Conor Love is in terrific form for Fermanagh. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile
Saturday, June 14
Tailteann Cup, quarter-finals
Fermanagh v Sligo, Brewster Park, Enniskillen, 5pm
Fermanagh came from five points down in stoppage time to rescue a draw when these two teams met in Division 3 of the Allianz League, in early March.
Down performed a similar smash and grab, at Fermanagh's expense, in the Ulster SFC, sending the Ernesiders down the Tailteann Cup route again.
Losing to Carlow at home was a bad start to Group 4 for Fermanagh but they beat Longford then and finished strongly with a Croke Park win over Wexford to secure top spot, and the home quarter-final.
Conor Love, with 2-11 from three games, including 1-10 from play, has been excellent so far in the tournament, as have Joe McDade, Darragh McGurn and Garvan Jones. Che Cullen has been restored to the Fermanagh full-back line after sitting out the win over Wexford.
Niall Murphy is Sligo's answer to score-poacher Love. His 0-8, with 0-6 from play, helped Tony McEntee's side see off Carlow in last weekend's preliminary quarter-final. The same team will line out again for them.
Sligo have twiced reached semi-finals in this competition, only losing to eventual champions Down last year after extra-time.
FERMANAGH: Sean McNally; Che Cullen, Lee Cullen, Oisin Smyth; Shane McGullion, Declan McCusker, Fionan O'Brien; Joe McDade, Darragh McGurn; Conor McGee, Ryan Lyons, Ronan McCaffrey; Josh Largo Ellis, Garvan Jones, Conor Love.
Subs: Ross Bogue, Luke Flanagan, Sean Cassidy, Diarmuid Owens, Glenn Treacy, Aogan Kelm, Jack Largo Ellis, Oisin Murphy, Jonathan Cassidy, Brandon Horan, Paul Breen.
SLIGO: Aidan Devaney; Evan Lyons, Eddie McGuinness, Paul McNamara; Mikey Gordon, Jack Lavin, Luke Towey; Canice Mulligan, Patrick O'Connor; Alan Reilly, David Quinn, Cian Lally; Alan McLoughlin, Niall Murphy, Shane Deignan.
Subs: Daniel Lyons, Ross Doherty, Lee Deignan, Dylan Walsh, Paul Kilcoyne, Eoghan Smith, Donal Conlon, Pat Spillane, Brian Cox, Peter Laffey, Oisin Flynn.
Kildare v Offaly, Cedral St Conleth's Park, Newbridge, 6.30pm
Goals from Jack Bryant and Cormac Egan won it for Offaly when these Leinster neighbours met in the Allianz League Division 3 final almost 11 weeks ago.
Prior to that, Offaly also beat Kildare by six points in a mid-march Division 3 group encounter.
Kildare had the brighter Leinster championship campaign though, beating Westmeath and pushing eventual champions Louth close in a provincial semi-final.
Brian Flanagan's side then topped Group 1 with three big wins, comfortably dispatching Leitrim, Tipperary and Sligo.
Of the seven goals they scored in the group, Daniel Flynn (4-7 in total) and Alex Beirne (2-23 in total) have accounted for six of them.
Home advantage is significant, partly because Kildare's record at the redeveloped venue is excellent (five wins from five this year) but also because Offaly lost there to Laois in their last group game.
Dylan Hyland hit 1-9 for Offaly against Kildare in mid-march and showed top form again when firing 1-12 in last weekend's preliminary quarter-final defeat of New York.
Both sets of management teams have opted for unchanged teams.
KILDARE: Cian Burke; Harry O'Neill, Mark Dempsey, Brian Byrne; Tommy Gill, David Hyland, James McGrath; Kevin Feely, Brendan Gibbons; Ben McCormack, Alex Beirne, Colm Dalton; Ryan Sinkey, Daniel Flynn, Brian McLoughlin.
Subs: Didier Cordonnier, Ryan Burke, Mick O'Grady, Jack McKevitt, Kevin Flynn, Aaron Masterson, Paddy McDermott, Darragh Swords, Darragh Kirwan, Niall Kelly, Eoin Cully.
OFFALY: Paddy Dunican; Lee Pearson, David Dempsey, Daire McDaid; Aidan Bracken, John Furlong, Cormac Egan; Jack McEvoy, Jordan Hayes; Kyle Higgins, Cathal Flynn, Cillian Bourke; Dylan Hyland, Jack Bryant, Keith O'Neill.
Subs: Sean O'Toole, Marcas Dalton, Rory Egan, Oisin Keenan-Martin, Aaron Kellaghan, Aaron Leavy, Ruairi McNamee, Shane O'Toole Greene, Eoin Sawyer, Shane Tierney, Morgan Tynan.
Luke Loughlin of Westmeath. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Sunday, June 15
Tailteann Cup, quarter-finals
Wicklow v Westmeath, Echelon Park, Aughrim, GAA+
Wicklow made it out of the group stage for the first time last year and this will be their first ever quarter-final.
Progress has been evident for Oisin McConville's side who topped Group 2, on scoring difference, from Offaly and Laois.
Home advantage is a big bonus for Wicklow who gave Dublin their fill of it in Aughrim in the Leinster SFC. They will expect their toughest game yet in the competition, however, against a Westmeath side who put 3-26 on the board last weekend in a comfortable preliminary quarter-final win over Laois.
Luke Loughlin is perhaps the forward of the tournament so far and is retained in a Westmeath line-up showing two changes from the last day; Jack Geoghegan coming in at corner-back and Brian Guerin at midfield. Westmeath attacker Loughlin has sniped 2-35 so far, a tally that includes 8 two-pointers.
Wicklow memorably defeated Westmeath in last year's Leinster championship and will believe a repeat triumph is possible. McConville has made a single team change, in attack, where the experienced Kevin Quinn returns.
WICKLOW: Mark Jackson; Tom Moran, Matt Nolan, Malachy Stone; Joe Prendergast, Patrick O'Keane, Darragh Fee; Dean Healy, Padraig O'Toole; Christopher O'Brien, Eoin Darcy, Cathal Baker; Oisin McGraynor, Kevin Quinn, Mark Kenny.
Subs: Cathal Fitzgerald, Jaques McCall, Jack Hardy, Liam O'Neill, Conor Fee, Paidi Kavanagh, Craig Maguire, Andy Maher, John Paul Nolan, Cian Deering, Jack Kirwan.
WESTMEATH: Conor McCormack; Jack Geoghegan, Sam Smyth, Jamie Gonoud; Joseph Moran, Ronan Wallace, Sam McCartan; Ray Connellan, Brian Guerin; Matthew Whittaker, Kevin O'Sullivan, Nigel Harte; Luke Loughlin, Stephen Smith, Robbie Forde.
SUBS: Joe Hyland, Eoghan McCabe, Tadhg Baker, Daniel Scahill, Danny McCartan, Brandon Kelly, Shane Allen, Shane Ormsby, Kieran Martin, Lorcan Dolan, Brian Cooney.
Limerick v Wexford, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 3.45pm, GAA+
An intriguing repeat of the Division 4 final earlier this year which Limerick won at Croke Park.
Limerick won that league final by 3-11 to 0-18 despite losing to Wexford earlier in the Division 4 group stage.
After subsequently losing to Cork in the Munster SFC, Limerick resumed their winning streak in the Tailteann Cup, finishing top of Group 3 with a perfect record.
No surprises then that Jimmy Lee has stuck with tried and trusted and an unchanged line-up for this home tie.
Wexford's defeat to Fermanagh at Croke Park in Group 4 sent them down the preliminary quarter-final route. Their season could have petered out but they knocked 5-23 past Antrim, the 2023 and 2024 tournament semi-finalists, last weekend.
Kevin O'Grady's recall at full-forward is the sole change to Wexford's team.
LIMERICK: Josh Ryan; Jason Hassett, Darren O'Doherty, Mark McCarthy; Paul Maher, Iain Corbett, Tony McCarthy; Tommy Childs, Darragh O'Hagan; James Naughton, Emmett Rigter, Cillian Fahy; Peter Nash, Danny Neville, Killian Ryan.
Subs: Jeffrey Alfred, Ruadhan O'Connor, Tadgh O Siochru, Conall O Duinn, Jack McCarthy, Diarmuid Buckley, Darragh Murray, Rory O'Brien, Andrew Meade, David O'Shaughnessy, Rob Childs.
WEXFORD: Darragh Brooks; Michael Furlong, Gavin Sheehan, Dylan Furlong; Eoin Porter, Glen Malone, Pairic Hughes; Liam Coleman, Niall Hughes; Jack Higgins, Michael Kinsella, Mark Rossiter; Kevin O'Grady, Ben Brosnan, Sean Nolan.
Subs: Colum Feeney, Sean Barden, Ruairi Martin, Cathal Walsh, Cathal Kehoe, Rian Fitzpatrick, Conor Carty, James Lawless, Robbie Brooks, Sean Ryan, Cian Hughes.
Referee Conor Dourneen tosses a coin between the two captains Dylan Curran of New York and Ryan Forde of London before the 2024 All-Ireland Junior Championship final between London and New York. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Saturday, June 14
All-Ireland junior football championship, quarter-final
New York v USGAA, Gaelic Park, New York, 5pm (local time)
New York, the back-to-back All-Ireland JFC winners, will place their title on the line at Gaelic Park.
This year's All-Ireland junior championship will conclude in mid-July with two semi-finals on Friday, July 11, followed by the final on Sunday, July 13.
The British championship winners and runners-up, along with Kilkenny, will once again join New York and USGAA in the competition.
