aughrim. Cavan get their season underway at home to Sligo, beaten by the Garden County, after last week's postponement but a bye week means Mayo won't play their first match until next weekend. Roscommon will aim to get back on track against Armagh, playing their opener, after defeat in London.
In Division 4, Monaghan make their bow against a Louth side who were the biggest winners of the first weekend with a nine-point margin over Fermanagh. The Erne County face Longford, who edged Warwickshire last week, while it's an England derby between Warwickshire and Lancashire in Birmingham. Leitrim, who beat Lancashire in Dublin, have the weekend off.
