The sense of disappointment that the provincial championships are over perhaps sums up best what we've been treated to over the past several weeks.
These most maligned of structures have sparked and contorted themselves a whole new generation of fans. Memories that will last a lifetime. Collective experiences of the best of sporting torture and joy and, as always, made that bit greater when you get one over the neighbours.
With barely time to gather our breath after last weekend’s extra-time finales, we head into a brand-new era this weekend.
The structural change creates a much clearer disconnect between the provincial championship and the All-Ireland series. It feels like its own 16-team competition and, for me, the better for it.
And what an opening weekend we have.
There will be much attention on the respective fortunes of the two core groups of teams, the provincial finalists and the rest.
'No Mow May’ is a new thing in the world of gardeners but there is a host of teams emerging from their own long grass with the hope they have timed their preparation right and can relaunch their summers.
All will have ended up there not by choice. All will have spent their first days and perhaps weeks in that long grass nursing a bloody nose, but I’d assume all will have, in time, got their heads round the opportunity it presented.
Take, for example, Tyrone and Donegal. For six and four weeks respectively since their last outings, they have had ample time to refresh limbs, increase the size of their tanks and work on their game - and all away from the public eye.
Crucially they both, like all the non-provincial finalists, got forward notice of their first-round opponents.
In a modern set-up, this will have allowed them to have their video work sorted and their action plans in place before the provincial finals. The luxury of then being able to go and see their opponent and road-test their own plans in their heads as they watch the action unfold is massive. Then, while their opponent is celebrating their provincial win or drowning their sorrows, they get straight into their final preparations.
Those are clear benefits to the challengers. To counter that, the provincial finalists must take the value of their preparation and participation in the biggest games of the summer so far. They have to believe that those are better than the challenge games their opponents will have been resorting to.
Who’ll win out? In a summer where prediction making is only a fool’s errand there’s no point even trying but where would be the fun in that?
Kerry v Donegal
Pick of the round. Pressure is on Donegal. Their performance against Down was one of the most un-McGuinnesss-like Donegal showings we’ve ever seen.
It can’t go as well as the league final and, if they are close or at full strength, will Jim want to lay all the cards on the table knowing he can’t land a knock-out blow?
I can’t help but think it is perfectly set up for Jack O’Connor. He will take his injury-ravaged squad against Jim’s boys, well aware of the mauling Donegal can inflict from the league final.
A loss for Kerry, with all the personnel they have to come back, isn’t the end of the road plus their game-plan will vary as those players come back so Donegal can’t learn too much.
It’s a free cut, in one of the few home grounds in country that genuinely feels like a stronghold.
Verdict: Close and Donegal to win but Kerry to learn more
Cork v Meath
Along with Dublin, Cork are the provincial finalists who are left in the deepest hole.
There are losses and then there are damaging losses and Cork’s non-performance against Kerry, especially in the second half, for where their team is at, seems a particularly tough one to take.
The league game between these two was a brilliant affair and there is enough history in the fixture to write a few books, but for both teams it feels like a critical chance to wrestle back something from years that promised much.
Meath’s defeat being five weeks ago should’ve given them plenty of time to get the heads back on straight. That could be the difference.
Verdict: Meath
Galway v Kildare
Perhaps the most straight forward of all the first-round ties on paper.
Galway showed much about them in the loss to Roscommon. Cillian McDaid’s apparent injury at end of Connacht final is of concern but there is more a sense of men returning which stands in contrast to some of the other big guns.
And that is what Galway remain. They are closest, for me, to the Kerry, Donegal and Armagh triumvirate.
Kildare, meanwhile, will have searched their house high and low for their shooting boots. A team that must be sickened at this stage of the word 'potential'. They travel west surely in hope more than expectation, but I doubt they’ll find Pádraic Joyce’s men in a generous mood.
Verdict: Galway
Tyrone v Roscommon
In a crammed calendar, six weeks between competitive games is an eternity. Tyrone have had time for a full pre-season but have spent it trying to get bodies right and on the pitch again.
Of all teams, Tyrone are best when chasing down a hyped team. Roscommon tick that box. The question comes down to how much substance is there behind the hype. In Roscommon, there appears plenty: great balance between experience and youthful energy, skill in abundance and a very clear sense of a unity and purpose. It even extends to their support base.
Roscommon are a wave of energy at the minute. If they turn up in full colour, they will have too much. If not, Tyrone will gladly take their chance.
Verdict: Roscommon
Watch Galway v Kildare in the All-Ireland Football Championship first round on Saturday from 7.20pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch a provincial hurling double-header, Dublin v Kilkenny (2pm) and Cork v Clare (4pm), on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch The Saturday Game and The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport
