WEEKEND GAA PREVIEWS Louth v Wexford Portlaoise, 4.00 Referee: S Mulhare (Laois)

TODAY LEINSTER SFC QF Offaly v Laois

Portlaoise, 7.00 Referee: J Henry (Mayo) Offaly will have to roll back the years if they are to win here, given that it is 21 years since they last beat Laois in the Championship.

Indeed, they have to go back all the way to 1978 for the last time that they beat Laois on their home patch. Since 2002, they have met five times in the Championship, the most recent being last year’s Tailteann Cup clash which finished in a draw.

Laois are in a better place than they were 12 months ago, with the appointment of Justin McNulty providing some focus as they cruised to the Division 4 title, whereas it has hardly been as smooth for Declan Kelly who lost his first four League games.

But Offaly survived in Division 3 and performed decently. Time to roll back the years.

VERDICT: OFFALY

ULSTER SFC QF Down v Antrim

Páirc Esler, Newry, 6.00 Referee: B Cassidy (Derry) It is 24 years and counting since Antrim last beat Down and that is unlikely to change after this evening.

Ravaged with injuries, it has been a challenging second season for Saffron’s boss Andy McEntee and despite a bright start to the league – they won their first two games – they needed to beat Wicklow to avoid dropping into Division 4.

They received something of a reality check in round three when they were at the wrong end of a 1-15 to 1-6 trimming from Down. although that result was anticipated given how strong the Mourne men were throughout the spring.

It will be interesting to see what their response will be to their unexpected loss to Westmeath in the final, but the suspicion is that it will not be pretty for Antrim.

VERDICT: DOWN

TOMORROW LEINSTER SFC QFS Kildare v Wicklow

Portlaoise, 1.45

Referee: S Lonergan (Tipperary) The tremors which Wicklow sent through the game in 2008 when Mick O’Dwyer led them to a stunning win over the Lilywhites at Croke Park will not come close to how the earth will move if Oisín McConville can repeat the dose.

Back then, Kildare dusted themselves down and went on to reach the last eight in the Sam Maguire but if they lose today, they will not get to even play in it and can look forward to a summer of Tailteann Cup football.

Despite Wicklow’s heroics, inspired by the veteran

Dean Healy, the suspicion is that the Garden County’s shock win over Westmeath was cheered loudly in Kildare who would have approached a clash with the Division 3 winners with some trepidation.

Kildare have gone 10 months since they last won a game – against Roscommon in the All-Ireland group stage last June – and their lack of organisation and an identifiable gameplan was alarming throughout a disastrous Division 2 campaign.

The expectation – based on the rather insecure belief that they can’t get any worse – is that they will improve as the season progresses, but even if they don’t they are still a level above a Wicklow team who they beat by 10 points when they met last summer.

VERDICT: KILDARE Last Sunday’s four-goal mauling of Carlow reaffirmed the sense that Wexford are a better team than their current Division 4 status might suggest.

A contentious late penalty awarded to Leitrim would sabotage their promotion charge but since losing that round 3 game their form has been red hot, winning their last five games by an average of just under 14 points a game while striking for 11 goals.

However, that was all against bottom tier opposition and Louth have both the structure and the work ethic to be a bona fide Sam Maguire team, something which they proved by retaining their Division 2 status.

That makes this a huge step-up for Wexford, but if they can be competitive here then they can expect to go deep in the Tailteann Cup later in the summer.

VERDICT: LOUTH

Dublin v Meath

Croke Park, 4.30 Referee: T Murphy (Galway) Colm O’Rourke (below) stands as proof that a classical education is never wasted.

After his team’s sevenpoint win over Longford and quizzed on their prospects against Dublin, his response was ‘Lupus Non Timet Canem Latrantem’, which translates as ‘a wolf is not afraid of a barking dog’.

‘We’ve been doing a lot of barking but no biting when it came to Dublin for a long, long time, so I’m hoping we’ll do a bit better this time,’ expanded O’Rourke.

What a pity it is that his team’s defending cannot match their manager’s eloquence, and giving up 3-12 to a Division 4 team does not augur well when facing the champions on their own patch.

True, the champions will be without their two-time player of the year midfielder Brian Fenton, whose onematch ban for the red card he received in the closing minutes of Dublin’s league final penalty shoot-out defeat to Derry was upheld this week.

Since Meath’s last win in this fixture in 2010, they have lost their last eight clashes by a margin of just under 12 points a game.

Somehow, you suspect Dublin, who are going for their 40th win on the bounce in Leinster, will cope in Fenton’s absence. VERDICT: DUBLIN

ULSTER SFC QF Fermanagh v Armagh

Brewster Park, 2.00

Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan) When they last met in the Ulster championship, Fermanagh’s five-point victory meant that after four seasons Kieran McGeeney (above) had still not won a provincial game as Armagh manager. He is in a better place these days although hardly secure – his extension for a 10th season was challenged by some clubs and put to a vote – having lost last year’s final to Derry in a penalty shoot-out.

Fermanagh showed lots of resolve in battling unsuccessfully to stay in Division 2, but the six goals they conceded against Louth in what was effectively a relegation play-off game in round six suggests a fragility in defence that Armagh might exploit.

This fixture has a reputation for being cautious – only one goal scored in their last four meetings – but Armagh might just let off the brakes this time. VERDICT: ARMAGH