Today’s GAMES

FOOTBALL

Connacht SFC quarter-final

Mayo v Galway

MacHale Park, 4pm IT IS hard to trust the Mayo team named on Thursday night, not least the selection of Ger Cafferkey at full-back.

Given how Damien Comer had brutalised full-back lines all spring this is one match-up which is unlikely to materialise and will invite speculation as to what Stephen Rochford’s team will actually be.

Could there possibly be some role for Lee Keegan? Unlikely, but given that Mayo’s need is bordering on desperation don’t rule anything out.

The force is with Galway given their spring form, but history tells us, most recently in March, that this Mayo team have redefined the concept of resilience.

The likelihood is that whoever loses will not only end up in the Super 8s, but could actually also avoid Dublin by going through the qualifier route.

Still, this is a game Mayo, given the shallowness of their panel, must win, but if Galway are to be true contenders this is also a test they must pass.

And they will. Verdict: Galway

Ulster SFC preliminary round

Donegal v Cavan

Ballybofey, 4pm IT WILL come as a relief to Declan Bonner, after a difficult build up, when the ball is thrown in today and by the time the whistle will be blown for full time his team should be all but in the Ulster final.

This may be a preliminary round game, but with Derry and either Down or Antrim, standing in their way whoever wins here will almost certainly be in the final.

That might just increase the temptation for Mattie McGleenan to use Dara McVeety — in the advanced stages of recovering from a hamstring tear — but caution is likely to prevail. But even with their best player on the field, they look doomed here.

Their full-back line gave up 4-16 in the Division 2 final against Roscommon, and facing the likes of Jamie Brennan, Michael Murphy and last, but most certainly not least, Paddy McBrearty this has the makings of a long day for the visitors. Verdict: Donegal

Leinster SFC first round

Carlow v Louth

O’Moore Park, 2pm HARD to figure why this game is the curtain raiser for today’s double-bill in Portlaoise as it is by a distance the harder to call.

These teams will be playing in the same division next spring, which suggests there will be little between them.

Louth’s lack of cutting edge — they averaged less than 11 points per game when getting relegated from Division 2 — and Carlow’s heavily-manned defence gives the latter a great chance.

However, the loss of Brendan Murphy to the United States is the kind of blow which they are unlikely to recover from and they could just pay the price here to give Pete McGrath his first competitive victory as the Louth manager. Verdict: Louth

Offaly v Wicklow

O’Moore Park, 4pm THE meddling by the county board who voted in a rule which will not allow their manager Stephen Wallace to pick his strongest team available goes some way to explaining how Offaly have become such a dysfunctional GAA county.

Wallace is unable to select Cian Johnson, who must play with the Under-20s at the board’s insistence, which is in defiance of common practise elsewhere.

It might also explain why Wicklow won this fixture in 2014, when the teams last met in a Championship qualifier.

However, Offaly’s comfort here is that Wicklow rank right now as the worst team in the land, which should rule out the Garden County repeating their solitary Leinster win over today’s opposition, which occurred back in 1899. Verdict: Offaly

O’Byrne Cup final

Westmeath v Meath

TEG Cusack Park, 3pm

Connacht JFC Final

Mayo v Galway

MacHale Park, 1.30pm

Ulster MFC qualifiers round 1

Donegal v Monaghan

Ballybofey, 2pm

HURLING

Leinster SHC first round

Dublin v Kilkenny (Live RTE 2)

Parnell Park, 2pm INTERESTING how Dublin line-out as Pat Gilroy goes back to the future with 35-year-old Conal Keaney at 11 and Liam Rushe named at 14, as he was in the Ger Cunningham era.

With proven full-back Eoghan O’Donnell listed in midfield, it remains to be seen if there is a positional reshuffle to accommodate an extra defender and help crowd out Kilkenny’s goto forwards, TJ Reid and Walter Walsh. Verdict: Kilkenny

Joe McDonagh Cup second round

Westmeath v Meath

TEG Cusack Park, 1pm IN A group of fine margins, Westmeath stole Laois’s thunder with that first round win against the head. Allied to Meath’s collapse for three quarters of the Antrim game and the concession of five goals, the odds favour a home win. Verdict: Westmeath

Kerry v Laois

Austin Stack Park, 3pm STEPHEN ‘Picky’ Maher’s return to action was one small positive amidst the ashes of a first-round defeat making this a must-win for a Laois team with sights on a final and a place in the Liam MacCarthy Cup series proper. Verdict: Laois

Leinster MHC round 1

Dublin v Kilkenny

Parnell Park, 12 noon