SATURDAY 7 FEBRUARY
Division 1A
Cork v Tipperary, SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 7.30pm
Division 1B
Wexford v Carlow, Chadwicks Wexford Park, 5.15pm
Division 2
Kerry v London, Austin Stack Park, 12.30pm
Derry v Mayo, Celtic Park, 1pm
Division 3
Armagh v Roscommon, BOX-it Athletic Grounds, 2.30pm
Division 4
Sligo v Lancashire, Enniscrone, 1pm
Monaghan v Longford, Inniskeen, 2pm
SUNDAY 8 FEBRUARY
Division 1A
Waterford v Offaly, Azzurri Walsh Park, 1.45pm
Limerick v Kilkenny, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 3.45pm
Division 1B
Clare v Down, Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, 1.30pm
Kildare v Antrim, Cedral St Conleth's Park, 2pm
Division 2
Westmeath v Meath, TEG Cusack Park, 2pm
Division 3
Fermanagh v Louth, Brewster Park, 2pm
Tyrone v Wicklow, O'Neill's Healy Park, 2pm
Division 4
Warwickshire v Leitrim, Páirc na hÉireann, 1pm
ONLINE
Follow our live blog on Saturday and Sunday on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport.
TV
Live coverage of Cork v Tipperary from Páirc Uí Chaoimh on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 7pm (7.30pm throw-in). Before that, TG4 will have live coverage of Wexford-Carlow on Saturday from 5pm.
TG4 have live coverage of Waterford-Offaly on Sunday (1.45pm throw-in), with Kildare-Antrim screened live on the TG4 app.
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: Cloud and patchy rain will persist in northern areas but it will become mainly dry elsewhere, however scattered heavy showers will affect the south and sunshine will be limited. Highest temperatures of 7 to 11 degrees with light and variable winds.
Sunday: Plenty of dry weather on Sunday with just isolated showers. After a cloudy and misty start with patches of fog, some sunny spells will develop through the afternoon. Highest temperatures of 7 to 11 degrees with light southerly or variable winds.
For more, visit met.ie.
Standing room only in Ballintemple
Only standing tickets remain for Saturday night's meeting of the 2025 All-Ireland finalists, with officials anticipating a record crowd for a standalone hurling league fixture.
A crowd of 25,000 is expected for the latest Cork-Tipperary dust-up, which will top the 23,402 attendance figure for last year's drawn game between Cork and Limerick in the same venue. A scan of the Ticketmaster website revealed that only City End tickets were available as of Friday afternoon - although that may be down to how the site chooses to distribute them.
As has been noted, Saturday night league games in Páirc Uí Chaoimh have become quite an event in the city and the demand this weekend indicates that interest hasn't been sapped by last summer's All-Ireland final implosion.
The opening two rounds of the league can only have had a regenerative effect, in that regard. The Munster champions easily accounted for Waterford in the opening round, whizzing over a flurry of points early on to effectively kill the game stone dead after 15 minutes.
Last weekend provided a very different test, although probably more satisfying for it. Cork overcame a poor start to dig out an away victory over Galway. Whereas it was the full-forward line who devastated Waterford, it was the half-forward line who carried the challenge in Salthill, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Shane Barrett and the ageless Seamus Harnedy scoring 0-13 from play between them.
The match was occasionally bad-tempered, with Cork giving away a whopping 21 frees and Mark Coleman and Rob Downey lucky to escape harsh sanction for loose swings.
Afterwards, Ben O'Connor's fire and brimstone rhetoric hogged the headlines, the Cork manager hitting upon every hurling hardman cliché in the book as he lashed out at the GAA hierarchy for seeking to sanitise the game in deference to "little Johnny's" over-anxious parents.
Like Cork, Tipp have won two from two and head south on maximum points. As is their wont, the All-Ireland champions piled on the goals against Offaly in Tullamore, Jason Forde hitting a hat-trick.
Liam Cahill gave several players who were overlooked last year a run in O'Connor Park, with Gearóid O'Connor returning to the starting line-up. Newcomer Jack Leamy, having struggled to make an impact against Galway, rustled up 0-03 from play in Round 2.
It's a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final and a huge crowd is expected at Páirc Uí Chaoimh – but for those who can’t be there, RTÉ will bring live coverage of Cork’s league clash with Tipperary on Saturday.
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) February 6, 2026
Live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player from 7pm. pic.twitter.com/r53wPZdp0n
The Tipp manager has made five changes for the trip to Cork, however, with Jake Morris, Sam O'Farrell, Darragh Stakelum and Oisín O'Donoghue back in the starting XV, while Rhys Shelly is back in goal in place of Barry Hogan.
In total, nine of the side that started last year's All-Ireland final are named to start, with John McGrath, Eoghan Connolly and Darragh McCarthy listed among the subs.
Now in his fourth league campaign as Tipperary boss, Cahill has presided over 16 wins from 18 regular league games - excluding semi-finals and finals - the two defeats coming against Limerick in 2024 and 2025.
Kilkenny head for Limerick after underwhelming opening
Aside from January's Munster league, Limerick have failed to win their last four competitive matches. The start of that particular run was a home Munster SHC loss to Clare in a fixture which may have mattered little to them. The second was the provincial final, which was only lost on penalties. The defeat to Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final was a jolt of an entirely different kind and far more consequential.
Waterford had been pencilled in as relegation favourites alongside Offaly before their victory last weekend. The game itself was a free-ridden affair on heavy ground, with passes struggling to stick and numerous rucks breaking out.
Some 1-13 of Waterford's 1-21 winning tally came from placed balls, 0-11 from Reuben Halloran, 0-02 from Billy Nolan, alongside Shane Bennett's penalty. After a bye-week in Round 1, John Kiely was inclined to attribute some of their sloppiness to ring-rust.
"We did look ring rusty at times today," Kiely told RTÉ Sport after the game.
"Simple things like the pick-ups, unnecessary drop balls, our shooting accuracy, all those bits and pieces. They all display an element of a lack of sharpness and ultimately I think we got outfought today."
There were some bright spots in the shape of Shane O'Brien's haul of 0-04 from play, while Gearóid Hegarty briefly came to life with a three-point flurry in the final quarter.
Kilkenny, severely depleted for much of this league, made a stodgy enough start themselves, only edging past Offaly by four points in Round 1 before a rest weekend. The 0-20 to 0-16 victory was put in unflattering perspective by Tipp's all-too-easy dismissal of Offaly last Sunday.
Derek Lyng is without Huw Lawlor and Billy Ryan for the league - and possibly beyond. Adrian Mullen is gone for the league, while TJ Reid will only be back in March. In better news, Cian Kenny and Fionnan Mackessy are back available for selection.
Kilkenny's scorer-from-play in chief Mossy Keoghan warned this week that the hosts aren't on the wane despite recent results - "Definitely not. No, I don't think so. The quality that they have and the young players they have coming through, they are not going anywhere soon — unfortunately!"
The Cats won the corresponding fixture in Nowlan Park last year, to ease any thoughts of relegation.
In Sunday's earlier fixture, Waterford seek to build on their win over Limerick as they face Offaly in a repeat of last year's Division 1B decider.
Doom and gloom had enveloped the county after their meek surrender in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. But they responded with a defiant display against Limerick.
The game was a particularly scrappy affair but the result was badly needed for the home side, with Abbeyside's Charlie Treen impressing in particular, scoring three of their eight points from play.
Offaly may have targeted this game as their most likely possibility of a scalp but they have injury concerns of their own still, with Charlie Mitchell and Donal Shirley still ruled out.
Adam Screeney was relegated to the bench for last week's tie against Tipperary but delivered a sensational display for UL (University of Limerick) this week as they saw off UG (University of Galway) in the Fitzgibbon semi-final.
1B: Clare bound for promotion
For Clare, the job of making a swift return to the top tier is half-done already. They've eked out a narrow win in Round 1 against their most substantial adversaries, Dublin.
Last Sunday, they made light work of Antrim in the scenic surrounds of Cushendall, where the table-topped Lurigethan Mountain resembles a mini-Ben Bulben. The match was most notable for the unseasonal reappearance of Shane O'Donnell, who traditionally has spent the league in hibernation.
The 2024 Hurler of the Year popped over the final point of the game to round off a 14-point win.
They're at home to a Down team, who came close to a famous scalp against Wexford last Sunday but rattling Clare in Ennis may be a much taller order.
For Wexford, nothing can be guaranteed this winter/spring. Keith Rossiter's side have benefitted zero from any feelgood vibe surrounding St Martin's Leinster championship victory. The fact that Rory O'Connor is taking the year off indicates that it's probably a negative for the county side in the short term.
They're more decimated than anyone by opt-outs and injuries for this campaign. Their shaky form and weakened side has seen expectations recalibrated with avoiding the drop more of an aim than promotion at this point.
Carlow dispatched Down by 10 points in their only game thus far and Pat Bennett's side will be eyeing up this as a real chance to take down a traditional top tier outfit.
In Round 3's other game, Kildare host Antrim in Newbridge. Saturday evening witnessed Kildare's first league game at this level since 1980 and the gulf was apparent, Brian Dowling's side scoring just 0-10 in Parnell Park against Dublin and losing by 15.
Victory on Sunday represents a more achievable target. The Joe McDonagh Cup holders won this fixture in the Walsh Cup Shield thanks to Liam O'Reilly's last-gasp point.
Antrim coach Aaron Graffin told the BBC that a win this weekend was essential.
"This league is so competitive, really tough. We played Wexford and it was a puck of the ball between us, [against Clare] a bit of a different story, but we will go down to Kildare and want to win the game.
"We've a couple of tough games coming up after that as well, but it's so competitive in this division and we want to make sure we are still here by the end of it."
Watch Cork v Tipperary in the Allianz Hurling League on Saturday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
