After the week hiatus, it's Kerry-Mayo this weekend in Tralee, a league fixture which evokes plenty of memories from my own career.
On the one hand, Mayo have a good record at the venue. We won three league games in a row there in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Needless to say, Kerry won the corresponding fixtures in MacHale Park in 2016, 2018 and 2020, which is very much in keeping with our general home record.
On the other, Mayo go into this weekend's game with the comfort blanket of four points from four, not a scenario that typically brings out the best in them.
We said Kerry had little cause to panic despite their opening-day defeat to Derry and that was borne out in Clones. They looked extremely slick, and Seanie O'Shea was a revelation in the inside forward line. I felt he was a little subdued at times in last year's championship and needed to rediscover some confidence. His point-taking was effortlessly brilliant against Monaghan and he played with abandon and freedom.
The prospect of him linking up with David Clifford in the full-forward line is exciting Kerry supporters. Although there may still be doubts whether he'll play with the same flair and confidence when Clifford is alongside him as the chief focal point.
All told, it's a daunting enough challenge for Mayo, although they have happy memories of away days in Kerry.
My first league game in Tralee was back in 2012. I wouldn't see the end of it as I got sent off in that game. I was marking Paul Galvin in the second half - he only came on at half-time and he got me two yellow cards in 12 minutes (yes, that's how I'm phrasing it.)
I was a young cub entering the lion's den and couldn't match him for cuteness. The first yellow, I gave a little tug of the jersey and he threw in a big dive in front of the ref. The second one then, I went in with a slightly rash tackle and got the marching orders.
Marking Galvin, for the brief time I was on him, was trippy enough at the time. Initially, you were nearly in awe of him and thinking 'Jesus, you're actually marking Paul Galvin'.
The following weekend in our league semi-final in Croke Park, he gave a masterclass in hoovering up breaking ball. It was a different game then, the ball would come screaming out of the clouds, players would rise and contest, and as soon as it hit the deck, Galvin would zoom in on an angle and collect. His timing and anticipation were incredible.
It was a great education for me. That was my first year as a proper starter. The previous autumn, I came on in the All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry in only my second championship appearance. I scored a point but we were well beaten, a sobering reminder of how far we were behind.
By the spring of 2012, we had almost caught up to their level. We were leading by six in Tralee when I was sent for an early shower and we wound up hanging on for a vital point.
The league semi-final in HQ would be a landmark win for us, after extra-time, Colm Boyle somehow firing a goal despite being crowded out by defenders and Richie Feeney landing the winner. It was almost more trouble than it was worth though.
We were heading to a training camp in Portugal that evening and the game going to extra-time left us with just an hour to get to the airport. I think Horan was sweating on the line, worrying the camp was going to be cancelled.
Later on, we took some flak for that. The training camp was a heavy week and we were very leggy in the league final against Cork two weeks later.
A less happy memory of Kerry league games was back in 2020, in what turned out to be our last game before the Covid disruption. We were originally due to play on the Saturday night - the leap day, I see - but a storm swept over the western side of the country and the game was switched to Sunday afternoon.
The game itself made no sense whatsoever, which is probably true to our brand. We said we'd take the gale force wind in the first half and build up a lead which we could defend after the break. Sure enough, we were nine points down shortly before half-time.
Then, we came out against the wind and had a chance to level it in the last minute but Keith Higgins put it just wide. We were atrocious in the first half, as bad as you could imagine and then were all over them in the second.
Of course, the two league finals will stick in people's minds. We beat them in a thrilling league final in 2019, Ciarán Treacy got a late goal to guarantee the win. Arguably, an even bigger moment was Robbie Hennelly pulling off a super stop from Clifford in the second half.
They gained revenge when they hockeyed us in the 2022 League final - my last game in the competition as it happened.
We were down a good few lads - Paddy Durcan, Tommy Conroy - and it was a long afternoon. We were beaten to a pulp.
David Clifford ran riot and Padraig O'Hora got pilloried online for some of the verbals in the game. He was giving him a bit of guff but it was only a bit of craic, he wasn't abusing him. People are mad to highlight that kind of b******t and sound off about karma. But it was all harmless; the pair are actually mates now, funnily enough.
Elsewhere in the top tier, we've a couple of big games among teams currently crowding the bottom half of the table. Dublin-Roscommon has more riding on it than we might have thought. The Dubs are the only team on nil points but there's reason to lose the head. Given they fell through the trapdoor in 2022, I don't think Dessie will want the same to happen again and I expect them to start picking up points soon, starting this weekend.
Galway are up in Omagh. They took plenty of flak - including on here - for the performance against Mayo and did at least dig out a point in Roscommon, albeit in a torrid low-scoring game in horrendous conditions. A lot will hinge this weekend on how many of their top end players are available because without them, it'll be a battle to stay above water.
Watch Kerry v Mayo in the Allianz Football League on Saturday from 7.20pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to updates on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch highlights on Allianz League Sunday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 9.30pm, follow a live blog every Sunday afternoon on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live updates on Sunday Sport
