SATURDAY 31 JANUARY
Division 1A
Galway v Cork, Pearse Stadium, 7pm
Division 1B
Dublin v Kildare, Parnell Park, 7.30pm
Division 3
Louth v Tyrone, Darver, 2pm
Donegal v Fermanagh, O'Donnell Park, 2.30pm
Division 4
Lancashire v Monaghan, Abbotstown, 2pm
Leitrim v Sligo, Páirc Sean MacDiarmada, 2pm
Longford v Cavan, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 2pm
SUNDAY 1 FEBRUARY
Division 1A
Offaly v Tipperary, Glenisk O'Connor Park, 2pm
Waterford v Limerick, Walsh Park, 2pm
Division 1B
Antrim v Clare, Cushendall, 1pm
Down v Wexford, McKenna Park, 2pm
Division 2
Laois v Derry, Laois Hire O'Moore Park, 1pm
London v Mayo, Ruislip, 1pm
Kerry v Westmeath, Austin Stack Park, 2pm
Division 3
Wicklow v Armagh, Aughrim, 2pm
ONLINE
Follow our live blog on Saturday and Sunday on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport.
TV
TG4 have live coverage of Galway v Cork from Salthill on Saturday evening (7pm throw-in).
On Sunday, Antrim v Clare is live on GAA+ (1pm throw-in), while Waterford-Limerick is screened live on the TG4 app from 2pm.
Highlights and reaction to all the weekend's action on Allianz League Sunday, RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, 9.30pm.
RADIO
Live commentaries and updates on RTÉ Radio 1's on Sunday Sport as well as Spórt an Lae on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.
WEATHER
Saturday: A cloudy start to the day with lingering patches of rain and drizzle. Any rain will slowly clear through the day with scattered showers and sunny spells following from the southwest. Highest temperatures of 7 to 11 degrees in light to moderate southwesterly or variable winds.
Sunday: The day will start off quite cloudy with scattered outbreaks of rain and drizzle. The rain will clear northeastwards through the day with sunny spells and isolated showers following. Highest temperatures of 7 to 10 degrees in light to moderate northwesterly winds. for more go to met.ie.
Weekend programme up in the air
Given that large swathes of the country are wading through a foot of water, with more heavy rain promised at the time of writing, we don't yet know whether this preview will be of any use to anyone.
Our friends at Met Éireann indicate that the rain will ease off and even disappear by the weekend, though pitches have taken a heavy battering in recent days, particularly in the east of the country.
Across the top two tiers, the games in Antrim, Waterford and Dublin could be the most vulnerable.
Cork braced for more bruising test in Salthill
The main event in Round 2 is the meeting of Galway and Cork in Salthill.
Losing to Tipp in hurling and Mayo in football sounds like most Galway GAA fans' idea of a fairly hellish weekend and yet the aftermath has been largely free of recrimination and marked by much positivity.
Last year, Micheál Donoghue made his long-awaited return to the Galway post by picking a very experimental line-up for their league opener at home to Tipperary. The resultant heavy beating forced the manager to send for the veterans quickly and set the tone for what was a rather mediocre season.
The contrast with last weekend was pretty stark, with Galway's new-look side unfortunate to lose out against the All-Ireland champions in Thurles.
The failure of successful underage sides to make the leap from minor to senior is one of the perpetual sorrows of Galway hurling - and the four-in-a-row minor team of 2017-20 were regarded as having performed the greatest disappearing act of them all.
However, the current crop of Under-20s, who ironically blew a game against Dublin in last year's Leinster championship in shocking fashion, look primed to take the baton.
The attack contained four of the newish crop, Rory Burke, Jason Rabbitte, Aaron Niland and Darragh Neary, all of whom caught the eye. Rabbitte, in particular, looks like a more wiry version of his father Joe, though in all other respects appears a carbon copy. The Athenry youngster has the making of a formidable target man with deft skills.
Galway could well have won the game but for wild shooting and the heavy free count against them. Donoghue was frustrated by the lop-sided stats on the frees, although much of this was attributable to clumsy and over-eager tackling. On the other hand, there was a blatant pick up off the ground missed in the lead-up to Tipp's lead score, pointed by Conor Stakelum.
The Ben O'Connor era got off to a breezily encouraging start last Sunday afternoon.
A fleet-footed Cork barely had a glove laid on them by a Waterford side fatally hampered by the absence of the Ballygunner contingent and Stephen Bennett.
The game essentially felt over after when Cork raced into a 0-10 to 0-01 start in jig-time, with nine points whizzed over from their first nine shots. The scoring rate inevitably tapered off a bit as the game wore on.
In the absence of Hurler of the Year nominee Brian Hayes and the retired Patrick Horgan - who'll be absent going forward - the Cork full-forward line rustled up 3-10 between them.
Debutant William Buckley and the repositioned Declan Dalton registered 1-04 apiece, with Alan Connolly accounting for 1-02.
Certainly, there was little evidence of lingering trauma from last July. On this week's RTÉ GAA pod, Michael Duignan was sufficiently impressed by the display to proclaim that last year's All-Ireland final disaster is already out of their system.
Saturday evening in Pearse Stadium, however, should prove to be less pleasant a runout.
Limerick poised to begin again
The Waterford News & Star is under no illusions about this one, with their match preview running under the downbeat headline 'Wounded Waterford unlikely to topple Limerick'.
Peter Queally's under-strength side were barely a speed-bump in Cork's way last Sunday, conceding 3-25 and scoring just 0-07 from play themselves.
Having again missed out on progression from the Munster round robin in 2025, last weekend's first competitive outing can't have done much for overall morale.
Ballygunner's post-All-Ireland wind-down means they're still without Dessie Hutchinson, Paddy Leavy, Ian Kenny and Patrick Fitzgerald. Stephen Bennett is still tending to his body as the season begins.
De La Salle's Rueben Halloran carried the scoring burden, hitting 0-13, three of which came from play.
The last time Limerick came to Walsh Park, the hosts were emboldened by a victory over Clare in their first outing. The six-point loss in a drab game killed any sense of momentum and the season ended with another Munster SHC exit.
Limerick's much-changed side won the recent Munster League final between the pair, with Aidan O'Connor and Shane O'Brien the leading lights in the forward line.
On Wednesday, O'Brien blasted 0-08 as Mary Immaculate College beat UCD to reach the Fitzgibbon semis.
In the pre-season, John Kiely gave chances to the likes of Darragh Langan, John English and the Fitzgerald brothers from Monaleen, Maurice and Joe. Established players like Cathal O'Neill and Adam English came on after half-time and lobbed over points.
In the wake of last summer's shock quarter-final exit, there's a sense that Limerick are seeking some renewal, with several of their most decorated players having heavy mileage on the clock.
Duignan certainly anticipates we could see a very different Limerick team this time around.
Will 2026 spell a new look for Limerick? Michael Duignan feels change could be positive 🟢⚪️.
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) January 29, 2026
'I was saying for the last two or three years, Limerick maybe needed to be freshening up the team.' 🗣
🎧 https://t.co/3QdGTK3Dks
Or wherever... https://t.co/12rlCO45dF#rtegaa #gaa pic.twitter.com/lPypdk7K3X
Offaly were highly competitive in their league opener in Nowlan Park last week, albeit against a very depleted Kilkenny outfit.
Johnny Kelly's side have enough injuries to contend with themselves, with captain Charlie Mitchell, Killian Sampson and Ciaran Burke all ruled out.
The manager was severely annoyed to lose Donal Shirley to a quad injury midway through the first half, Kelly having the obligatory pop at the crowded calendar afterwards by noting that his centre-back had played a Fitzgibbon Cup game on astroturf three days earlier.
A county with greater playing resources than Offaly might have been able to give him a rest. In Kilkenny, Adam Screeney hit 0-09 overall, three from play, while Pat Taaffe was impressive at corner-back.
The All-Ireland champions and their 43-man squad descend on Tullamore for Round 2.
The last time they met in competitive action was a hair-raising experience for the hosts. Tipp hit 7-38 in the 2023 All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final. The peculiar context of the post-Joe McDonagh final preliminary quarter-finals were probably some factor in the scoreline and Offaly had developed further since then.
1B running on expected lines
Unbackable favourites Clare have already navigated what is perceived as their most difficult test in the second tier against Dublin, even if they needed a late Tony Kelly goal to get the job done.
Brian Lohan's side was second fiddle for the opening half hour, until David Reidy and Peter Duggan plundered goals in the last five minutes of the half.
For Round 2, they have to make the torturously long trip to Antrim. The hosts haven't made it any easier by fixing the game for Cushendall. It was originally to take place in Dunloy but there are concerns that the playing surface there might not be fit for action. It remains to be seen whether the Cushendall pitch will prove any more resilient.
One assumes that Clare won't be offering the opposition manager a spot on their bus for the journey up. The feud between Lohan and Davy Fitzgerald appears to have out-lasted the media's interest in discussing it.
Fitzgerald was a ball of fury after his side's agonising last-gasp defeat away to a highly vulnerable Wexford side in the (distinctly un-sunny) south-east last Saturday.
Thomas Walsh borrowed from the FRC template by marching a last-second free forward for dissent and Mark Fanning buried it to the net for a one-point win for the home side. Close-up videos caught Fitzgerald in the midst of an understandable, Basil Fawlty-esque spasm of rage after his team were denied the win.
Whether the scoreline was a reflection of Antrim's improvement or Wexford's current weakness remains to be seen.
Keith Rossiter's side, who had a miserable enough year last season, have been hit by a wave of opt-outs and injuries. They should, however, have too much for Down this weekend, the northerners having shipped a 10-point loss in Dr Cullen Park.
The weekend's other game sees Joe McDonagh champions Kildare play their league opener away to Dublin in Parnell Park. Brian Dowling's side had a decent pre-season, entering the Walsh Cup shield on a coin toss, beating Antrim and then losing by a narrow enough margin to Kilkenny.
Saturday evening will be Kildare's first game in Division 1B - or an equivalent - since their relegation in 1980. The 1B nomenclature had more justification in those days given that the top two tiers still fed into the same knockout phase.
Div 2 at a glance...
An early indication that Laois and Kerry may be too tall for their surroundings, the pair registering 29 and 26-point wins respectively over Mayo and Derry.
Westmeath, the other promotion contenders, are in Tralee for a pivotal game on Sunday.
