It has been a slow burn so far but the championship should ratchet up in intensity this week.
For the past month, the hurling has been hogging most of the limelight, specifically Munster hurling. I was on radio duty in Croke Park last Sunday and I think, all told, we got about six minutes of airtime, about the length of a Roscommon attack, as Marty breathlessly kept us informed of events in Limerick.
Every inter-county team in the country is togging this weekend and Round 2 provides us with plenty of derby games - Cork-Kerry in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Donegal-Derry in Ballybofey, Kildare-Dublin in Nowlan Park and the Rossies against Sligo in Hyde Park.
Most enticing of all is the Group 2 collision of Tyrone and Armagh in Healy Park, with serious question marks hovering over both teams.
It certainly feels like there's a lot at stake here. Both teams need a win badly, from a psychological standpoint as much as from the perspective of the overall competition. As a result, I suspect we'll see real white-knuckle championship fare in Omagh.
Since the Ulster final loss, you're hearing rumblings of discontent here and there about Kieran McGeeney's management from small sections of the Armagh support.
In blunt terms, this is to be expected. If you're at the helm for eight or nine years, and you've won nothing, people are going to start asking questions.
I know for a fact that if I was with Mayo for as long as I was and we had nothing to show for it, do you think James Horan or Stephen Rochford would have been given as much time as they had? I don't think so.
Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly only had one year and yet they brought us to a Connacht title and we were on the cusp of beating Dublin in that year's semi-final - there's no need to get deep into that particular story here. And people might be inclined to dismiss Connacht titles but we still had to get past Galway and Roscommon to win them.
Given the situation in Armagh, with such a dearth of silverware for so long, it's hardly surprising that supporters are getting narky.
We should acknowledge they've made progress under Kieran McGeeney. He's returned them to the top table, to some degree.
But what's the likelihood of them winning the All-Ireland title this year? I don't see it.
There's probably an argument that their sloppy and hesitant display against Westmeath was a hangover from the draining provincial final loss.
Critically, they haven't beaten an elite team yet in championship. The qualifier wins over Tyrone and Donegal, I think, have to be seen in context - Tyrone weren't in the right mindframe to launch a proper title defence and Donegal's morale had been shattered after another Ulster final defeat.
They had the Ulster title in their grasp late in extra-time against Derry, and yet they let it slip. That in itself was probably a consequence of them not having a major championship victory under their belt. When it came down to the closing minutes, they didn't know how to see it out. There was a lack of know-how there, epitomised by the unwise kickout options in the dying embers.
People are inclined to cut Tyrone slack because they are recent All-Ireland winners, although their results in the last two years have been so poor. Certainly, the exodus in the immediate aftermath of the All-Ireland win impacted their squad depth and probably set a negative overall tone for their title defence.
There's considerable pressure on both teams but I suspect it's more acutely felt in Tyrone, given the urgent need to end the run of defeats sooner or later.
Yet despite their losing streak, the consensus is that they're still ahead of Armagh in the pecking order.
What's been letting them down of late is their discipline, which is bizarre given the experience in the team, and so many All-Ireland medallists in their ranks.
It really cost them against Galway. Even had it remained 15 v 15, I'm not convinced they would have won in Salthill but from the moment they went down to 14, and even 13 for a while, Padraic Joyce's team were able to manage the game and keep them at arm's length, even when nowhere near their fluid best.
All four provincial champions were below par in Round 1 of the group phase - an interesting trend - and yet due to Frank Burns' crazy tackle, we didn't get to see Galway under the cosh as we did the others.
Group 2 was highlighted as the Group of Death at the outset, insofar as there is one. I fancy Galway to win the group outright and these two will be jostling for second place.
It's a critical game and I fancy... a draw. An unsatisfying conclusion no doubt, but I feel it has draw written all over it.
Group 3 is looking like Ireland's Italia 90 group after Round 1, with everyone on one point and not even separated on points scored.
Roscommon didn't get their first championship win at HQ since 1980 but they proved that they are now dining at the top table of inter-county football. That had been the biggest question mark about them over the years, the inability to translate their Connacht form to the national stage.
Their marathon bouts of passing provoked a debate about the state of the game but I was mainly struck by how passive Dublin were throughout. During that much discussed six-minute passage of play just before half-time, they barely laid a glove on the Rossie players.
Dublin are certainly an enigma this season. It's very hard to get a handle on their form. Even Brian Fenton, one of their greatest players of the era, I've never seen him making so many simple mistakes. Shortly before half-time, he hand-passed the ball out of play when trying to lay it off to Paul Mannion. Late on, with the game there to be won, he tried a shot and the ball barely got off the ground.
There's no longer the same sense that they're in control of games, as they were in the Jim Gavin days. Even in the high pressure moments, against us in the 2016 and '17 All-Ireland finals, there was always a sense that they were exerting control over how the game was played. They had this assuredness in possession and a complete faith in their game plan.
That aura is weakening and I think teams can sense it. It was striking seeing Davy Burke after the game. He was gutted. The Rossies weren't there to have just a crack at Dublin, they were going out to beat them.
Compare that to 2019, when they lost by 18 points, it was a case of 'We'll give them a game, we'll try our best...'
On Sunday, it felt from minute one that they sensed blood. That's fairly new. The only regret for them is that they didn't see it through.
Watch Tyrone v Armagh in the All-Ireland Football Championship on Saturday from 6.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on all matches on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to updates throughout the day on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
