The Allianz Football League concluded at the weekend with Kerry collecting a record 23rd League crown and Roscommon, Louth and Cavan picking up trophies to supplement their promotions.
But how does it leave things going into the Championship, which gets underway on Saturday week?
Kerry look impressive - but when will we see them again?
The portents are good for Kerry after Jack O’Connor started his third term as manager in the same fashion as the previous two - by winning the League title. Both of those successes, in 2004 and 2009, were followed by an All-Ireland later that year, a double that O’Connor also managed in 2006.
As things stand, Kerry face a five-week gap from Sunday’s win over Mayo to the Munster semi-final against Cork on May 7. But if the Munster Council doesn’t budge and Cork hold firm on playing the game in Páirc Uí Rinn and nowhere else, Kerry would then have a walkover and an eight-week lay-off. The All-Ireland quarter-final would be a month later again.
So Kerry are looking at the prospect of one game, against lower Division Two opposition at best, in 12 weeks before facing into knockout football.
When you put it like that, it’s arguably more important to Kerry that the Munster semi-final goes ahead at Páirc Uí Rinn than Cork.
Can Mayo bounce back?
The Connacht champions were without a number of key players on Sunday and should be much stronger on paper come the Championship - but the absentees don’t explain away a 15-point defeat all the same and it’s not the ideal backdrop as they prepare to tackle Galway later this month.
Beatings of that magnitude are reasonably rare in League finals, though Dublin made light work of Derry (15 points) and Cork (11) in 2014 and ‘15 respectively.
Derry never recovered and lost to Donegal and Longford in the Championship, while the following year Cork lost a Munster final replay to Kerry before Kildare sent them packing.
Perhaps more encouragingly for Mayo, Kerry’s win on Sunday was the biggest in a League final since they had 20 points to spare on reigning All-Ireland champions Down in 1961. But Down retained their title later that year, seeing Kerry off by six points in the semi-final.
Galway’s Croke Park record
Having already achieved promotion, losing the Division Two final will hardly make or break Galway’s year.
But it did reinforce their poor record at Croke Park. Since the 2001 All-Ireland final victory, they have played 17 games at GAA headquarters, winning just two (v Kildare in 2017 Division Two final and v Kerry in 2018 ‘Super 8s’), with Sunday’s defeat their third on the trot at the venue.
Can Roscommon stop yo-yoing?
Remarkably, Roscommon’s win over Galway delivered their fourth Division Two title since 2015.
Only once in the interim - 2016 - have they managed to survive in the top flight, with their last two titles followed immediately by relegation.
It raises the question as to whether Division One needs to be expanded to allow greater access to top opposition for more counties for developmental purposes and remove the cut-throat element that exists.
While the League structure is popular, whether it serves the wider needs of the game well is debatable. It’s hardly a coincidence that chasms have widened in the Championship over the past decade or so when the elite have been hothoused at the top of Division One.
Louth the most improved team in the country
Louth just about emerged from Division Four last year, made no progress in the Championship and lost their opening League game to Laois this year before scraping a draw against Longford.
Laois are now in Division Four and Longford could easily have found themselves down there too. But Louth have since won six matches on the bounce to achieve promotion from Division Three and win the title outright following Saturday’s defeat of Limerick.
The climb will get steeper from here for them but Mickey Harte has squeezed a lot of progress into a short timeframe.
Rare Croke Park silverware for Cavan
Given how much Cavan have been up and down the divisions over the past few years in particular, it’s remarkable that their win over Tipperary on Sunday to seal the Division Four title was their first silverware at Croke Park at senior level since Mick Higgins lifted the Sam Maguire Cup in 1952.
What’s probably even more remarkable is that, despite being Ulster champions in 2020, they were the lowest ranked team from the province in the League with their Championship opener against Antrim, who diced with promotion to Division Two, approaching on April 23.
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