All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals - all you need to know

Derry's Conor McCluskey, Tyrone's Darragh Canavan and Monaghan's Stephen O'Hanlon are all expected to start for their counties on Saturday

Here we are, then: knockout football.

While four counties - Donegal, Armagh, Dublin and Kerry - get to bask in the luxury of a weekend break ahead of their quarter-finals, the other eight teams still involved in the race for Sam Maguire are immediately thrust back into action in this weekend's preliminary quarter-finals.

It's a tough old road from here. If one of the preliminary quarter-finalists are to win the All-Ireland title, they must win four knockout games over a gruelling five-week period.

Last year, Donegal bowed out of the championship at this stage, prompting the county board to go out and get Jim McGuinness back.

Donegal's reward for a considerable upturn in form under McGuinness is a weekend off after topping their group, but three of their Ulster rivals are involved in tussles to reach the last eight.

Who is playing and when are the games?

As previously mentioned, eight teams are involved in the preliminary quarter-finals. The fixtures are:

• Saturday - Galway v Monaghan, Salthill, 16:00 BST

• Saturday - Tyrone v Roscommon, Healy Park, 17:00

• Saturday - Mayo v Derry, Castlebar, 18:30

• Sunday - Louth v Cork, Inniskeen, 15:00

Five of those teams - Galway, Monaghan, Tyrone, Roscommon, Mayo and Cork - were also involved in last year's preliminary quarter-finals (with wins for Mayo, Monaghan and Cork).

Has the quarter-final draw been made?

No. Armagh, Donegal, Dublin and Kerry do not yet know which preliminary quarter-final will produce their quarter-final opponent.

With the quarter-finals scheduled for the weekend of 29/30 June, the draw will likely be made on Monday morning.

What to look out for

Derry's trip to Castlebar to face Mayo is the pick of this weekend's games. After a bewildering dip in form resulted in defeats by Donegal, Galway and Armagh, Derry demonstrated resilience to dig out a vital win over Westmeath and avoid a shock early exit.

Mickey Harte's side were far from convincing, though, and will face a much stiffer test in the form of Mayo, who were seconds away from beating All-Ireland champions Dublin at Hyde Park last weekend.

But while Cormac Costello's last-gasp point was enough to put the Dubs in the quarter-finals on scoring difference, Mayo certainly have the players to hurt a leaky Derry defence - not least Ryan O'Donoghue, who has been superb this season and hit 0-7 against Dublin.

On the other hand, it may be difficult for Kevin McStay's side to replicate the levels that nearly saw them over the line against the Dubs. Up until the last act, Mayo thought they were heading straight for the quarter-finals, whereas Derry have known since losing their second group game to Armagh that they faced a trip. It should be a gripping encounter.

Before Mayo and Derry throw in on Saturday, Tyrone host Roscommon at Healy Park.

The Red Hands are hoping to reach the last eight again having seen off Donegal in the 2023 preliminaries in convincing fashion. They are the favourites on paper against Roscommon, having beaten the Connacht side in the league.

As it stands, the 2021 All-Ireland champions will be without Conn Kilpatrick following the midfielder's red card against Cork although the Edendork man will attempt to have his two-match ban overturned when he has his case heard by the GAA's Central Appeals Committee on Friday night. Kilpatrick was also sent off against Roscommon in the league, so he was hit with the suspension for "striking with hand, with minimal force" in an off-the-ball clash with Mark Cronin.

Like Derry, Monaghan are also on the road out west with Vinny Corey's side up against Connacht champions Galway, who were unable to secure the win they needed against Armagh to claim top spot in Group One.

Galway were convincing winners over the Farney men in the league although counting Monaghan out is a perilous venture considering they reached last year's semi-finals after dropping into the preliminaries.

Like Mayo, Galway were seconds away from topping their group, only to be denied by Armagh. However, the Tribesmen welcomed Rob Finnerty and captain Sean Kelly back for the Armagh game while Damien Comer may recover in time for this weekend.

In Sunday's game, Louth - currently without a home venue - take on Cork at Inniskeen in Monaghan.

It should, going off recent meetings, be a close one. They have faced each other four times in the past two years. Louth won both Division Two games while Cork prevailed in the two championship collisions, with no more than four points separating the pair across that series.

Cork reached last year's quarter-finals, where they lost to Derry, while Louth are aiming to extend an impressive first post-Harte season in which they have retained their Division Two status and reached the Leinster final.

Gareth McKinless is named on the Derry bench as he is available again following the two-match suspension that resulted from his red card against Galway

Team news

Mickey Harte has named an unchanged Derry starting line-up for their tussle with Mayo.

Gareth McKinless is available again after his two-match suspension but is included in the substitutes who also include Conor Doherty and Niall Toner after they were not involved in the Westmeath contest because of niggles.

Mayo boss Kevin McStay has also named the same 15 players that started in the draw against Dublin.

Derry: O Lynch, C McCluskey, C McKaigue, D Baker; C McFaul, E McEvoy, D Gilmore, C Glass, B Rogers; E Doherty, E Bradley, Paul Cassidy; E Mulholland, S McGuigan, L Murray.

Subs: R Scullion, D Cassidy, C Doherty, M Doherty, S Downey, R Forbes, D McDermott, G McKinless, C McMonagle, C Murphy, N Toner.

Mayo: C Reape; J Coyne, D McBrien, D McHugh; R Brickenden, S Callinan, E McLaughlin; S Coen (capt), M Ruane; T Conroy, D McHale, J Flynn; A O'Shea, J Carney, R O'Donoghue.

Subs: R Hennelly, J Carr, E Hession, C Loftus, C O'Connor, D O'Connor, E O'Donoghue, P O'Hora, M Plunkett, P Towey, B Tuohy.

Tyrone announced two changes from their win over Cork as Peter Harte and Kieran McGeary took over from Aidan Clarke and Conn Kilpatrick, but the latter had his proposed two-game ban overturned on Friday night so is now available for selection.

In the initial selection, Mattie Donnelly was named to partner Brian Kennedy in midfield with squad skipper Harte selected at centre half-back.

Roscommon manager Davy Burke has picked an unchanged starting team for their contest with Tyrone in Omagh although the Rossies' line-up does have a number of positional switches from the victory over Cavan.

Tyrone: N Morgan; M McKernan, P Hampsey, N Devlin; B Cullen, P Harte, M O'Neill; B Kennedy, M Donnelly; C Daly, R Canavan, K McGeary; D McCurry, D Canavan, S O'Donnell.

Subs: O O'Kane, F Burns, C Devlin, C Donnelly, N McCarron, E McElholm, L McGarrity, C McShane, S O'Hare, T Quinn, M Rafferty.

Roscommon: C Carroll; N Higgins, B Stack (capt), R Dolan; D Murray, R Fallon, E McCormack; E Smith, U Harney; D Ruane, D Murtagh, S Cunnane; D Cregg, C Cox, D Smith.

Subs: C Lavin, N Daly, C Hussey, R Daly, K Doyle, A Glennon, C Hand, A McDermott, T O'Rourke, C Henegan, C Lennon.

Barry McBennett (left) is handed a start for Monaghan's game in Galway after scoring 1-2 following his introduction as a substitute against Meath last weekend

Monaghan boss Vinny Corey makes three changes in personnel from the narrow win over Meath for Saturday's game against Galway in Salthill.

Barry McBennett is rewarded for his late contribution of 1-2 last weekend as he replaces Joel Wilson at midfield while Conor McManus and Andrew Woods take over from Micheal McCarville and Ciaran McNulty in the full-forward line.

Galway manager Padraic Joyce makes no changes in personnel from the team that started in the draw against Armagh for their home contest with Monaghan, although there are a couple of positional switches.

Damien Comer is named on the bench after being unavailable for Galway's last two games following the injury he sustained in the win over Derry.

Galway: C Gleeson; J McGrath, S Fitzgerald, J Glynn; D McHugh, L Silke, S Mulkerrin; P Conroy, S Kelly (capt); M Tierney, J Maher, C Darcy; R Finnerty, S Walsh, C McDaid.

Subs: C Flaherty, J Daly, E Kelly, D O'Flaherty, K Molloy, C Hernon, J Heaney, C Sweeney, L O Conghaile, D Comer, T Culhane.

Monaghan: R Beggan; R Wylie, K Lavelle, J Irwin; R McAnespie, R O'Toole, C McCarthy; G Mohan, B McBennett; S O'Hanlon, M Bannigan, M Hamill; A Woods, J McCarron, C McManus.

Subs: D McDonnell, C Lennon, S Mooney, K Loughran, D Ward, D Garland, M McCarville, C McNulty, J Wilson, S Jones, T McPhillips.

Despite losing against Tyrone which ruined their hopes of securing direct passage to the last eight, Cork boss John Cleary has named an unchanged starting team for Sunday's contest against Louth at Inniskeen.

Louth are also unchanged despite their 14-point defeat by Kerry last weekend.

Louth: N McDonnell; D McKenny, D Campbell, D Corcoran; C McKeever, A Williams, C Lennon; T Durnin, B Duffy; P Mathews, C Keenan, C Grimes; R Burns, S Mulroy, C Byrne.

Subs: C Lynch, C O'Neill, P McStravick, L Jackson, D McKeown, C Murphy, S Marry, L Grey, T McDonell, C Early, T Jackson.

Cork: C Kelly; K Flahive, D O'Mahony, M Shanley; R Maguire, T Walsh, M Taylor; I Maguire, C O'Callaghan; P Walsh, S Powter, B O'Driscoll; M Cronin, C Óg Jones, S Sherlock.

Subs: MA Martin, S Meehan, D Cashman, T Clancy, J O'Rourke, K O'Hanlon, E McSweeney, J Cahalane, R Deane, C Corbett, B Hurley.

Are the games televised?

All four games will be streamed on GAAGO.

How can I follow on the BBC?

The BBC Sport website will provide live text commentaries, reports and reaction on Saturday.

There will also be live text commentaries, reports and reaction from Sunday's Tailteann Cup semi-finals: Antrim v Laois (14:00) and Down v Sligo (16:00).