Twenty-seven weeks after we were mesmerised by Shane Walsh and David Clifford in the All-Ireland final, the Allianz League returns this weekend.
The split season isn’t perfect by any means, but it is the way forward. The club season needs its window from August onwards but, I must admit, that there were a couple of weekends in late summer when I was craving a big All-Ireland semi-final or final rather than an early round game from a random county championship.
The split season and new Championship format also has significant ramifications for the League, with 17 of the 32 counties in Championship action a week after the League finals.
Read more: Ulster says go - Allianz Football League team-by-team guide, predictions, fixtures and betting odds
Connacht Council secretary John Prenty made a proposal last year that League finals be scrapped and, having attended the Division One and Two final double header at Croke Park last April, I fully agree with him. League finals just aren’t a priority.
It’s a widely held opinion that the Leagues are the best structured competition in the GAA in terms of competitiveness and equality but for the eight teams in Division One it’s all about survival. Winning a Division One title has never been more irrelevant, which is a real shame.
That logic even applies to reigning League and All-Ireland Champions Kerry. The long season that several of their key players have endured, along with injuries to Gavin White, Paul Geaney, Shane Ryan and the recent retirement of Davis Moran, suggests it will be a very much weakened Kerry for the early stages of the League.
