Another year, another inevitably - Dublin brushed aside the feeble challenge of Meath on Sunday without ever getting out of third gear, and will without a shadow of doubt fend off the challenge of Westmeath in even more dominant fashion.
The Leinster senior football championship, the once stomping ground of fierce titanic battles such as the Meath vs Dublin 4-game saga in 1991 - or where it was not only feasible that Laois or Offaly could come to Croke Park and be competitive, but they'd travel to the capital believing they could win.
But the magic has gone from the provincial championships. Ulster remains the only province where a degree of competitiveness exists, with aside from the occasional blunder - the other three are relatively one sided.
While we've had shocks with Galway and Tipperary ousting Mayo and Cork respectively in the championship thus far, Dublin are so far ahead of everyone else in Leinster with virtually no chance of a shock.
Dublin have only lost once since 2010 when Meath stunned them in Croke Park. They accumulated 10 Leinster titles in 11 years, having only lost once in the province in period spanning almost 11 years.
Leinster GAA secretary, Cian Murphy doesn't think there is any quick fix to what's happening in Leinster. Speaking to Balls.ie, Murphy pointed to the brilliant things that is going on at underage level in the likes of Meath and Kildare and believes that is the best way to tackle the giant that is Dublin.
He is adamant that Dublin's dominance in Leinster has just so happened to coincide with a slip in form from their more traditional rivals in the province.
One thing that has happened, is that Dublin have hit an incredibly rich vein of form at the same time that their 2 traditional big rivals, Meath especially, and Kildare have dipped at the exact same time that Dublin have kicked off. And that has accelerated the gap that is there at the moment. Sometimes it was Offaly and Kildare, sometimes it was Offaly and Meath - but they always had 2 teams who were challenging them. Or maybe one in the 80s and 90s when it was just Meath. But they always had at least one, and usually 2 teams capable of going toe to toe with them. They have kicked off at a time when their biggest and traditional rivals have obviously hit a slump.
The reality is that things have already started to turn in that this is the second year in a row that Dublin won't be in the Leinster minor final. There's massive work going on in Kildare and in Meath. We're seeing Dublin aren't winning everything at underage, they have an exceptional gifted and talented bunch of players at the moment. They've also had really astute, really class guys at the sideline in Pat Gilroy and in Jim Gavin.
From our point of view in Leinster, what we're really happy about is the work that is involved in underage. Like there's massive stuff happening, in terms of taking teams out of their comfort zones within counties at juvenile level. So there's something going to happen, there's a pile of projects going to happen at U13 level at football that's going to involve Meath, Kildare, Wicklow and Louth. Each country will be divided into regions, not development squads, but into regions.
It seems everytime Dublin or any other country for that matter hand out a trashing, the cries for a complete restructuring of the championship are once again heard. The same followed on Sunday after Dublin's stroll to the Leinster decider.
Murphy confirmed that Leinster GAA had tried to explore the possibility of introducing a round-robin system, something similar to the current mould present in the Leinster hurling championship.
What Leinster was interested in doing is - and you've seen in hurling in Leinster, the round robin has been used a mechanism to improve teams. And that Leinster has explored that possibility, have wanted to explore a similar sort of possibility as a way of improving teams in Leinster, while still operating withing the Leinster championship you know. The one thing that came out of that - whatever mechanism we come across, the appetite is still there for the provincial championships.
Any change to the football championship at the moment has to retain the football championship, that's the clear message. The players have said that, the Uachtaráin has said that, and then you have to remember - there was an attempt from Croke park to really give a shot in the arm to club structures, there was an attempt to get rid of replays and attempt to move date, move dates in the GAA calender. And while it didn't get through, they did get serious amounts of support.
So it's the juggling of that, that exists in the GAA - trying to keep the club player happy. We don't have county players unless we have club players, and we can't leave them behind. And more and more, you can't look at anything in isolation. That's why, those underage teams will improve people who are playing for their clubs, and then in the hope that one day you'll get the cream of the crop to play for their county. But you have to look after the clubs.
Dublin's dominance doesn't look like it's going to end in the province anytime soon. Even prior to the spell they are now going through where they weren't nearly as dominant as they are - but still have only lost once since 2005 in the provincial championship.
With a restructure seeming virtually impossible, and with Dublin just so far ahead of everyone else in the province - what can be done to fix the problem that is the Leinster football championship. Because at this time, it's becoming farcical.
