GERARD O’KANE: Fasten your seatbelts

IN my last column, I opened up with the fact that with the current format of the championship, coupled with the new rules, the GAA have stumbled upon a system which has proven to be the most exciting in years.

And all that has happened in the intervening three weeks has only served to make this more obvious.

During those three weeks, we have had a series of very good games, a number of upsets and a number of heavyweights slug it out either for knockout or for group placement.

All in all, we seem to have found a near perfect system. Sure, there will always be detractors. You can’t keep everyone happy and be all things to all people.

Whether it is those who think the games are coming too thick and fast and the season should be extended, or those who feel that they are not being treated fairly with fixtures or venues, but all in all, for the majority, the football has been a lot better and crowds are up. So, it seems the decision to change the format next year might have been taken too hastily.

On the football itself, we are down to eight teams and good luck to anyone who is picking a winner out of that with any supreme confidence.

Sure, there will be a winner and someone will pick them, but there are so many variations left for each of the fixtures this week never mid a semi-final or a final that so much can happen.

Is there a kick in Dublin yet and will getting back into Croke Park reignite their championship push? They just seem to be doing just enough each game to get over the line but credit where credit is due, that’s the hallmark of a team who are probably in control more than others realise.

They will face a Tyrone team that have an air of unpredictability about them. A team that went to Ballybofey and inflicted the only home championship defeat under the Jim McGuinness reins and a team that let Mayo come to Omagh and dominate them for the most of the game and beat them quite comprehensively.

It seems like they still don’t know their best 15 starters. I always feel the best 15 players is not necessarily your starting team, there has to be a balance across the team and that is something often labelled at Tyrone, they have too much like for like players and not enough players who can grab a game by the scruff of the neck in around the middle.

Midfield is an area aerially where they struggle and coming up against an inform Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne will further exasperate this problem.

People like a bit of nostalgia and like to hark back to the noughties when the sight of a Dublin jersey lifted all in Tyrone and they had their number but don’t forget the intervening years in 2017 and 2018 in a semi-final and a final where Dublin disposed of Tyone with ease.

Cards on the table, with Con O’Callaghan getting a two-week break from the Derry game where he starred and Tyrone missing Michael McKernan, I’d go for Dublin, just marginally.

Armagh v Kerry – the interest levels will peak even higher for this one. The last game of the weekend the appetite should be well wetted by then. Not that dissimilar to the above, is there a kick in this Kerry team against one of the stronger oppositions?

They disposed of Cavan last week fairly ruthlessly in the first half, but then let them back into it. A four-point game coming down the straight and it looked like a shock could be on the cards but they done just enough to keep Cavan at arm’s length.

The biggest question, maybe even unfairly, is if the Clifford brothers don’t play well, how will Kerry win? Looking back at the league game in mid-March, Kerry disposed of Armagh fairly easily but since then in championship football, Armagh seem to have found more consistent form and with a well-rested squad it will take a bit of a shock for Kerry to pull this one off.

However, I think this just might be the case. With no scientific reasoning, there is something in me which just feels that Kerry will really target this game and really go after Armagh to lay down a marker and come away with a victory.

The final Ulster involvement is an all-Ulster affair in Monaghan v Donegal. We can see already, Donegal are busy circling the wagons and trying to create a bit of a siege mentality amongst the group.

Monaghan have had the advantage of topping their group and have had an extra week layoff coming into the game but in reality, I don’t think it makes much of a difference. Playing one game per week at this level is not a massive ask, training and recovery can be coordinated to allow players to be in the best possible shape for a weekend game.

An injured player is a different story, but the extra day which Donegal have requested, it would not have made much of a difference there anyway.

Cards back on the table, I reckon across the weekend, one of the games will be a draw and this one has the best chance and that follows on from their close encounter in Ulster. Monaghan have an array of two-point kickers and in Rory Beggan they have a ‘keeper who will thrive in Croke Park and Donegal seem to struggle to stay at the pace and intensity of their game for the full 70 minutes.

All in all, it promises to be a bumper weekend.