SATURDAY 18 APRIL
Leinster SHC Round-Robin
Galway v Kilkenny, Pearse Stadium, 4.30pm
Kildare v Wexford, St Conleth's Park, 6.30pm
Offaly v Dublin, O'Connor Park, 6.30pm
SUNDAY 19 APRIL
Munster SHC Round-Robin
Clare v Waterford, Páirc Chísog, 2pm
Tipperary v Cork, Semple Stadium, 4pm
ONLINE
Follow a live blog on all matches on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport.
TV
On Saturday, Galway's clash with Kilkenny and Dublin's visit to Offaly are both live on GAA+.
A Munster double-header is coming your way in front of the RTÉ Sport cameras on Sunday. Clare and Waterford from Páirc Chíosóg and the Semple Stadium meeting of Tipperary and Cork are both live on RTÉ2 from 1.30pm.
Highlights and reaction to all the weekend's action on The Saturday Game (9.30pm) and The Sunday Game (9.30pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
RADIO
Live commentaries and updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport as well as Spórt an tSathairn and Spórt an Lae on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.
WEATHER
Saturday: A mix of sunny spells and scattered showers, perhaps a few of them heavy over the northern half of the country, but the showers will ease and die out from the south through the afternoon and evening. Highest temperatures of 10-14C in light to moderate west to northwest breezes.
Largely dry and clear on Saturday night with patchy cloud and just isolated showers in the north. Lowest temperatures of 1-4C in light variable breezes.
Sunday: Mostly dry day with variable amounts of cloud and sunshine and just the odd light shower.
Highest temperatures of 10-14C in light easterly or variable breezes. Dry and clear on Sunday night. Lowest temperatures of 1-5C in mainly light easterly breezes. For more go to met.ie.
Tribesmen and Cats out to show they still have some lives left
Galway and Kilkenny's meeting at Pearse Park offers us a tussle between two traditional superpowers who must prove they are not mere fodder for the Munster bluebloods this summer.
With Galway and Kilkenny finishing their Division 1A season in fourth and fifth place respectively - behind Limerick, Cork and Tipperary - their prospects for a tilt at the Liam MacCarthy seem somewhat far-fetched.
However, Black and Amber focus will be firmly placed on the maroon jerseys in front of them - pierced by the painful memory of a record 0-36 to 0-17 defeat in their league encounter six weeks ago. The stick of freetaker Aaron Niland did a lot of the damage in Salthill that day with Cian Kenny accounting for 0-10 of the Cats' derisory total from placed balls.
There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth down Nowlan Park way after a result which raised eyebrows throughout the island.
Elsewhere, Kildare will be similarly smarting from a 21-point league mauling in Wexford three weeks ago when they host Keith Rossiter's side in Newbridge on Saturday evening. Wexford forward Jack Redmond terrorised the Lilywhites with a personal haul of 3-03.
Three points separated the sides in the Division 1B table, but the scoreline from Wexford Park on St Patrick's weekend suggested Brian Dowling Joe McDonagh Cup champions have a sizeable gap to bridge if they're to get their Leinster campaign off to the perfect start.
In Tullamore, an Offaly side who ended their Division 1B campaign pointless and with a -71 scoring difference will have their work cut out against Division 2B finalists Dublin.
Cork seek fast start to back up big talk
Cork ran Limerick to six points in the Allianz Hurling League final - and as always, they haven't been shy about talking themselves up down in the People's Republic ("When we're at our best, I don't think anyone can beat us").
If Cork want to bridge an All-Ireland drought that is now in its third decade - and defend their Munster crown - there are few better places to set down a marker than Semple Stadium. And few better reasons for setting a marker than last year's gut-wrenching All-Ireland final defeat.
A sickening second-half collapse prompted rumours of half-time bust-ups and all sorts of shenanigans with manager Pat Ryan exiting shortly afterwards.
If Cork's physicality throughout the league and new boss Ben O'Connor's confrontational approach to, well, everything, are anything to to go by - it was a long winter in the hurling heartlands of the county.
Cork had seven points to spare in a niggly early February 'rematch' with the Premier County in the league - but that game took place in a Páirc Uí Chaoimh that the Rebels know inside out. The Home of Hurling (TM) is a different bag of spanners altogether.
It promises to be the game of the weekend in front of our RTÉ cameras. Would beating the reigning All-Ireland champs on their own patch make up for last July's Croke Park meltdown? Not especially. But it'd be a start...
The curtain-raiser won't be anything to be sniffed at either, to be fair. Clare saw off Dublin to take the Division 1B crown and they'll be expecting to hold their home court against a Waterford side that were eight points up at half-time against Tipp a month ago, but surrendered the lead - and their Division 1A status.
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