The main headline from these early weeks of the League of Ireland centre around the outstanding start that Shelbourne have made to the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division campaign.
Damien Duff's side are eight points clear of a Sligo Rovers side that has so far confounded pessimistic pre-season predictions, a Derry City team struggling for consistency and reigning champions Shamrock Rovers who have won three in a row as they bounce back from a slow start to their bid for a record fifth title on the trot.
But there is progress being made on the far side of the trap door, towards the bottom end of the First Division.
Last season's LOI newcomers Kerry faced a real baptism of fire during their 2023 debut, earning a historic first league win 11 months ago against Athlone but overall amassing just ten points.
That total wasn't a surprise given it was their first season. But the challenge for 2024 was building on that under new head coach, Conor McCarthy, who, after succeeding current sporting director Billy Dennehy, became the youngest ever manager in the league at 25.
And the evidence of growth is there at Mounthawk Park, Tralee.
After eight rounds of games, Kerry may be second bottom ahead of their next opponents Longford Town, who have two games in hand due to weather-related postponements, but the club from the Kingdom have already gained half of the points total they managed in the entirety of 2023, helped by back-to-back draws against Wexford and UCD over the Easter weekend.
While a second ever win at League of Ireland has yet to be achieved, they have become a tougher nut to crack as former St Patrick's Athletic and Shelbourne midfielder Conan Byrne pointed out on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
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"They lost their first three games of the season and since then they've drawn their next five," he said.
"And I suppose going to Dublin after a very good 1-1 draw against Wexford who are doing really well and got a point against Cork at Ferrycarrig Park yesterday as well, going up to Dublin against UCD who themselves had a good win on Friday night and (Kerry) went 1-0 down and stuck to their guns and got a goal on 56 minutes to equalise.
"I've been impressed with them, I really have, just in terms of how losing their first three games of the season it could all go downhill for such a young side.
"But they've performed very admirably, getting a draw up at Finn Harps, they drew at home to Cobh and drew away to Athlone, so they're well capable of performing in this division.
"There were times last year where you were thinking what score it was going to be in defeat rather than whether or not they were going to pick up a point.
"Now you're expecting them to compete at a good level and you're waiting for their first win (of the season). So full credit to them and a great 1-1 draw against UCD up at Belfield."
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