A preview of the weekend's matches

Today

Division One

Mayo v Dublin, MacHale Park, 6.30pm – A pivotal encounter so early in the season sees a lethargic Dublin coming to Castlebar to face a team in buoyant mood after a comfortable first-day win away from home. Although the visitors are trailing their All-Ireland pennant, Mayo will feel upbeat about this fixture.

Manager James Horan hasn’t been too demure to mention his ambitions for the league and as with any courtship, whereas making your intentions known ratchets up the pressure it’s also a necessary part of any progress. Dublin can attest to that after last year when an unbeaten run in the division gave an early indication the team was ready to mix it at the very top.

Mayo’s problem is they’ve been this way before without kicking on in the championship and unfortunately that context means the team will require a thoroughly convincing run in the league before anyone can be sure they are progressing in championship terms.

Dublin are obviously a big test but without Alan and Bernard Brogan, Pat Gilroy’s side don’t pose a threat commensurate with their status. The defence is missing three of the All-Ireland winning sextet but there is reasonable cover. Against Kerry the problems were at centrefield where they were again wiped out on their own kick-out and up front where only the opposition’s squander-mania prevented a more searching examination of their own inaccuracies.

Mayo haven’t been imposing in the middle themselves and this will be an important contest. But this is a key challenge for Mayo and they are in good physical shape, as the win against Laois indicated. Conversely it’s a bit soon for Dublin and they will find the going difficult.

Kerry v Armagh, Austin Stack Park 7pm – Taking place somewhat in the shadow of next week’s Dr Crokes-Crossmaglen All-Ireland club semi-final, this evening’s match gives both teams the opportunity to build on productive first outings.

Armagh may feel they could have done better with a one-man advantage for 40 minutes of last week’s clash with Cork but they preserved a point, which few would have envisaged beforehand and did so with a lot of rookies and missing their biggest names.

Kerry also gave a run to some of the younger talent, most of whom have already seen some championship action without yet being established. Armagh will be more settled after last week and Malachy Mackin looks better suited to centrefield, but Kerry functioned well throughout the field in Croke Park and look too strong.

Division Three

Cavan v Longford, Kingspan Breffni Park, 7pm – Wildly different opening weekends saw Longford have 13 points in hand over Offaly despite missing Brian Kavanagh, while Cavan coughed up four goals against Wexford. Glenn Ryan’s side are both slick and stingy enough to wipe out home advantage here.

Division Four

Waterford v Kilkenny, Fraher Field, 7pm – Right game at the right time for Waterford, who have a raft of injuries and badly need the imminent break to gather themselves. They’ll hope for a less card-happy referee here, having ended the Clare game with 12 men.

TOMORROW

Division One

Cork v Down, Páirc Uí Chaoimh 2pm – The re-run of the 2010 All-Ireland final takes place in the context of two double-digit defeats inflicted by Cork on James McCartan’s side last year. Cork have started the year purposefully and improvised around the long-term injuries in the forwards, with Mark Collins making a strong impact in Armagh.

For Down, Liam Doyle gave the latest glimpse of his injury-ravaged talents with a key performance in the valuable win over Donegal and hopefully can get a good run at finally fulfilling his potential on the inter-county stage. A home win, however, looks more likely.

Donegal v Laois, Letterkenny 2.30pm – Despite all of the injuries wracking Jim McGuinness’s team, Donegal came within a couple of fluffed late chances of starting life at the top with a win against Down.

Fellow arrivistes Laois also lost their first match but less narrowly. The teams split the meetings in last year’s Division Two but Donegal had nothing to play for the first day and won the divisional final, although the injured Michael Murphy had a big part to play in that. Laois are still working out how best to deploy Colm Begley and experimenting with Pádraig Clancy at full forward. Donegal can grind out a result.

Division Two

Westmeath v Meath, Cusack Park, 2.30pm – Despite all of the unavailability problems on Pat Flanagan’s plate Westmeath made Louth pedal hard for victory. Meath were more comfortable against Monaghan, although they left it late to tie up the result. Again the forwards did well.

Allowing for the intense rivalry between the counties, the visitors should have too much.

Monaghan v Kildare, Clones 2.30pm – Both teams suffered for an inability to make the most of their chances on opening day – Kildare more spectacularly having looked in command of their match against Tyrone.

If Monaghan could get their eye in at an early stage of the match they’ll cause trouble but it took some exceptional stuff to unlock the visitors’ defence in Croke Park and it’s unlikely Monaghan can supply that in adequate measure.

Tyrone v Derry, Healy Park, 2.30pm – Tyrone’s rise from the ashes in the second half against Kildare produced a formidable display that makes them favourites against an under-strength Derry. Peter Harte’s conversion into an expansive centre back was the most interesting aspect of a night when veterans Owen Mulligan and Stephen O’Neill earned the plaudits. Derry’s defensive difficulties haunted them against Galway apart from a brisk opening quarter and will hardly be any less of a liability tomorrow.

Galway v Louth, Pearse Stadium 2.30pm – Galway manager Alan Mulholland picked up his first two league points with a lively raid on Celtic Park, spearheaded by a free-scoring attack, where Micheál Martin and Nicky Joyce combined for seven points from play. Louth did well to shrug off the spectre of a damaging defeat at home to Westmeath but this is a step up.

Division Three

Sligo v Wexford, Markievicz Park, 2.30pm – Game of the day between two of the better lower-league sides. Wexford won’t find the room they had against Cavan and it’s hard to see Sligo getting away with the mere 11 points they scored in Belfast.

Offaly v Roscommon, O’Connor Park, Tullamore, 2.30pm – Life gets no better for Offaly, with the Rossies buoyant after taking the promotion four-pointer against Tipperary last Sunday. Still without their St Brigid’s cohort, Des Newton’s side should nonetheless prosper.

Tipperary v Antrim, Semple Stadium, 2.30pm – Antrim squeaked through their opener against Sligo but could find Thurles a long way from home, with Tipp smarting from the careless defeat to Roscommon. Watch out for Tipp’s Michael Quinlivan, last year’s stand-out minor forward making his senior debut.

Division Four

Limerick v London, Gaelic Grounds, Limerick, 1pm – Make no mistake – London fancied their opener against Fermanagh last weekend and could have done without it being called off. They travel to Limerick in less confidence to play a home side unchanged from their win in Leitrim.

Carlow v Leitrim, Dr Cullen Park, 2.30pm – Without a game since January 15th, Carlow are dying for action. Luke Dempsey’s side will see a callow Leitrim side as beatable but Limerick did that last week and almost paid the price.

Fermanagh v Clare, Brewster Park, 2.30pm – All the Peter Canavan hullabaloo will feel like flat lemonade if Fermanagh can’t get an early win on the board. Clare will get men behind the ball and test their patience, with in-form David Tubridy capable of wrecking the party.

Seán Moran Malachy Clerkin