THE club championship kicked off here in Donegal last weekend and although we got to see the new rules during club leagues, this was our first taste of how football might look at club level.

I’m sure we can all remember attending club games all over the country last season and what was on display in front of us was simply boring. The teams all played the same system and it was a case of let’s just hold the ball and hope the opposition makes a mistake.

There was zero flair or trying to express yourself for fear of an earful from your coach. Teams were drilled to hold on the ball at all costs and that resulted in a bore-fest for us the supporters watching on.

From what I watched last week, we are moving towards a night and day type situation. Teams are now willing to risk more, the top players have more room to express themselves and teams can no longer try and negate teams like they would have done in the past.

Don’t get me wrong, teams are still trying to rush back and protect the scoring zone, but what happens now with the three-up rule is that better players and better teams will play around that system and they will make you look silly.

Our lads got their campaign off to a winning start at home against Glenfin. We made tough work of it and Glenfin gave us our fill of it, but in the end we ran our deserving winners.

Elsewhere, a lot of the big-hitters suffered defeats on the opening day but with four group games to be played. those results matter very little as two wins will almost guarantee you safe passage to the knockout stages.

Understandably, a lot of teams were down their county players as they took a well-deserved holiday but we should see most teams back to near full strength this weekend.

Our second group game is away to St Naul’s on Saturday evening. It’s a tricky one for our lads as Naul’s are a decent team. They have the likes of Peadar Mogan and Brendan McCole and then up front, the evergreen Stephen Griffin still pulls the strings for them.

They ran a hotly-fancied Four Masters team close last weekend in their local derby so our lads will have to be on it this weekend to get the result.

As mentioned last week, we will be week-on-week here in Donegal over the next few weeks. Although this format does allow for teams to find their feet and gather momentum, I can’t help but look across the border with a hint of envy to our neighbours Tyrone as they play off in their knock-out format.

I was lucky enough to cover a lot of games over the last few years with TG4 and the atmosphere at those games was something else.

Championship to me was always last-chance saloon, no group, no back door, just a plain and simple format of either perform or your out. and I have to admit that I miss that down here.

TG4 are covering the Glenswilly and Mac Cumhaill’s match on Sunday, which is fantastic.

I must publicly thank the lads at TG4 for giving me a sabbatical this weekend as I’ll but in full bucket hat mode on Sunday as I attend Oasis at Croke Park.

On a serious note, and I have said it on numerous occasions, the work that these guys do is simply astounding. Over the next few months we will get to see club games from all over Ireland and it’s absolutely brilliant.

I do love the county football but there is just something special about this time of year getting to see all of these different teams each week, so fair play to the lads at TG4. Maith Sibh.