THE DRAWS FOR the men’s inter-county provincial football championships will take place this Saturday afternoon, live on RTÉ Radio 1′s Saturday Sport.

The four football draws will take place after 4pm (there will be no hurling draw on account of the round-robin format).

The outcome of the provincial games, along with Allianz Football League standings, will determine which counties progress to the All-Ireland series and which drop into the second-tier Tailteann Cup.

The eight provincial finalists will make up half of the 16 teams in the All-Ireland series group stage, while the remaining eight slots will be filled by the next-best sides from the final league standings. Last year’s Tailteann Cup winners are guaranteed one of those 16 slots in the All-Ireland series.

In the instance that a Division 3 or Division 4 team reaches their provincial final, the lowest-ranked Division 2 side from the league will drop into the Tailteann Cup.

Ahead of Saturday’s draw, the following criteria have already been determined for each province:

Munster

• Last season’s finalists, Kerry and Limerick, will receive byes into the semi-final stage but could be drawn against each other in the last four.

Ulster

• Fermanagh and Tyrone will receive byes into the quarter-finals because they began their campaigns in the preliminary round last season. The same applies to the 2021 preliminary round pairing of Donegal and Down.

Connacht

• New York v Leitrim and London v Sligo are predetermined pairings. Two more from Galway, Mayo and Roscommon will make up the quarter-finals.

Leinster

• Last year’s semi-finalists Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Westmeath will receive a bye into the quarter-finals. One of Carlow, Laois, Longford, Louth, Offaly, Wexford and Wicklow will receive a bye into the same stage.