SATURDAY 21 MARCH
Division 1A
Limerick v Galway, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 7pm
Cork v Offaly, SuperValu Páirc Uà Chaoimh, 7pm
Tipperary v Kilkenny, FBD Insurance Semple Stadium, 7pm
Division 1B
Carlow v Dublin, Netwatch Dr Cullen Park, 5pm
Down v Antrim, Páirc Esler, 5pm
Wexford v Kildare, Chadwick’s Wexford Park, 5pm
Division 2
Meath v Kerry, Trim, 1pm
Mayo v Westmeath, Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, 1pm
London v Laois, Ruislip, 1pm
Division 3
Roscommon v Donegal, King & Moffat Dr Hyde Park, 2pm
Armagh v Fermanagh, Box-IT Athletic Grounds, 2pm
Wicklow v Louth, Echelon Park, 2pm
Division 4
Longford v Sligo, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 2pm
Cavan v Monaghan, Kingspan Breffni, 2pm
Lancashire v Warwickshire, 2pm
ONLINE
Follow a live blog on all matches from the top three tiers on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport.
TV
Live coverage of Limerick-Galway on TG4 on Saturday evening, with throw-in at 7pm. The remaining two Division 1A games will be streamed simultaneously on TG4’s Youtube app.
RADIO
Live commentaries and updates on RTÉ Radio 1’s Saturday Sport throughout the day, as well as Spórt an tSathairn on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.
WEATHER
It will be another dry day for most, with spells of sunshine, hazy at times. It will be a little cloudier in coastal parts of the northwest, but dry apart from the chance of a few spots of drizzle. Highest temperatures of 11 to 17 degrees in mostly light southwest or variable breezes. For more, visit met.ie.
The final day of the hurling league certainly lacks the drama or, in some cases, the bewitching complexity of the last round of the football league.
The relegation spots are filled with a round to spare in 1A, while 1B seems to be heading towards an inevitable conclusion. Still, there’s a degree of uncertainty over who will take the Division 1A final slots and a three-way tussle for promotion in Division 3.
DIVISION 1A
Tipperary’s win over Waterford in the rescheduled game in Walsh Park means the relegation battle is done and dusted with a round to spare – much to Kilkenny’s relief.
The questionable insistence on prioritising head-to-head over score difference as a method of separating teams means that Kilkenny have retained their top tier status courtesy of their one-point win over Waterford in Nowlan Park.
Cian Kenny, the only Kilkenny player to emerge with credit from the Salthill debacle, nailed that winner which has kept them in the top division for 2027.
The hype-mongers in the press could really have done with a Waterford win. That would have made this weekend’s Tipp-Kilkenny clash in Thurles a relegation shootout. Alas, it’s now a dead rubber.
Tipp can’t really make the league final in any circumstance – theoretically, it’s possible if Cork lost badly (at home to Offaly…) and the Limerick-Galway game produced an extremely one-sided margin in favour of one team, enough that Tipperary clambered above one of them (and Cork) on score difference.
The notion is so unrealistic, it’s not worth dwelling upon.
In reality, the likelihood is that Cork will beat Offaly at home to seal their place in a second successive league final, with one of Limerick or Galway set to join them.
John Kiely’s side are obviously in the box-seat here. A win or draw will be sufficient for them. Should they lose to Galway, while Tipp beat Kilkenny, that will produce a three-way tie on eight points.
In that scenario, Galway would need to beat Limerick by three points to dislodge them in second place on score difference. A two-point margin in favour of Galway would still result in Limerick beating them to second place on total points scored.
John Kiely’s side are seeking a fourth league title of his tenure and he’s selected another intimidating XV as they look to book their spot in the decider. Limerick won back-to-back leagues in 2019 and 2020 – the league final for the second of these was stalled by Covid and doubled as the Munster semi-final against Clare.
Since then, Limerick’s league form has been fairly uneven – sometimes going in fully locked and loaded, other times seeming to adopt a conspicuous ‘league is league’ attitude. They did win another league title in 2023 in between a couple of seasons where they never challenged.
John Kiely has guided Limerick to three league titles during his reign
This weekend, Kiely has picked a strong side, with Aidan O’Connor and Shane O’Brien now fully established in the forward line. One change is Monaleen’s Darragh Langan being named at full-back, while Mike Casey is among the substitutes. The Morrissey brothers are left out of the squad altogether, while Peter Casey and Darragh O’Donovan remain sidelined with injury.
Galway’s last league title came in 2021 – with the caveat that it was a shared title with Kilkenny (their championship meeting was to double as a league decider but as it happened they never met that summer). Considering the mood music at the end of last season, Galway’s league campaign will go down as a success regardless of events this weekend.
Limerick: Nickie Quaid, Sean Finn, Darragh Langan, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes, Will O’Donoghue, Kyle Hayes; Adam English, Cian Lynch (captain); Gearoid Hegarty, Aidan O’Connor, Cathal O’Neill; Aaron Gillane, Shane O’Brien, David Reidy.
Galway: Darach Fahy, Joshua Ryan, Cillian Trayers, Darren Morrissey (captain), Ronan Glennon, Padraic Mannion, Cianan Fahy, TJ Brennan, Cian Daniels, Thomas Monaghan, Cathal Mannion, Tiernan Killeen, Conor Whelan, Jason Rabbitte, Aaron Niland.
Tipperary have made six changes from the team who put the relegation battle to bed in Walsh Park last Sunday.
Brian McGrath, Conor Martin, Darragh Stakelum, Alan Tynan, Sam O’Farrell, and Darragh McCarthy all come into the starting side for the visit of Kilkenny. Bryan O’Mara, Craig Morgan, Conor Stakelum, Joe Caesar, Kevin McCarthy, and Stefan Tobin drop out of the team.
Kilkenny’s last league win over Tipperary came back in 2019, having lost the last three encounters, including last year’s card-fest in Nowlan Park.
Tipperary: Rhys Shelly, Rob Doyle, Brian McGrath, Michael Breen, Eoghan Connolly, Ronan Maher (captain), OisÃn O’Donoghue, Conor Martin, Darragh Stakelum, Jake Morris, Alan Tynan, Sam O’Farrell, Darragh McCarthy, John McGrath, Jason Forde
Kilkenny: Aidan Tallis, Ivan Bolger, Rory Garrett, Paddy Deegan, Jordan Molloy, Darragh Corcoran, Richie Reid, Cian Kenny, Killian Doyle, Mossy Keoghan, John Donnelly, Tom Phelan, Liam Moore, Tj Reid (captain), Eoin Cody.
DIVISION 1B
Dublin are unbackable favourites to win the battle for the second promotion spot
Wexford could have rendered Dublin helpless in the promotion battle this weekend had Lee Chin buried that goal chance in the closing minutes in Ennis.
But a makeshift Clare side hung on to win and ensured a 100% record and a speedy return to the 1A shark tank.
As it is, the matter is straightforward for Dublin. Their draw with Wexford has negated head-to-head as a factor and their score difference advantage is obviously insurmountable for Keith Rossiter’s team.
And so an expected Dublin win over Carlow will send them up to 1A after last year’s near miss.
Rossiter isn’t holding out for a miracle and spoke in matter-of-fact fashion about what it means to remain in 1B for another year after their loss to Clare.
Kildare could still shock the world and achieve promotion if they turned over Wexford – potentially possible – and if Carlow beat Dublin – somewhat unlikely.
Relegation situation
Ronan Sheehan’s Down side came close to a historic upset of (an admittedly vulnerable) Wexford in Round 2.
They came from eight points down in the first half to level the game down the stretch until late points from Conor Hearne and Simon Roche won it for Wexford.
That was as good as it got for Down, who shipped heavy beatings away to both Clare and Dublin.
They’re back on home soil for the Ulster derby against Antrim, though their prospects of survival are gone.
They can only stay up on score difference and, in that regard, they aren’t in the same postcode. For pedantry’s sake, we’ll note that they need at least a 27-point victory over Davy Fitz’s side.
Antrim’s win over Carlow in Round 4 looks certain to have kept them in the second tier, barring a highly unusual result in Carlow. They could go down if they lose by nine points more against Down than Carlow do against Dublin but the odds on that are very slim.
DIVISION 2
Laois take a spin over to north London with promotion already in the bag, after five wins from five.
Kerry are favourites provided they account for Meath in Trim, with the hosts at least technically not out of the promotion reckoning themselves.
Kerry and Westmeath are tied on seven points, having drawn their own encounter in Tralee. However, Kerry’s score difference is drastically superior to the Midlanders’, who amazingly only had one point to spare at home to the now relegated Derry a fortnight ago.
A win for Kerry will certainly see them into 1B for 2027. Westmeath, away in Castlebar this Saturday, will be counting on Meath to do them a favour.
Meath can get promoted with a victory and a shock Mayo win over Westmeath, though the prospects of this happening are fairly remote.
Mayo are certs for relegation even if they do pull off a seismic shock, with London’s score difference dramatically superior. Derry, their programme completed a fortnight ago, are already down.
DIVISION 3
A three-way battle for promotion here between Roscommon, Wicklow and Donegal.
Despite an inferior score difference, the Rossies occupy top spot ahead of Wicklow courtesy of their win in the fixture in Hyde Park back in Round 1.
However, it is Wicklow who are unquestionably in the most secure position heading into the final round. The pair are on nine points, one clear of Donegal on eight.
The Rossies face Donegal in the Hyde on Saturday afternoon, with Wicklow at home to Louth at the same time.
Thus, Wicklow know that a win over a Louth team with nothing to play for will guarantee promotion regardless of the result in Roscommon. Assuming a Wicklow victory, the Roscommon-Donegal game is a straight shootout for promotion, with a draw sufficient for the home side.
Relegation is sorted here already, with Armagh and Fermanagh both on zero points – with an identical score difference (-67) oddly enough – four adrift of Louth in fifth. Their meeting in the Athletic Grounds on Saturday is only a battle to see who can avoid last place.
DIVISION 4
The bottom tier in the football is a mad smorgasbord of possibilities, with two points separating first and seventh.
By contrast, in Division 4 in the hurling, there is nothing much to play for this weekend. Zilch.
Longford and Sligo are both promoted and meet in Pearse Park in what is simply a dress rehearsal for a league final. (It has been suggested they could just dispense with this game and proceed straight to the decider).
Leitrim are one point behind them but have played all their games. Elsewhere, Cavan host Monaghan, while Lancashire and Warwickshire face off in the battle of the shires. They’re just filling places in the table for the sake of posterity.