All-Ireland SFC 2024 - all you need to know
The inter-county season continues at breakneck speed with the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship getting underway this weekend, six days after the end of the provincial competitions.
It is the second year of the football championship's current guise as 16 counties once again jostle for position in the race for the Sam Maguire Cup in four groups of four.
While the second-tier Tailteann Cup's round-robin games started last week, the All-Ireland group stages begin with four matches on Saturday.
In the All-Ireland series, a total of 34 matches will be played over the next 10 weeks before the final at Croke Park on 28 July. Dublin are the defending champions after beating Kerry in last year's final.
Who has qualified for the All-Ireland round-robin series?
The four provincial champions - Dublin, Kerry, Galway, Donegal
The four beaten provincial finalists - Louth, Clare, Mayo, Armagh
The 2023 Tailteann Cup winners - Meath
The seven next-ranked teams based on final positions in the 2024 National Football League - Derry, Tyrone, Roscommon, Monaghan, Cavan, Cork, Westmeath
Which counties have been drawn together?
Group One: Galway, Armagh, Derry, Westmeath
Group Two: Dublin, Mayo, Roscommon, Cavan
Group Three: Donegal, Clare, Tyrone, Cork
Group Four: Kerry, Louth, Monaghan, Meath
When will the games be played?
The round-robin fixtures will be played on 18 May, 25/26 May, 1/2 June and 15/16 June.
What are this weekend's games?
All four games take place on Saturday (times BST)
Kerry v Monaghan (Group Four, 15:00, Killarney)
Mayo v Cavan (Group Two, 17:00, Castlebar)
Galway v Derry (Group One, 17:30, Salthill)
Clare v Cork (Group Three, 18:00, Ennis)
When will the knockout stages take place?
Preliminary quarter-finals - 22/23 June
All-Ireland quarter-finals - 29/30 June
All-Ireland semi-finals - 13/14 July
All-Ireland final - 28 July
What is the format?
Sixteen teams are drawn into four groups of four teams with each team playing the other counties in its group once, earning two points for a win and one for a draw. Each team plays one home, one away and one neutral fixture.
The top three in each group advance to the knockout stages; the first place teams to the All-Ireland quarter-finals, and second and third-placed teams to the preliminary quarter-finals.
The four second-placed teams play against the third-placed teams in the preliminary quarter-finals.
The winners of the preliminary quarter-finals progress to play the group winners in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Two semi-finals and a final follow.
What about this weekend then?
The opening game in the All-Ireland series sees last year's beaten finalists Kerry hosting Monaghan in a Group Four fixture in Killarney.
Monaghan have struggled in recent months. While they opened 2024 with victory over Dublin, they fell to relegation from Division One before being dumped out of the Ulster Championship in the preliminary round by Cavan.
However, they should never be discounted, and it's important to remember they weren't far off reaching last year's All-Ireland final.
But Kerry, who beat Clare to win their 84th Munster crown a few weeks back, are expected to win this one.
In Group Two, Cavan - whose Ulster campaign was ended by Tyrone - travel to Castlebar to face Mayo.
While any trip to MacHale Park is daunting, Cavan do so without key forward Paddy Lynch, who will be out for an extended period with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Also heading west are Derry, who have had four weeks to reset after a bruising Ulster quarter-final defeat by Donegal. The Oak Leafers, still considered strong All-Ireland contenders, face three-in-a-row Connacht champions Galway in Salthill.
Like Cavan, Derry have lost a player to an ACL injury in Padraig McGrogan but they still have more than enough quality throughout their panel to mount another serious challenge for Sam after semi-final defeats in 2022 and 2023.
That 2022 loss was at the hands of Galway, who Derry have never beaten in the championship. Padraic Joyce's side were edged out by Kerry in the 2022 decider, and while they failed to reach the quarter-finals last year, they looked back to somewhere near their best in the Connacht final win over Mayo.
Saturday's other game sees Clare hosting Cork in Ennis in Group Three in what is a good opportunity for both teams to get points on the board before Donegal and Tyrone begin their round-robin campaigns next week.
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 score updates from the second round of Tailteann Cup games, including Carlow v Fermanagh (15:00), London v Down (18:00) and Wexford v Antrim (16:00).
