Well, well. Who would have thought a few weeks ago that the league final would throw up another Mayo-Kerry meeting?
The final round of Division 1 was a wild ride, none more so than for Mayo, who were perched on a knife edge between winding up in a league final and falling into Division 2 right up until the final whistle.
While the final table has an odd look, with one point separating a league finalist and a relegated team, in some respects it's no coincidence.
When you've certain teams, who win a few games early on, indicating that a league final probably isn't worth the hassle and pulling up the handbrake in the final weeks, you're likely to get a situation where teams converge around the middle.
This isn't to criticise any teams who adopt that approach - it's entirely understandable, especially for teams in Ulster and Connacht who have very competitive provincial championships to navigate. As has been noted already, that's an issue first and foremost of the squashed calendar, which has to be sorted or else the same scenario will play out again.
It was striking that all the teams in Division 1 and 2 who were threatened with relegation won their games last weekend and anyone who was safe got beaten - Derry had nothing to play for, for a different reason in that they were already down.
The upshot of it all is that Mayo top the table despite a negative score difference, which I'm pretty sure is a first (maybe some football historians/ anoraks will confirm) It's one in the eye for the pundits who were touting them for relegation early doors (whoever they are...)
It's an encouraging turn of events from a Mayo perspective given that things looked very gloomy after two rounds of the league. They dug out an important win against Tyrone in Round 3, though that was a pretty awful game - 0-12 to 0-10 would be a low-scoring game under the old rules - and Malachy O'Rourke's side kicked a truckload of wides.
The second half in Armagh seemed to be the moment when the wheel started to turn for Mayo, when they started embracing the spirit of the new rules for the first time.
In the early league games, and in the January challenge matches, they were clinging to a ponderous, lateral build-up, nursing possession. Too often, they weren't getting shots off - or else low-percentage shots - or they were getting turned over.
Since Round 4, they've started attacking with greater directness and pace and their pressing of opposition kick-outs caused havoc for Kerry in particular.
Matty Ruane has been the stand-out player, Ryan O'Donoghue recovered his form after a slow start to the campaign, and Aidan O'Shea is playing as well as he ever has in his career. Frank Irwin has come into his own up front.
After an unpromising start, it's turned into a very productive campaign for Mayo.
Now, let's temper that for a moment. As pointed out earlier, they were a missed penalty and a Hugh McFadden shot off the crossbar from tumbling into the relegation zone and my pessimistic early predictions would have been vindicated. Donegal were supposed to have been uninterested in a league final and still there were just two points separating the teams in MacHale Park.
On form and on tradition, Kerry will obviously go in as favourites this weekend.
A fortnight ago, I felt they were stagnating after a fairly uneven start to the league, which followed on from last year's forgettable season.
I don't know if dressing room wall material was deployed. They've ripped into things since then and look like their old selves again.
The stats from Salthill last Sunday were really something - 3-24 scored in total without the need for a single two-pointer. And a total of two wides over 70 minutes. Incredible efficiency. They seem to have put to bed the fears that the arrival of the two-pointer and the ditching of the four-point goal would kill the ardour for goals in general - they've racked up 16 over the course of the league.
What we've seen as the ground has hardened and the weather improved is that Kerry's attacking style is perfectly fitted to the new rules. With the play stretched by the requirement to keep forwards up, they have the fast, kicking game to really cause carnage, not to mention the personnel they have in attack.
We even saw glimpses of this in the first half against Dublin, where the long ball was deployed continually. Their issue that evening was they were too passive out of possession and allowed Dublin run down the clock against the breeze. But with the ball, the potential was there.
It's a third league final between Kerry and Mayo in the last seven years. I have contrasting experiences of the previous two.
In 2019, we came on a late surge to beat them and take a rare national title, sparking a great old celebration on the pitch afterwards, as well as a couple of nights on the beer.
In 2022, we were ravaged by injury and shipped a heavy beating, with David Clifford running riot. Unfortunately, it was a portent of what was to come that year, my last in a Mayo jersey.
Whether players will have the same scope to let the hair down for a bit after winning this national title... well, we know the answer.
As in 2023, Mayo have just a week to recover for their Connacht opener. Two years ago, the Rossies caught them in a classic ambush in Castlebar.
The scenario this year is slightly different in that it's Sligo, a Division 3 team, awaiting them in the championship. But it's still a challenge that needs to be respected. Sligo finished the league on a relative high and it's 12 months ago that Galway needed an injury-time goal to avoid defeat in Markievicz Park.
Kevin McStay insists they'll have a cut at the league final but the Sligo game has got to loom at the back of his mind.
The schedule that awaits Kerry is considerably less onerous and doesn't get going for another three weeks. The likelihood is it will be their last big test until the round robin stage. In that context, I'll say they will relish this weekend and a first game in Croke Park under the new rules.
Jack O'Connor likes to win things in doubles. On the four occasions he's guided Kerry to an All-Ireland title, they've also won the league.
I've been tipping against Mayo for most of the spring. Given how that's fared, I probably shouldn't stop now.
Follow the Allianz Football League finals on Saturday and Sunday on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Watch Allianz League Sunday from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Listen to updates on RTÉ Radio 1
