The new football playing rules being trialled in 2025 will have a grand opening on Saturday, January 26 with three seismic Allianz NFL Division 1 games kicking off the inter-county campaign.
With no pre-season competitions, supporters will have to wait until the last weekend in January to see the new rules, passed in their entirety at a Special Congress last weekend, operating in a competitive environment at inter-county level for the first time.
A repeat of the All-Ireland Football Final, between Champions Armagh and Galway in Salthill, will get the action under way at a newly floodlit Pearse Stadium at 5.15pm. Mayo will be in Croke Park to play Dublin at 7.30pm, with RTÉ and TG4 expected to broadcast them, respectively.
In between, Tyrone, now managed by Malachy O’Rourke, and Derry, under Paddy Tally’s stewardship, will throw in in Omagh at 6pm, a game likely to be shown on a BBC platform.
There are significant Division 2 games that evening, too.
Cavan host Monaghan at 6pm in Kingspan Breffni, while Meath are in Cork for their opening game at 5pm as Robbie Brennan starts his inter-county managerial career.
The following day, Donegal make the long trek to Killarney to play Kerry, where Michael Murphy is expected to be involved after coming out of a two-year retirement.
Because of the interest in the new rules, the seven-team Division 1A hurling group will feel a little squeezed.
Wexford host Cork in the opening game, also at 5pm, in Chadwicks Wexford Park, while All-Ireland Champions Clare welcome Kilkenny to Cusack Park the following day for a 2pm throw-in. Galway and Tipperary are in action in Pearse Stadium at 3.45pm.
Limerick, who surrendered their All-Ireland crown in the summer, will be the recipients of the first bye of the campaign that weekend.
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The following weekend, February 1/2, Armagh will be back in the Athletic Grounds to host Tyrone at 6pm with Dublin in Donegal for a 7.30pm throw-in.
On the same night, Limerick get their season under way in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh against Cork, a repeat of their All-Ireland semi-final last summer.
Mayo and Galway will provide one of the showpiece football games on the Sunday afternoon, throwing in at 3.45pm in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, a game that will be preceded by Derry v Kerry in Celtic Park, 1.45pm. That puts Tally in against Kerry, the team he left for Derry just a few weeks ago, for the first time.
The NHL Division 1 hurling action continues with Kilkenny and Galway in UPMC Nowlan Park at 1.45pm on the Sunday, followed by Tipperary hosting Wexford in FBD Semple Stadium at 3.45pm.
In a new departure, a consequence of seven-team divisions that now require seven weekends to complete, there will be hurling league action over the first three weekends and the games will have the stage to themselves on that third weekend as football takes a break.
Galway will continue to put their new lights to good use, welcoming Clare for a 7.30pm throw-in on Saturday, February 8, preceded by Wexford and Kilkenny in Chadwicks Wexford Park at 5.30pm.
The following day, the headline game sees Limerick and Tipperary in action in the Gaelic Grounds as Cork sit the weekend out.
The seventh and final round of the group stages of the hurling league will take place on March 22/23.
Hurling league semi-finals have been dispensed with and the Division 1A and 1B Finals will be played on the weekend of April 5/6.
Louth footballers will play the majority of their games at Defy Páirc Mhuire in Ardee, which has been their League home in recent years, but they will switch to Inniskeen in Monaghan — the venue where they beat their neighbours in the Championship for the first time in 49 years earlier this year — for their last round game against Meath on Sunday, March 23,
The Football League Finals will take place on the weekend of March 29/30, a week before the provincial Championships start.
The inter-county season follows the same lines as previous years with the All-Ireland Football Final once again closing out inter-county business on Sunday, July 27.
Subject to a motion being passed at Congress next February, the All-Ireland Finals will go to a replay if either game finishes level at the end of normal time. This year’s All-Ireland Hurling decider went to extra-time.
The All-Ireland Hurling quarter-finals and the Tailteann Cup semi-finals will again share the same weekend, June 21/22, with a decision to be finalised as to whether the hurling will have the Sunday afternoon slots.
It is anticipated that they will, with the Tailteann Cup semi-finals moving to Saturday.