So, after a particularly long break owing to the new split season, inter-county football is just around the corner once more.
We'll have the false start of the pre-season competitions, but the real interest will come with the return of the Allianz League on the weekend of the 28/29 January, with the finals being played in early April.
Kerry will be defending their title - a theme for the year - while Dublin will be competing in Division 2 for the first time since the 2008.
This year's All-Ireland final is due to take place at Croke Park on 30 July.
Good Kerry team looking to become great
Kerry finally reached the promised land in July... for the 38th time.
After much underage joy it took the return of manager Jack O'Connor to give them men from the Kingdom that extra something they needed to get over the line once more. O'Connor's exceptional record of delivering the Sam Maguire in the first year of his reigns in the Kingdom continued as he repeated the trick of 2004 and 2009 at the start of his third stint with the Kingdom.
They overcame Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final - a first victory over the Metropolitans in 13 years - after a masterful late free by Sean O'Shea into Hill 16, with the goals being moved by the noise coming from the masses in Blue, as well as the not so subtle rattling of the posts by Dubs goalkeeper Evan Comerford.
Then in the final they trailed Galway by two points in the second half, but they weren't going to be denied as they outscored the Tribesmen by 0-08 to 0-02 to take the title.
The challenge now is to do back-to-back titles. You won't be considered great, or maybe even above average, in the Kingdom if you can't put consecutive titles together.
And there's no reason to believe they can't do it, with just three of the team that started in the All-Ireland final in their 30s. The average age of the team that day was 26.33 years, while David Clifford will turn 24 later this month.
The confidence that 2022 should give them can only make them a more formidable outfit this year.
New football format to bring league structure (back) into championship
After all the talk of "Champions League-style group stages", we're finally going to see groups in the All-Ireland football championship.
Yes, we had it with the Super 8s, but this time it will come in with 16 counties involved, and thus four groups of four. Rather than a simple "the top two go through" idea, the GAA have slightly complicated things to keep more counties involved for a longer period.
Following the provincial championships, the four winners will be separated into different groups with the guarantee that their first game will be at home.
They'll joined by a provincial runner-up - not the one they've just played, obviously - leaving the remaining two places in each group - seven or eight in total - to be filled by counties based on league rankings.
Why seven or eight? Well Westmeath, who will be competing in Division 3 in the league, won the inaugural Tailteann Cup and are therefore entitled to a place in the Sam Maguire race next year. If they don't reach the Leinster final then one of the available Sam Maguire spots will go to them, thus leaving only seven places to be filled by other counties based on league performance.
The more Division 3 and 4 sides that make provincial finals, the more Division 2 sides will be competing for the Tailteann Cup. Tipperary, Munster champions in 2020, are in the third tier while one of Division 4 Leitrim, London or Sligo, or New York, who only play championship, will be in the Connacht final.
What it means in practice is that you wouldn't want to be finishing too low down in Division 2 in the spring if you want to be in the Sam Maguire race come the summer.
When all is said and done, we'll have our four groups of four. But as we hinted at above, it's a bit tricky from there. The group winner go straight to the quarter finals, but the teams that finish second and third will play-off in a preliminary quarter-final against second and third placed teams from the other groups.
The bottom side will be out, but having played at least four games of championship football. That's double the minimum guaranteed under the old backdoor format, and is ultimately the reason for the change of format.
Sunday Game favourites putting their money where their mouths are
Two very familiar faces are moving from the comfort of the pundit's couch to the sideline.
Kevin McStay has finally been given the chance with his native Mayo, having already managed his adopted Roscommon between 2016 and 2018.
While Colm O'Rourke, who appeared to tell RTÉ Sport's Joanne Cantwell in June that he had got the message from Meath after being turned down three times, is taking over in the Royal County.
You would suggest that McStay has the better blocks to build something with, although the Green and Red's quarter-final exit last summer was tame, even allowing for the fact that they were playing Kerry.
Meath have fallen away big time since they last reached the All-Ireland final back 2001. They were out of Division 1 in the league from 2006 until 2020, when they went straight back down without winning a game. They've begun to show promise at minor level, winning three Leinster titles there since 2018, but their last provincial success at the U21/20 grade also came in 2001.
All-Ireland semi-final appearances - achieved in 2007 and 2009 - are the exception in the last 22 years, and although O'Rourke has the underage players coming through, he has a job on his hands to convert them into senior stars.
Elsewhere, Paddy Carr will attempt to bring his All-Ireland club football winning credentials to a Michael Murphy-less Donegal, Vinny Corey, not long out of the team himself, is taking the reins with his native Monaghan while Davy Burke moves west to take over at Roscommon.
Down the pecking order Andy McEntee's quick return to management with Antrim will be worth keeping an eye on, while Paddy Christie gets his chance with Longford.
Dublin desperate to dethrone Kerry
For the first time since 2010 Sam Maguire is spending his second consecutive winter away from the capital city. Dublin gave Kerry a right rattle in the All-Ireland semi-final in July before ultimately coming up just short.
But the Dubs don't appear to be taking it lying down. Strong rumours that Dessie Farrell was going to call it a day in the summer proved to be wide of the mark, with the Na Fianna man agreeing to stay on.
But he'll have some assistance. Pat Gilroy has been brought into the management team, having started the recent period of the county's dominance back in 2011. Recent media reports suggest he'll have a hands on coaching role with the squad.
Added to that, Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion have decided to give it another go after making themselves unavailable for three and two seasons respectively.
McCaffrey didn't play for Clontarf in the Dublin SFC due to work commitments while Mannion had to face a second surgery in 12 months to sort out a knee injury and then an ankle injury. As such, it remains to be seen whether they will be back to their brilliant best in 2023.
Images of McCaffrey playing for Dublin North against Dublin South in Dave Hickey Cup final the week of Christmas were a welcome sight for football followers in Dublin.
Seven-time All-Ireland winner Jonny Cooper has announced his retirement at the age of 33, while next year is surely the last chance for James McCarthy and Mick Fitzsimons to claim a record ninth Celtic Cross, which would move them clear at the top of the list of individual winners list ahead of the Kerry group from 1975-1986.
That list features the likes of Páidi Ó Sé, Ger Power and Pat Spillane, as well as some of their former team-mates, like Stephen Cluxton, Philly McMahon and Cian O'Sullivan.
Unpredictable Ulster
It's hardly a new concept, but Ulster became even more Ulstery last season.
The province had four teams competing in Division 1 of the Allianz League, but it was Division 2 Derry who lifted the Anglo-Celt Cup.
For 2023, after a flop of a year as defending All-Ireland champions, Tyrone will be determined to show that they're no one-trick ponies. The Red Hand began 2022 losing five players - Tiernan McCann, Ronan O'Neill, Mark Bradley, Hugh Pat McGeary and Michael Cassidy - to retirement and plans for the new year have started on a similarly frustrating footing as Conor McKenna has returned to Australia with Brisbane Lions.
Donegal only lost the Ulster final by two points after extra-time, but they couldn't recover quick enough as Armagh demolished them in the qualifiers. The Tír Chonaill men will have to prepare for 2023 without the talismanic Michael Murphy after he finally decided to hang up his boots.
Armagh impressed from day one when they beat Dublin at Croke Park in the league. They fell flat against Donegal in Ulster, but bounced back to reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals. In an epic game against Galway, they forced extra time, and only went out on penalties. If they can take the positives from this year, and build on that momentum they should be a force to be reckoned with in 2023.
Monaghan have brought Vinny Corey in as they look to try to win just a third Ulster title since 1988. Last year they went out to Mayo in the first round of the qualifiers having been surprised by Derry in the Ulster semi. In the spring they relegated Dublin from the top flight after beating them by a point in Clones.
All in all there are plenty of wrongs to right in football's most competitive province.
