Allianz Football League start heralds real action after New Year phoney war

Derry start their Division One campaign campaign by facing a Kerry side that produced a late rally to beat them in last summer's All-Ireland semi-final

And so after the shadow boxing of the Dr McKenna Cup and other pre-season competitions, the real stuff begins.

Time was when the Spring action of National Football League seemed to bear little relation to what was going to happen in the white heat of knockout championship summers which stretched into late September.

But those days are long gone amid an condensed inter-county season which sees league position dictating that Division Three and Four teams in the vast majority of cases not even competing for the Sam Maguire Cup.

Once more, the provincial championships will begin this year on 7 April, just one week after the Allianz Football League divisional finals.

• Allianz Football League fixtures

Cynics might argue that eventual All-Ireland champions Dublin's 2023 summer campaign was a slow burner which included a somewhat fortunate Leinster semi-final victory over Kildare (0-14 to 0-12) and coming from five points down at half-time to draw against Roscommon in the Super 16 opener.

But a couple of months earlier, Dublin had used their Division Two campaign as the opportunity to build again after two unsuccessful championship seasons.

Dubs win Sam from Division Two

While the Dubs weren't especially convincing in their early Division Two outings as they had a point to spare over Kildare and Clare and edged out Cork by two before losing to Derry at Celtic Park, more than one GAA pundit marked them out from early as All-Ireland title favourites.

And so it proved as they shackled David Clifford in the Sam Maguire Cup decider in late July some 17 weeks after blasting four goals past Derry to win the Division Two final at Croke Park.

Dublin disproved the theory that it's not possible to win the All-Ireland title from Division Two.

Donegal supporters may be dreaming that Jim McGuinness might achieve the same feat in 2024 after their footballing messiah's return following the county's annus horribilis in 2023.

But we may be getting a little ahead of ourselves. Best perhaps to look at this weekend's opening round of fixtures before we start dusting off our crystal balls.

Mickey Harte's appointment as Derry football boss was a huge shock but he has already guided the team to a piece of silverware after they retained the Dr McKenna Cup

Croke Park could scarcely have come up with tastier fixtures to kick off this year's Football League with Saturday's two Division One contests repeats of last year's well-contested All-Ireland semi-finals as Derry travel to Tralee and Dublin host Monaghan at Croke Park.

However, Mickey Harte, as opposed to Ciaran Meenagh, will be on the sideline directing the Oak Leafers at Austin Stack Park in a sight which one suspects will continue to be difficult for many of our to get our heads around.

Harte banked the 13th Dr McKenna Cup title of his inter-county managerial career last Saturday as his own rather under-strength Derry side saw off a Donegal line-up similarly shorn of several frontliners in a low-key contest, which apart from Brendan Rogers' red card for a stamping offence on Daire O Baoill, generated few talking points or indeed pointers to the weeks ahead.

Derry's line-up under Rory Gallagher and then Meenagh remained largely settled over the past two seasons as they secured back-to-back Ulster titles. It will be interesting to see whether Harte opts to shakes things up, even just a little.

Last year, Derry's Glen contingent immediately returned to the fold after the Maghera club's controversial All-Ireland Club Final defeat by Kilmacud.

With the Andy Merrigan Cup clinched 12 months on following Sunday's thrilling win over St Brigid's, the Watty Graham's faithful will be in full celebration mode this week so it's not clear if the likes of Conor Glass, Ethan Doherty and Ciaran McFaul will be available for the Tralee contest.

Kerry boss Jack O'Connor has indicated that David Clifford and his fellow All-Star brother Paudie will miss the Derry game and round two against Monaghan after only returning to the Kingdom squad in the last fortnight. O'Connor will announce his Kerry line-up on Friday evening.

Farney men set to include Beggan

Monaghan manager Vinny Corey has indicated that goalkeeper Rory Beggan will be available for Saturday's Croke Park contest and the subsequent fixtures against Kerry and Derry despite his upcoming NFL combine commitments in Indianapolis.

All-Star wing-back Conor McCarthy was forced off by injury when a largely youthful Farney line-up were hammered by Donegal in the McKenna Cup semi-final and while Conor McManus will be missing, Corey will want to have plenty of experience in his line-up at Croke Park.

Ulster's other Division One hopefuls, Tyrone open their campaign on Sunday in Omagh with a contest against a Roscommon side that made a fast start to last year's league.

As has been the case since Tyrone's All-Ireland triumph in 2021, there has been further player turnover in the Red Hand camp over the winter with Ronan McNamee, Niall Sludden, and latterly Richie Donnelly, opting out of Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan's squad.

Dooher and Logan used the McKenna Cup to take a look at a number of young players with Lorcan McGarrity among the newcomers who showed a degree of promise.

One suspects the accent will be largely on experience this weekend with Tyrone fans hoping than Conn Kilpatrick can reproduce the midfield excellence which almost proved enough for the Red Hands to beat Donegal a couple of weeks ago following his half-time introduction.

With Mattie Donnelly still recuperating from his latest injury and Darren McCurry suspended for the Omagh contest, the performances of the Canavan brothers Darragh and Ruairi could be crucial against the Rossies.

McCurry is ruled out after being handed an retrospective one-man ban for punching Kerry's Graham O'Sullivan in the stomach late in Tyrone's All-Ireland quarter-finals defeat last June.

Saturday's busy day of Allianz League action has three Ulster counties in Division Two action which includes the first of BBC Sport NI's eight live streamed games this season as Armagh host Louth in a derby at the Athletic Grounds.

After his side suffered shootout agony on two occasions last summer as they were pipped by Derry in the Ulster Final before contriving to lose against Monaghan in an epic All-Ireland quarter-final, manager Kieran McGeeney has since added ex-Derry forward Conleith Gilligan to a backroom team that already included former Kerry great Kieran Donaghy and ex-Armagh skipper Ciaran McKeever.

Whether Gilligan's arrival can help Armagh achieve overdue silverware remains to be seen but they will be favourites to overcome a Louth side now managed by former Dublin defender Ger Brennan after he succeeded Mickey Harte.

Saturday's first game in Division Two sees Fermanagh travelling to Navan to face Tailteann Cup winners with Cavan's opener against Kildare taking place at Dr Cullen Park in Carlow because of ongoing development working at St Conleth's Park in Newbridge.

But the big game in Division Two will be Donegal's meeting with last season's All-Ireland quarter-finalists Cork in a contest guaranteed to bring a huge crowd of home fans to Ballybofey as McGuinness fever infects the county once more.

After running the rule over a few youngsters in the McKenna Cup final, McGuinness will surely name an experienced side for the opener which he says will represent "the real test" following the phoney war of recent weeks.

However, Gavin Mulreany is set to remain between the posts for Donegal as Shaun Patton is suspended for the Ballybofey contest following his red card in the championship defeat by Tyrone last June.

Donegal's performances in the Dr McKenna indicated a squad that has done quite an amount of pre-season work

In the McKenna Cup semi-final win over an admittedly largely inexperienced Monaghan side a couple of weeks ago, McGuinness paraded a strong looking bunch of Donegal players that appeared to have banked a significant body of work.

Oisin Gallen's first-half 2-4 and general performance suggested he is already reaching the performance levels which marked his form as the big positive takeaway from an otherwise forgettable 2023 for Donegal.

Once suspects Cork manager John Cleary will need to have put his players through some diligent early-season work for them to live with Donegal at MacCumhaill Park.

Antrim and Down begin their Division Three campaigns on Sunday with the Saffrons facing Limerick in Rathkeale and the Mourne County travelling to Aughrim to take on Wicklow.

After the promise of last summer's Tailteann Cup campaign where Antrim were narrowly beaten by eventual winners Meath in the semi-finals, manager Andy McEntee bemoaned the "attitude" of his players in the recent McKenna Cup defeat by Fermanagh, which did not bode well for the League campaign.

Down were Meath's opponents in the Tailteann final but squandered a glorious opportunity to guarantee Super 16s football for this year as the Royals punished their profligacy by clinching a 2-13 to 0-14 victory.

A Down victory in that game would have meant a highly promising first year in charge for Conor Laverty, even though his side missed on promotion to Division Two, but such are the fine margins that the Mourne County still have to convince that they can re-establish themselves as a genuine force.