This weekend's All-Ireland final between Dublin and Kerry should be an exciting to this year's Gaelic football championship, although it is fair to say that much of the season was rather underwhelming due to one major change made by the GAA for 2023.
A round robin format for the All-Ireland series is something that supporters had been calling out for for quite some time, although many were unsure about the format of the one adopted for this year's edition.
Three teams advancing from each group made for some rather pedestrian games during the opening couple of rounds, with many teams packing themselves as they knew it was highly unlikely that they would be eliminated at the first hurdle.
While the final set of games did bring with it quite a bit of excitement, changing this is something that the GAA are sure to look at moving forward.
Lee Keegan feels GAA championship change has suited Dublin & Kerry
Dublin and Kerry both timed their run in this year's championship perfectly, although some feel that the new format adopted by the GAA could suit them more than others.
With many counties battling it out for provincial honours earlier in the campaign, it is fair to say that this pair have a slightly easier run during this period due to their dominance within Leinster and Munster.
Writing in his column for RTÉ, Lee Keegan said that it was clear that the new format was more beneficial to Dublin and Kerry that it has been for other counties.
Dublin and Kerry have managed the new format best in timing their run to peak for the knockouts. The system probably suits them in that their provincial championships are, with respect, a waste of time.
So they're more than likely going through a 'loading' phase, training really heavily with a view to hitting full tilt by July. Hence we saw some leggy and lethargic displays by the two finalists early in the season.
Mayo did Kerry a further favour by malfunctioning horribly in the round robin against Cork, shunting them into a do-or-die clash with Galway, who had also sabotaged their own season by losing late on against Armagh.
For Kevin [McStay] and the Mayo lads, we saw the full cost of this in their flatness in the second half of the quarter-final. As against that, Dublin and Kerry had the week off to prepare for the final stretch, exploding into form in the last-eight games.
When they decide to turn it on, these are the two best teams in the country.
He has a point. Davy Burke made a similar point in recent times, arguing that the two counties could also take it easier in their league campaign due to their provincial commitments.
Both Dublin and Kerry have won their provincial championships largely at a canter in recent years, meaning they have plenty left in the tank when it comes to later in the summer.
It will be interesting to see who benefits more from that this weekend.
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