There was a time when a new championship format would cause convulsions in football.
But after the revolution inspired by the FRC rule changes, there is little in the old game that shocks us now.
When the qualifier system was introduced, it was a radical and eventually popular step. The Super 8s were unloved, while the post-Covid adjustment to a round-robin system never found widespread favour, either.
The new format begins this weekend, with the first eight of the 16 teams in the All-Ireland series playing, followed by the other half next weekend.
All counties get another go in a convoluted second round that sees the eight winners from round one face off in Round 2A, while the eight losers do likewise in 2B.
The losers from 2A then play the winners from 2B in the third round, before the quarter-final draw is comprised of the winners from 2A and the winners from Round 3.
No one said it was straightforward.
The hope is that the football will win out over another tortuous system change.
Here are four big-hitters who re-enter the fray after weeks of nursing bruises following early provincial defeats.
Line in the sand: Down manager Conor Laverty celebrates the shock victory over Donegal
DONEGAL
Losing to Down hasn’t much altered Donegal’s status as one of the two teams likeliest to win the Sam Maguire.
That’s because of the shock nature of that loss to Conor Laverty’s team, and its one-off aspect became clearer when Down were hammered by Armagh a week later.
Laverty said the Down squad were together for 10 straight days before beating Donegal, which is an indirect tribute to the mighty team that Jim McGuinness has put together.
They were curiously vulnerable in defeat that day, and the absence of Michael Langan was important. In keeping with secretive spirit of the times, there’s no indication yet of his fitness for Killarney on Saturday.
McGuinness said he had simply ‘rolled’ his ankle and would be fine; local speculation ran in a darker direction.
The significance of the loss – just the second time a Donegal team under McGuinness have lost in the Ulster championship – only became clear with the All-Ireland draw, and the obligation to play Kerry in Fitzgerald Stadium.
It was a bad break for Donegal, having to face their closest rivals for the All-Ireland only weeks after they thought they had exorcised the ghosts of last year in the league final.
If they lose on Saturday, that Division One title looks meaningless and ghoulish spectres of the All-Ireland final no-show will return.
Think tank: Donegal manager Jim McGuinness (left) with assistant Colm McFadden
It feels like Donegal must prove themselves all over again. Defeat isn’t terminal, but two consecutive losses would threaten to dent the McGuinness aura.
That wouldn’t be an issue from the outside, but as well as his coaching nous, a good deal of the McGuinness aura relies on his record.
Were they to come undone on Saturday, they have the immediate problem of a difficult draw in the next round, but more importantly it would constitute the first significant in-season setback of the manager’s second coming.
GALWAY
The worry for Padraic Joyce isn’t losing Sean Fitzgerald to Love Island. The full-back is no slouch but would struggle to get a place in Galway’s strongest team.
And while reaction to his decision to leave the panel has been laughably overwrought in places, chances are it hasn’t figured highly in the concerns of Joyce.
Tribal quest: Galway’s Rob Finnerty (left) celebrates with Love Island hopeful Sean Fitzgerald
He has plenty of other issues to detain him, not least how his side couldn’t see out the Connacht final when they led by six points with nine minutes remaining following Damien Comer’s goal.
That failure brings up the pervasive problem that has confronted Joyce in recent seasons: Galway’s instability. They simply do not control matches well enough, often relying on the brilliance of their forwards to dig them out, as they did repeatedly last season.
They couldn’t manage it against Roscommon, on a day when it was their middle-third players that starred. John Maher and Cillian McDaid were outstanding, but what eventually did for Galway was another age-old problem: kick-outs.
Before the FRC rules put a radical new emphasis on re-starts, it was a part of the game where Galway frequently struggled.
Joyce chopped and changed between Connor Gleeson and Conor Flaherty last season, at one point in the nervy win against Down apparently contemplating a change mid-match.
Man in possession: Galway goalkeeper Conor Flaherty is shown a red card against Leitrim
Flaherty is the man in possession, but he saw his last five kick-outs in the Connacht final turned over, and Roscommon were too good not to take advantage.
Kildare won’t be good enough to exploit that weakness on Saturday, but it’s one that Joyce hasn’t been able to address. And until it is sorted, Galway will remain short of their ultimate ambition, even if their strengths elsewhere are a match for any of the leading counties.
MEATH
Robbie Brennan and his Meath players hardly found much consolation in watching their conquerors Westmeath take provincial glory in Croke Park last Sunday.
The assumption was that Brennan’s Meath were the team to beat in Leinster this season, and there was ample evidence to support that case.
They were beaten by neighbours Louth in the provincial final a year ago, but then reached the All-Ireland semi-finals, progress that included a shock but resounding win over Kerry, and a rip-roaring quarter-final victory over Galway.
Promotion followed to Division One this spring, but they were stuck to the ground when Westmeath beat them in Tullamore last month.
Man on a mission: Meath’s Sean Rafferty claims possession against Kildare in the League
Defender Sean Rafferty later said there wasn’t a word said in the Meath dressing room afterwards, but there were tears shed.
Brennan hasn’t had to deal with many setbacks visible from the outside since taking over for last season; that defeat was the most significant.
It wouldn’t have been an outrageous ambition for Meath to target a return to the last four again this season, but that looks a long way off from where they are now.
Westmeath are a good team, and showed in beating Dublin that while they will spend next spring in Division Three, they are a Division Two side quality-wise.
It turns out that Meath weren’t turned over by no-hopers, but it was still a big setback.
They beat Cork with a comprehensive display featuring many aspects of the modern game in the Division Two final, dominating the opposition kick-out at crucial stages and also summoning bursts of scores when required.
The latter is a trait they showed during the league, too, and their scoring threat makes them a bona fide threat.
Cork will count on the tighter confines of Páirc Uí Rinn working to their advantage, but Meath showed in the group stages last year they can handle adversity on the road.
They’ve no choice now.
More to do: Tyrone’s Seanie O’Donnell with manager Malachy O’Rourke after playing Donegal
TYRONE
Forty one long days will have passed since they lost to Armagh by the time Tyrone run out on the pitch at Hyde Park tomorrow afternoon.
That defeat was as good as a championship loss can get, given expectations beforehand that Tyrone would be forced to submit to a more powerful opponent – and in a way that could get ugly.
While their resolve eventually gave way, the performance was encouraging and provided evidence of Malachy O’Rourke being bolder in blending young players with more established stars.
Tyrone have won three of the last four Under 20 All-Irelands, and are contesting this year’s final against Kerry on Saturday week.
That level of success, at an age-grade so close to senior, meant fans expected a bountiful graduation.
O’Rourke was careful with youngsters like Seanie O’Donnell and Eoin McElholm as last year ended in semi-final defeat to Kerry.
A dismal Division Two campaign followed that brought two wins from seven matches and no prospect of promotion, and the mood before the Armagh match was sombre.
But O’Rourke started three of the alumni of those Under 20 teams, including last year’s captain Joey Clarke, and introduced a couple more off the bench.
Quality: Tyrone midfielder Conn Kilpatrick in action against Gerard Smith of Cavan last year
That game also featured a titanic performance from Conn Kilpatrick at midfield. Niall Morgan struggled with uncharacteristic inaccuracy, but Tyrone went close to causing an upset.
Beating Roscommon on Sunday would probably register as a shock given the form of the Connacht champions all year, but the meticulous O’Rourke has had weeks to prepare.
This is a day his vision of Tyrone needs to be realised.
