Three of the four provincial champions were beaten in their first matches of the group stage of the All-Ireland senior football championship, but what impact does this have for the remainder of the season? It's all how they respond says RTÉ pundit Enda McGinley.
The likes of Tyrone and Derry have had weeks to rebuild and prepare, which some may see as an advantage, but McGinley thinks that a first-round group defeat allows teams to learn more than winning.
"The key thing, every team that gets beat, you learn from your defeats. It's an old cliché, but it is such a true cliché. You learn from your defeats," McGinley said on the RTÉ GAA podcast.
Those who scooped wins in their first group games, notably Dublin and Tyrone, were both in a position to bring top-level energy, according to McGinley, after learning from earlier mishaps in their respective provincial championships.
"One of the key things a lot of teams are making, the likes of Dublin, the likes of Tyrone, is if you don't bring that top energy level, that real sharpness, you just lose in the modern game.
"Dublin then got their ship in order and you don't become better footballers, fitter footballers, et cetera, et cetera, over the gap between those two performances."
McGinley's own county, Tyrone, have also seemingly turned it around and bounced back after relegation in the league and an Ulster semi-final loss to Armagh, with a three-point win over provincial champions Donegal. The physiotherapist and pundit felt Tyrone were at the required pitch in Ballybofey and that Donegal can be somewhere similar in their post-loss bounce.
"Tyrone were on it," he said.
"Donegal just weren't on it in the way that Donegal can be.
"So they will learn and they will come back the sharper for it. When you get two top teams absolutely at it, which is what we've seen in the likes of the Ulster final with Donegal, Armagh, then you have a hell of games."
McGinley is relishing the later stages of the group aspect of the competition, especially if all teams manage to successfully learn from their defeats but feels Kerry may not have the same experience, having registered their last defeat on March 1 in the league against Mayo.
"I think that's what we're heading for come the later stages of these group games," he added.
"I think all of these teams, if they get to learn their lessons from defeats, which always hurts, it always changes the mood in the dressing room, always changes the mood in training and you get the benefits from that.
"I think Kerry are flying. Hugely strong team. But my gosh, it's hard to replicate what happens inside a team when you get a loss and you really look at yourself critically and you get that sick feeling in your stomach, and you come back the better for it. They're unlikely to experience that until maybe it's too late."
McGinley suggests Monaghan are strong favourites to top their section after an opening win against Louth and their history of being underrated will continue, which may be to their advantage.
"Monaghan would strong favourites to top the group, but will they get much credit for topping the group?
"We'll be all back to our usual patting them on the heads. Aren't you as great with your small resources?
"They'll be sitting in the quarter-finals and whoever they play in the quarterfinal will probably be a more vaunted team than them and they'll have got no respect for topping their group.
"Monaghan have a lot of strings to their bow and the narrative will suit them just fine."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Watch Dublin v Armagh in the All-Ireland Football Championship on Sunday from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1. Highlights on The Sunday Game at 9.30pm
Watch The Saturday Game from 10.50pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to updates from around the country on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
