Longford's Mickey Quinn is optimistic that the Tailteann Cup will allow his county - and others like them - to build and develop over the course of a number of years.
The midlanders host Fermanagh in the first round of the northern section on Saturday evening, their opening bow in the new competition.
Longford manager Billy Loughlin's comments prior to the league were widely circulated, the new boss bluntly declaring that Division 3 of the Allianz League was their priority and that "after that, we don't really mind what happens."
Having secured their Division 3 status with a final day win away to Laois, they were soundly beaten by Westmeath in the first round of the Leinster championship.
While there have been some public declarations of apathy concerning the Tailteann Cup, that mood doesn't appear to be predominant in Longford, at least on the basis of Quinn's gung-ho attitude.
The centre-back cheerfully admits that the secondary competition is the best place for Longford to develop, particularly in the current phase of their evolution, and the recent rate of player turnover within the squad.
"It was always something that was in the back of my head, come Leinster Championship," Quinn told RTÉ Sport at the Tailteann Cup launch last week. "Lookit, were we realistically going to be competing for a Leinster final? If yes, Jesus, great.
"But for me it was always there, and I had chatted individually to a few of the older lads. 'That's something there for us'. We had Westmeath, and then it was Kildare if we beat them.
"Everyone had to plan out your routes at the start of the year. You have Leinster, you have qualifiers, and now you have the Tailteann Cup. And your league campaign as well.
"Of all the competitions that you realistically win, that's one (Tailteann Cup) along with your league campaign that you can go after. For us, it's definitely something you can build on going forward.
"Realistically, this was where you need to probably develop. We're at a stage now where I think we've the third most players played in the National League this year. I think it was Cork and Dublin were ahead of us.
"So we've a lot of young lads coming through. And the only way to develop and continue to improve is by playing games."
While the inaugural Tailteann Cup is a straight knockout, next year they're moving to a round-robin format, mirroring the All-Ireland group stage in the Sam Maguire race. Quinn is enthusiastic about the prospect of more games on offer from 2023 onwards (provided they don't go and win the competition this year, or get promoted in the Allianz League).
"This year is a bit of a different format. It's knockout. But going forward next year with that round robin, playing games is something where you can develop.
"And games that you can hang your hat on it that you're building. You've have one game next week, the following week, and you keep going. And we probably didn't get that as much in the league.
"So we'll be hoping to try and get that going and develop lads. It's a competition that, however number of years that I'm going to be left playing, I'd love to be able to walk up the steps of Croke Park and lift the competition that's meaningful for me and meaningful for Longford, that you can say that right, the following year you can go and develop."
Longford had a reasonable record in the back-door, albeit without ever getting as far as the quarter-final stage - in 2006, they reached the last-12, losing to Kerry in Killarney after a Kieran Donaghy inspired goal-blitz. Between 2009 and 2017, Longford won nine successive Round 1 qualifier matches - a tribute to dogged consistency - though only on a couple of occasions did they add a second win.
They acquired a reputation for giant killing in the past decade, famously dumping Mayo out of the championship in 2010 - bringing down the curtain on John O'Mahony's long-awaited but underwhelming second stint in charge - and eliminating Monaghan in a stunning upset in Clones in 2016.
However, on both occasions, they would go no further, losing to Down in '10 and then to an unheralded Cork side in '16.
"When you have a tight panel, and the qualifiers are coming thick and fast, week-to-week, we've put in huge efforts for maybe that one-off big upset, and you don't have the personnel and quality to go again, that strong bench to go the following week.
"That's probably where that development in the off-season needs to improve, to try and keep lads interested, so going from year-to-year you're not losing five, six guys new to the squad. Of all the players that are playing this year, we've lost a huge number since last year."
Their record in Leinster itself was considerably less stellar, with a couple of frightfully heavy losses to Dublin thrown into the mix.
Quinn reckons those losses couldn't have done much for enthusiasm levels within the squad, deepening the apathy within their playing pool.
"I probably have said it in the past, some of those games against Dublin, I don't know what our track record is the following year. But the drop-off rate the following year, guys thinking 'hang on a minute, is it worth hanging around for that?'
"Everything that builds up to those Dublin games, that there's loads of people interested in it. There's probably a bit more publicity than other games. It's building up to it and it's set up nicely.
"But it's set up for the fall inevitably that happens, and that's the knock-on effect for the next six weeks after, the next year after that guys drift away, like 'Is it worth hanging on? Being on a county squad for that? Is that what you're training for?'
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