The growing gap between counties in football's top two divisions and the bottom two tiers was starkly illustrated by the very one-sided nature of Mayo's Connacht semi-final victory over Leitrim.
Last year's All-Ireland runners-up were heavy pre-match favourites on Sunday but the manner in which they rained in scores - including five goals - in Castlebar raised eyebrows and prompted renewed soul-searching about the disparity in football between the strongest sides and those increasingly becoming also-rans.
On this week's RTÉ GAA Podcast, Dessie Dolan had his say on the proposals to restructure the championship and whether they go far enough to address the issue.
But the former Leinster championship winner with Westmeath also shared an insight into the contrasting player experience in all four divisions of the league.
"The advantage of being a Westmeath footballer, I probably played in all the divisions three times, so I have a good idea of what it's like in one, two, three and four," said the 42-year-old who retired after 15 years of inter-county duty in 2014.
"Division three and four, the referees are starting out, learning their trades, small crowds and small attendances.
"No atmosphere, no media previewing in the papers on the Saturday.
"Then you go up the divisions, Friday there's previews, Saturday's there's previews and articles. You've live TV coverage, team holidays at the end of the year, a great chance for All-Stars, a great chance to get endorsements. Being a county footballer in Division 1 and 2 is worlds apart from 3 and 4.
"The Leitrims of this world are the real heroes of the GAA. How they keep training year after year for absolutely nothing is incredible."
Dolan feels that footballers from the less illustrious counties have come to terms with the notion that a tipping point has been reached for those in the lower reaches and that "Division 3 and 4 players are not being well served at all in the GAA".
"I think the players now have kind of said, 'Hold on, enough is enough, it's just not working out, we've tried it for long enough, it's getting ridiculous and we're literally doing it for absolutely no reason whatsoever,'" he said.
"This is the reality now, for some of the younger members that get involved and want to play for their county, they'll get involved for a couple of years, they'll get a grant at the end of the year and a little bit of mileage to sustain them for a few years. But that's unsustainable and that's where it's at in some of these counties right now."
He added: "There has to be radical action. That was coming, I knew that was coming during the week before the game between Mayo and Leitrim. That was coming. The word on the street was that was on the cards and it will be on the cards for more counties in the next couple of years."
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
We need your consent to load this SoundCloud contentWe use SoundCloud 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
