Women's National Football League: All you need to know

There is a full schedule of games across Divisions 1, 2 and 3, where the promotion and relegation pictures will become clearer, as Armagh and Kerry aim to book a repeat of their 2024 top-flight decider.

ONLINE

You'll find score updates and match reports on RTÉ Sport Online and RTÉ News app.

RADIO

Updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport.

TV

Kerry v Meath in Division 1 live on TG4, Saturday, from 1.40pm.

Saturday's other three top-tier fixtures – Waterford v Armagh, Tyrone v Dublin and Mayo v Kildare – will be available to view via live streams at https://www.247.tv/live/svmstreaming.

WEATHER

Saturday: It will be mostly cloudy with outbreaks of rain, possibly heavy at times. Highest temperatures of 9 to 13 degrees over the eastern half of the country, but only reaching 6 to 8 degrees further west. Light to moderate north to northwest winds at first, but fresher winds in the west will extend to all areas through the day.

Sunday: Patchy rain and drizzle will gradually clear eastwards with drier, brighter weather following from the west and with sunny spells developing. Eastern areas will stay mostly cloudy for mush of the day. Highest temperatures of 8 to 11 degrees with moderate to fresh northerly winds. For more go to met.ie.

SATURDAY 22 MARCH

Division 1

Waterford v Armagh, Kilmacthomas, 1pm

The holders Armagh need just a point here to wrap up another final slot. With five wins from five to date, the Orchard County are all but over the line.

Hosts Waterford trail the table-toppers by eight points but they're on course for another season in the top flight – and on the back of a solid campaign. The Déise enjoyed a big win against Tyrone last time out and make one change for this one, with Clare Walsh coming in for Chloe Fennell.

Armagh’s last victory came against Kildare and their starting team for the trip south shows just one change, with Grace Ferguson replacing Caroline O’Hanlon.

Waterford: K Gardiner; C Murray, E Power, M Ryan; C McCarthy, R Casey, K McGrath; E Murray (capt.), H Power; Á O’Neill, K Murray; B McMaugh; K Hogan, C Walsh, L McGregor.

Armagh: A Carr; M Ferguson, C Towe, L Kenny; G Ferguson, L McConville (capt.), R Mulligan; N Coleman, B Mackin; E Druse, A McCoy, E Lavery; N Reel, M Feehan, N Henderson.

Kerry v Meath, Austin Stack Park, 2pm

A huge game in the race for a final slot. Kerry, second on 12 points, take on Meath, who are third and three points further back.

A victory for the Kingdom here would put them through to another decider, while the Royals must win to keep their hopes alive.

Kerry were comfortable winners against strugglers Mayo in their previous game and boss Mark Bourke has shuffled his back for the first competitive meeting between the counties since last year's All-Ireland quarter-final.

Kayleigh Cronin, Caoimhe Evans, Niamh Carmody and Jaydn Lucey come into the starting team, with Niamh Broderick, Ciara McCarthy, Leah Boyle and Rachel Dwyer dropping out.

Meath were given a real wake-up call by Dublin last time out, suffering a big loss.

The Royals need a quick response and they make one change for the visit to the Kingdom, with Katie Newe coming in for Emma Duggan, who skippered DCU Dóchas Éireann to AIG O’Connor Cup glory last weekend.

Kerry: ME Bolger; E Lynch, D Kearney, R Rahilly; K Cronin, A O’Connell, A Dillane; M O’Connell, A Galvin (capt); C Evans, N Ní Chonchúir, N Carmody; J Lucey, S O’Shea, D O’Leary.

Meath: R Murray; A Sheridan, S Wall, N Troy; K Newe, MK Lynch (capt.), C Millington; N Gallogly, K Bermingham; M Thynne, M Farrelly, C Smyth; M Byrne, V Wall, K Cole.

Tyrone v Dublin, O'Neill Park, Dungannon, 3pm

Tyrone are in relegation trouble and need to pull something out of the fire in their remaining two games.

The Red Hands will go down this weekend if they lose this one and Kildare take something from their clash with Mayo.

Dublin have grown steadily into the competition but may have their eyes on the summer prizes, as a number of leading stars have been reintroduced across the season to date.

Tyrone were well beaten by Waterford in their last outing and they've reacted with four changes in personnel.

Tori McElroy, Emer McCanny, Aoife Quinn and Niamh O’Neill come in for Michaela Moore, Aine Strain, Chloe McCaffrey and Sorcha Gormley.

Dublin showed good form against Meath last time out, winning big in a Leinster derby, and there are three changes to their team for the trip north.

Chloe Darby, Hannah Tyrrell and Sophie McIntyre are handed starts, with Grace Kós, Rebecca McDonnell and captain Carla Rowe held in reserve.

Tyrone: A Coyle; J Lyons, C Campbell, E Quinn; T McElroy, M Corrigan, S McCarroll; M Mallon, A McHugh (capt); E McNamee, E McCanny, A Quinn; N O’Neill, A McGahan, A Horisk.

Dublin: A Shiels; J Tobin, L Caffrey (capt), A Kane; A Curran, M Byrne, N Donlon; É O’Dowd, H McGinnis; C O’Connor, C Darby, K Sullivan; H Tyrrell, N Hetherton, S McIntyre.

Mayo v Kildare; Swinford Amenity Park, 3pm

Mayo are bottom and pointless but not relegated yet.

The Westerners will, however, have to win their remaining two games and hope that results elsewhere work in their favour.

Kildare, last year's Division 2 winners, travel to Swinford knowing that they will relegate their hosts if they claim even a point.

A win for the Lilies, and Tyrone failing to beat Dublin, will ensure that the Leinster side are playing in the top flight again next season.

Mayo’s fifth defeat from five league outings came against Kerry and manager Liam McHale has altered one third of his starting team.

Sherin El Massry, Aoife Geraghty, Chelsea Doherty, Annie Gough and Sinead Walsh are named to start, with Ciara Durkan, Ciara Whyte, Riona Jordan, Kayla Doherty and Maria Cannon dropping out.

Kildare lost out to Armagh the last day and there are two changes to their starting line-up, as Leah Doran and Aoife Murnane come in for Lauren Murtagh and Ciara Price.

Mayo: J Gawalkiewicz; L Wallace, N O’Malley, S El Massry; D Caldwell (capt), J Mortimer, S Lally; H Reape, A Geraghty; C Doherty, E Murray, B Hession; A Gough, C Keane, S Walsh.

Kildare: M Hulgraine; R Sargent, L Lenehan (capt), E Wheeler; M Doherty, L Dunlea, M Aspel; C Sullivan, G Wheeler; C Moran, L Doran, N Dooley; A Prizeman, A Murnane, R Byrne.

SUNDAY 23 MARCH

Division 2

Donegal v Tipperary; Naomh Padraig, Lifford, 1pm

With two rounds of fixtures remaining, both counties will want to avoid getting sucked into any late relegation trouble.

They begin the weekend just two points clear of the drop zone.

Donegal: C Friel; N Carr, C Gillespie, S McFeeley; S McFadden, E McGinley, N Boyle; R Rodgers (capt), R McColgan; F McManamon, K Dowds, A Porter; E Gallagher, S White, J McFadden.

Tipperary: L Fitzpatrick (capt); N Martin, L Spillane, E Cronin; S English, M Curley, B Condon; A.R. Kennedy, S O’Carroll; H Spillane, N Towey, A O’Shea; C English, E Morrissey, A Fennessy.

Cork v Clare; Naomh Abán, 2pm

Cork host Clare knowing that victory will seal promotion back to the top flight.

The Leesiders have won four of their five games to date, with a sole blip coming against table-toppers Galway.

Clare need the points for different reasons, as they're second from bottom in the standings.

Cork: S Murphy; M Duggan, S Leahy (capt.), S Kelly; E Cleary, S Cronin, R Ní Chorcora; M O’Callaghan, A Healy; A O’Mahony, H Looney, A Corcoran; L O’Mahony, L McDonagh, K Quirke.

Clare: A Griffin; A Keane, G Harvey, R Doohan; E Burke, J Doohan, S Melican; C Harvey (capt), R Martin; L Conway, M Downes, T Collins; E McNamara, A Considine, C Moloney.

Westmeath v Roscommon; Ballynacargy GAA, 2pm

Westmeath simply have to win here to avoid the drop.

They're bottom of the table and with just a single point collected, three adrift of Clare and Roscommon.

Roscommon make the trip knowing they’ll be safe if they win and Clare slip up against Cork.

Westmeath: A Donlon; L McCartan, S Murphy, A Roche; C Kelly, L Power, F Coyle (capt.); T Dillon, V Carr; A Ruane, A Jones, P Ruane; G Byrne, C Kilmurray, S Dillon.

Roscommon: C O’Reilly; R Brady, E Irwin, M Kelly; M McKeon, S Wynne, Ria Lennon; A Curran, L O’Rourke; S McGuinness, L Mannion (capt), N Watson; A Hanly, Rosie Lennon, C Lennon.

Monaghan v Galway; Currin, 2pm

Galway are flying and a win here will wrap up promotion.

Monaghan need the victory to keep their hopes alive, with the Farney County in third place on nine points, three behind second-placed Cork.

The hosts trail Galway by six points at the start of play but a Monaghan win would make things really interesting at the top ahead of the final round of group games.

Monaghan: Ó Kelly; A Clarke, S Brady, C Brennan; A Burns (capt.), J Duffy, C Treanor; N Flanagan, J McQuillan; G Grimes, A Garland, G Hanratty; L Connolly, É Sherry, L Garland.

Galway: D Gower; M Jordan, S Ní Loingsigh, K Geraghty (capt); A Eilian, N Ward, C Trill; L Ward, S Divilly; O Divilly, S Hynes, A Davoren; L Coen, R Leonard, K Slevin.

Division 3

Laois v Cavan; LOETB Centre of Excellence

Cavan lead Division 3 and can take a big step towards promotion with victory away to Laois.

The Breffni County are almost back in Division 2 but they'll get nothing easy from Laois, who trail them by just two points in the standings.

A Laois win would leave everything up for grabs in the promotion race, with Wexford and Louth still in the hunt.

Laois: E Barry; S Farrelly, M Phelan, F McEvoy; C Crowley, A Moore, S Havill; F Dooley, A Moran (capt.); K Donoghue, E Lacey, L Kearney; E Galvin, E Lawlor, M Nerney.

Cavan: E Baugh; L Crowe, S Kelly, E Corcoran; M Sheridan, S Lynch (capt), S Greene; M Fitzpatrick, E Brady; S Fitzsimons, L McVeety, C Dolan; N Keenaghan, A Sheridan, A Gilsenan.

Down v Offaly; Liatroim Fontenoys, 2pm

Down would have hoped to launch a promotion charge but they've stuttered this season and find themselves in mid table.

They can still finish the season strongly, however, and there’s a chance to earn more points against Offaly, who will be playing Division 4 football next year.

Down: C Byrne; C Milburn, A Greene, C McCreanor; N McClory, C Mulvenna (capt.), A Brogan; E Sands, M Doherty; N Ferris, E Fitzpatrick, L Duffy; A Smith, N King, N Rice.

Offaly: L Dunne; D Hannon, N Glackin, N Merriman; K Flynn, N Buckley, A Minnock; M Mann (capt), A Gavin Mangan; C Walsh, S McGuinness, A Stafford; E Hand, A Watkins, S Doyle.

Carlow v Wexford; Netwatch Cullen Park, 2pm

A huge game for both teams.

Wexford need to win to maintain their promotion push, as Carlow fight to avoid relegation.

A defeat for Carlow here and they're down, which would be a huge disappointment after the joy of winning the Division 4 title last year.

Carlow: S Cotter; S McCullagh, A Carroll, G Sherlock; T Lyons, E Ware, M Cranny; R Bailey (capt.), E Hayden; B Nolan, C Ní Shé, O Woods; S Hayden, M Townsend, A Kiernan.

Wexford: S Cloake; S McCarthy, M Byrne, A Tormey; C Banville, A Halligan, K English; C Donnelly, R Murphy (capt); B McDonald, C Murray, O Byrne; A Neville, A Fortune, C Fox.

Limerick v Louth; Newcastle West, 2pm

Louth are fourth but they're not out of the promotion race just yet.

The Wee County start the day on nine points, one adrift of Laois and Wexford and three behind pace-setters Cavan.

Limerick have big motivation themselves, however, as a win here would guarantee Division 3 football again next year.

Limerick: S Hennessy; S Dillon, Y Lee (capt.), R Browne; E Woulfe, C Mee, M MacNamara; G Mullane, O Ryan; R Ambrose, D Murphy, K O’Leary; L O’Brien, R Delee, C McNamara.

Louth: R Lambe Fagan; E Hand, E Murray, H Lambe Sally; C Nolan, S McLaughlin, L Byrne; A Breen (capt), A Halligan; L White, A Russell, E Byrne; L Collins, K Flood, Z Sweeney.

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