All-Ireland SFC week two - all you need to know
- Published
Galway's victory over 14-man Derry was the big talking point from the opening weekend of the All-Ireland Football Championship group stages and the pace will surely only pick up on Saturday with Donegal, Tyrone, Armagh and Sam Maguire holders Dublin all in action.
From an Ulster perspective, the majority of eyes will be be fixed on Ballybofey and the championship rematch between provincial champions Donegal and Tyrone.
But it will be just as intriguing to see whether Armagh can regroup from the trauma of their heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat by Donegal in the Anglo-Celt Cup decider after appearing set for victory with 20 minutes remaining in normal time.
As was the case 12 months ago after losing out on spot-kicks to Derry in the provincial decider, Westmeath are Armagh's opposition at the Athletic Grounds and the Lake County gave the Orchard men their fill of it on that occasion as Kieran McGeeney's side were fortunate to squeeze out a 1-13 to 1-12 victory.
- Published24 May
- Attribution
- Published24 May
What happened last weekend?
Group 1: Galway 2-14 Derry 0-15
Group 2: Mayo 0-20 Cavan 1-8
Group 3: Clare 1-11 Cork 1-13
Group 4: Kerry 0-24 Monaghan 1-11
Who is playing on Saturday?
Group 1: Armagh v Westmeath, Athletic Grounds, 18:00 BST
Group 2: Dublin v Roscommon, Croke Park, 17:00
Group 3: Donegal v Tyrone, Ballybofey, 19:15
Group 4: Louth v Meath, Inniskeen, 17:30
What about this weekend then?
Saturday's action begins at Croke Park as defending All-Ireland champions Dublin, a fortnight after winning a 14th successive Leinster title, face a Roscommon side that lost by five points to Mayo in their Connacht semi-final five weeks ago.
On the face of it, Dublin only had to go through the motions to retain the provincial title, although Louth received much credit for restricting the Dubs to a four-point win in the decider.
Just as will be the case at the Athletic Grounds, Dublin's contest sees them renewing acquaintances with the same opening group opposition as this time last year.
Indeed, the Rossies were the only side to avoid defeat against Dessie Farrell's side in last year's entire All-Ireland series as Davy Burke's side led at half-time before hanging in gamely to draw the contest 0-14 to 1-11.
A year on, Roscommon don't look quite as well placed to compete after suffering relegation to Division Two but don't expect Dublin to fire too many of their bullets in Saturday's contest, with another 'doing enough' display on the cards.
Louth's derby Group 4 contest with Meath, which is being played at Monaghan venue Inniskeen, throws in at 17:30 in advance of the two big games with particular Ulster interest.
How and indeed whether Armagh have been able to regroup from a fourth championship penalty shootout defeat in less than two years is anyone's guess.
Their particular failure to close out a game that they led by four points after 53 minutes has led to renewed doubts about their collective nerve.
Armagh, therefore, will be looking to produce a confident display to re-establish any All-Ireland credentials that they might have.
Saturday's action is rounded off by the big Ballybofey as Tyrone aim to ambush a Donegal side that needed extra time to see off the Red Hands in the provincial semi-final four weeks ago.
Team news - Armagh without Rian O'Neill
Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney makes two changes from the Ulster Final starting line-up as Tiernan Kelly replaces Rian O'Neill at midfield and Conor O'Neill takes over from Greg McCabe in the half-back line.
Crossmaglen star O'Neill was a subdued presence in the Ulster Final and limped off in the closing stages of extra time, which meant he wasn't involved in the shootout.
John Heslin's inclusion is one of four Westmeath changes from the shock Leinster Championship defeat by Wicklow on 7 April, which came a week after Dessie Dolan's side had beaten Down in the Division Three Final at Croke Park to clinch their Super 16s spot.
Highly-regarded Heslin is named at full-forward with Ray Connellan drafted into midfield and Jamie Gonoud and Kevin Maguire coming into the defence as Daniel Scahill, Conor McCormack and Stephen Smith drop to the bench and Jack Smith misses out on the matchday squad.
Armagh: B Hughes; P Burns, A McKay, P McGrane, C O’Neill, C Mackin, A Forker; T Kelly, B Crealey; J McElroy, R Grugan, S Campbell; O Conaty, A Murnin, C Turbitt
Subs: E Rafferty, B McCambridge Connaire Mackin, G McCabe, N Grimley, O O’Neill, S McPartlan, R McQuillan, J Og Burns, A Nugent, J Duffy
Westmeath: J Daly; J Gonoud, K Maguire, J Dolan; S McCartan, R Wallace, D Lynch; R Connellan, A McCormack; J Lynam, R O'Toole, C Dillon; L Loughlin, J Heslin, R Forde.
Subs: J Connaughton, S Allen, C Drumm, E Mulvihill, M Whittaker, D Scahill, S Baker, L Dolan, S Smith, K Martin, C McCormack
Dessie Farrell makes one change to the Dublin starting line-up from the Leinster Final as wing-back Sean MacMahon replaces James McCarthy, who is not named in the matchday squad.
Davy Burke's side shows four changes in personnel from their Connacht semi-final defeat as Robbie Dolan takes over from Ruaidhri Fallon at centre half-back, Tadhg O'Rourke displaces Ultan Harney in field and Ciaran Lennon and Conor Cox come into the attack in place of Ronan Daly and Ben O'Carroll.
Dublin: S Cluxton; E Murchan, M Fitzsimons, C Murphy; S MacMahon, J Small, S Bugler; B Fenton, T Lahiff; N Scully, C Costello, C Kilkenny; P Mannion, C O'Callaghan, C Basquel.
Subs: D O'Hanlon, B Howard, J McCaffrey, R McGarry, K McGinnis, D Newcombe, P O Cofaigh Byrne, L O'Dell, K O'Gara, P Small
Roscommon: C Carroll; D Murray, B Stack, N Higgins; N Daly, R Dolan, E McCormack; E Smith, T O'Rourke; D Ruane, D Smith, C Lennon; C Cox, D Cregg, D Murtagh.
Subs: C Lavin, P Gavin, S Cunnane, R Fallon, B O'Carroll, C Connolly, U Harney, K Doyle, C Hussey, A McDermott, C Hand
Two changes for Tyrone
Skipper Patrick McBrearty's inclusion in place of Eoghan Ban Gallagher is Donegal's only change from the Ulster Final line-up although the Kilcar man has been named in previous Donegal line-ups in recent matches only to start from the bench.
Gallagher is named on a bench that includes Aaron Doherty, who scored two of Donegal's six successful penalties in the Ulster Final shootout, while a change to the matchday squad sees Cathal MacAonghasa taking over from Caolan McColgan, who came on as a half-time substitute for Mark Curran in the provincial decider.
Tyrone boss Brian Dooher makes two changes from the Ulster semi-final as Ben Cullen and Ruairi Canavan take over from Conall Devlin and Cathal McShane in a team that also shows a number of positional switches.
Cullen's inclusion at right half-back sees Niall Devlin switching to the number two jersey with Seanie O'Donnell named in the half-forward line as Kieran McGeary is picked at number seven.
McShane and Peter Harte are named on a bench that does not include any members of last weekend's victorious All-Ireland Under-20 winning side.
Donegal: S Patton; M Curran, B McCole, C Moore; R McHugh, C McGonagle, P Mogan; J McGee, M Langan; S O’Donnell, C Thompson, D O Baoill; P McBrearty (capt), O Gallen, N O’Donnell.
Subs: G Mulreaney, K McGettigan, S McMenamin, O Doherty, D MacGiolla Bhride, J MacCeallbhui, L McGlynn, J Brennan, A Doherty, E Ban Gallagher, C MacAonghasa
Tyrone: N Morgan; N Devlin, P Hampsey, M McKernan; B Cullen, M Donnelly, K McGeary; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; C Daly, M O'Neill, S O'Donnell; D McCurry, D Canavan, R Canavan.
Subs: O O'Kane, A Clarke, C Donnelly, P Harte, D Jones, N McCarron, L McGarrity, C McShane, J Oguz, C Quinn, T Quinn.
Louth boss Ger Brennan makes one change in personnel from the Leinster Final starting side as Ryan Burns replaces Leonard Grey in attack.
Colm O'Rourke's Meath side shows three changes from the 3-19 to 0-12 Leinster quarter-final hammering by Dublin as Ronan Ryan, Cian McBride and Cillian O’Sullivan take over from Ross Ryan, Daithi McGowan and Jordan Morris who drop to the bench.
Louth: N McDonnell; D McKenny, D Corcoran, P Lynch; C McKeever, A Williams, C Lennon, T Durnin, B Duffy; N Sharkey, C Keenan, C Grimes; R Burns, S Mulroy, C Downey.
Subs: C Lynch, C O'Neill, P McStravick, L Jackson, D Campbell, C Murphy, T Jackson, L Grey, C Byrne, C Early, P Mathews.
Meath: B Hogan; D Keogan, A O'Neill, R Ryan; H O'Higgins, D Campion, S Coffey; R Jones (capt), C McBride; C Caulfield, C O'Sullivan, C Hickey; J Conlon, M Costello, E Frayne.
Subs: S Brennan, M Murphy, S Ryan, B O'Halloran, R Ryan, C Gray, D McGowan, R Kinsella, J O'Connor, J Morris, A Lynch.
Pundit's view - Oisin McConville
"Even though they are in exactly the same position as last year when they struggled with Westmeath, I expect a massive performance from Armagh on Saturday.
"It wouldn’t shock me if there was a bit of a dip in the coming weeks but I do think Armagh will be on the money this weekend.
"Westmeath are probably good enough to stick with Armagh for 45, 50 minutes but Armagh will just have way too much for them.
"As regards Donegal after the euphoria of winning the Ulster title, getting back to brass tacks and coming up against a Tyrone team that they’ve already played is going to be tough.
"When Tyrone look back on the video of the game against Donegal, they will feel that they had enough chances to win the game.
"The fact Donegal are home may give them a bit of an edge but if you are in that Tyrone camp, normally you have to wait 12 months to get back at that team, and the hurt goes away a little bit, but they will still be hurting, so I expect a massive performance from them as well.
"It's either going to be a draw or the narrowest of victories for either side."
How can I follow on the BBC?
The BBC Sport website will provide live text commentaries, reports and reaction on Saturday.