Is Championship 2019 set to be another sequel in Dublin's never ending story, or will it be the launch of a whole new sporting franchise?
Over the past four years there hasn't been much variation on the theme, with the final scene before the closing credits always featuring Stephen Cluxton hoisting the Sam Maguire. Groundhog Day.
The plot line has become a little familiar and the paying public are clearly wearying of the predictable ending, with crowds down across the board in football.
Dublin Domination Part V doesn't exactly set the pulses racing for fans outside of the capital. Mayo Reach the Promised Land or Kingdom Resurrected are far more attractive propositions.
A change of script would be appealing, but the question remains - is there a studio capable of producing a picture with a different ending?
Dublin have been the leading actors in this piece for almost all of this decade, winning six of the nine All-Irelands available so far and hot favourites to add a seventh, and complete the five in-a-row.
Play it again Sam: Dublin captain Stephen Cluxton
Support roles have been played notably, and most dramatically, played by Mayo, as well as by Kerry and Donegal. Mayo and Kerry seem the best equipped among the usual suspects to knock the Dubs off their throne.
It's virtually unthinkable that a team from outside of this year's Allianz Football League Division 1 could win the All-Ireland, so that makes Donegal long-odds outsiders even though they can certainly make a dent in plenty of other sides' progress.
Patrick McBrearty's expected return from last year's season-ending knee injury has been tempered by the news that Odhrán Mac Niallais won't be part of the panel this summer.
McBrearty and captain Michael Murphy in tandem are a brilliant combination that will drag Donegal over most hurdles, though greater depth is required to win an All-Ireland.
"Away from the headline acts, the main subplot revolves around which teams can make the Super 8s. Roscommon, Meath and Cavan are likely to be scrabbling the few remaining spots left after the big names take their places."
Tyrone reached last year's All-Ireland final, where they were swamped as expected, though there were signs of progress during the spring as Mickey Harte moved away slightly from his normal defensive rigour.
His back was to the wall with just one point from the Red Hand's first three games in the top flight, and his decision to pair Cathal McShane and Mattie Donnelly in a two-man full-forward line and let the ball into them early paid immediate dividends.
Tyrone have more and better footballers than virtually every other county and this makes them daunting opposition for most.
McShane and Donnelly in particular gave Dublin all manner of difficulties in their win at Croke Park and their aerial threat will give Gavin plenty to think about should they meet again. Ultimately though the Red Hand may still be lacking that super star wattage in attack to land the biggest prize however.
Mattie Donnelly has been in fine form for Tyrone
Kerry are arguably the most exciting rising stars about at the minute, with manager Peter Keane introducing youngsters who helped him and the Kingdom to a minor All-Ireland five in-a-row.
David Clifford has a year at senior under his belt already and he's joined by Seán O'Shea and Dara Moynihan. These young men will win All-Irelands before too long, though 2019 may prove a year too soon.
A heavy weight appears to rest on O'Shea's shoulders in particular, taking over the dead ball duties, and while he is a Kerry great in-waiting, he learned a few harsh lessons from Mayo's streetwise half-back line in Croke Park recently.
Keane has been forced into a late re-jig of his defence following the news that Peter Crowley will miss the remainder of the season due to a cruciate knee ligament injury, leaving a significant hole in the centre of his defence.
And while Tomás Ó Sé may disagree, it seems that Aidan O'Rourke's argument that the Kingdom's defence is operating largely without a plan holds water.
They conceded 3-11 to Mayo in the League final and in big games this will put significant pressure on their attack to shoot the lights out in order to keep their team in front - particularly now they have lost Peter Crowley for the season.
And this leaves us with Mayo, probably the best team never to win an All-Ireland, though that's not really an epitaph they'd be happy to have on their gravestone when they're finally planted in the ground.
Key players, the likes of Andy Moran, Kevin McLoughlin and Keith Higgins, are another year the wrong side of 30. A huge chunk of the panel have been part of four losing All-Ireland finals and a further drawn decider.
Manager James Horan is back in charge. He was the man who revived a side that tumbled out of the 2010 All-Ireland qualifiers at the hands of Longford and had them in an All-Ireland semi-final barely 12 months later.
Seán O'Shea was arguably the player of the League
He walked after the 2014 All-Ireland semi-final replay defeat to Kerry, a classic of the genre that encapsulated so much about this Mayo team and their string of battling, heroic failures.
Horan is five years wiser since then and he's leaning on some interesting emerging talent who impressed during the league; the likes of Matthew Ruane and Fionn McDonagh, who will be asked to step up in the Championship.
What Mayo can and will bring is rivet-popping intensity. Man-for-man they weren't as good footballers as Dublin in the 2016 or '17 finals, but they managed to take them to some pretty dark places through sheer force of will.
If they get into a tangle with the Boys in Blue expect more of the same. Their ability to out-score the best in the country is what has cost them in the past though. It remains to be seen have they the forwards to do the business in 2019.
The other two Division 1 regulars that form the remainder of the supporting cast are Monaghan and Galway.
Provincial Championship schedule to be broadcast by @rtesport for 2019. #TheSundayGame pic.twitter.com/E0bEkX464P
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) April 30, 2019
Monaghan's win over the Dubs in the first League game of the season made it look like they were set to kick on from last year's All-Ireland semi-final appearance. The results which followed suggested more a team in decline.
Manager Malachy O'Rourke's job is to provoke another kick from his side, which has given such great value to its supporters for the past half decade and more.
Galway are nowhere closer to answering all of the questions that have hung over them since they made their Connacht breakthrough under Kevin Walsh in 2016. Beating Mayo has been no problem to them - outside of the province resistance has proven far tougher.
Back to the future: James Horan
Away from the headline acts, the main subplot revolves around which teams can make the Super 8s. Roscommon, Meath and Cavan are likely to be scrabbling the few remaining spots left after the big names take their places.
And then there are the sub-sub plots; Armagh attempting to make a breakthrough, Cork trying to prove they're better than their recent relegation to Division 3, Meath and Kildare battling it out to be the second best team in Leinster…
Ultimately, while Dublin have lost some matinee idols - Diarmuid Connolly is no longer on the cast list, Bernard Brogan is a background player now, Paul Flynn has exited stage left - they still look best positioned to lift all of the top gongs come awards season.
Follow London v Galway and New York v Mayo via our live blogs on RTÉ.ie/sport and the News Now app or listen to updates and commentary on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport.
