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They may all be bound for the B Championship if the President has his way but I bet all 8 teams are as eager and looking forward to the start of the League as Derry or Tyrone who showed some appetitive for football last Saturday night!
Most of the teams have had a good pre season:
Leitrim moving well in the FBD.
Wexford have PJ Banville back in the panel and they have some talented forwards available - Ben Brosnan, Adrian Flynn and they will be looking to bounce right back to Div 3.
Louth have fallen a long way from the robbery of their Leinster Final defeat to Meath but they seem to have turned the corner this year with a very good O Byrne Cup run.
Antrim got a bad start last year but they seem to be buzzing now and with all the lads back are probably joint favourites with Wexford.
Carlow drew in Belfast last year but faded as the league went on, they can never sustain it.
Wicklow likewise.
Waterford gone backwards since they won the McGrath Cup last year.
London can be a banana skin for travelling teams.
They may not be able to keep it kick out to the top ten but all these teams are putting a massive effort in and it would be great to see them making real progress later in the year in the Championship.

Liam O Neill and Padraig Duffy have come out fighting about 'Corporate' GAA and Sky.
It seems that holding a contrary opinion is in some way treasonous.
To me it's a further demonstration of arrogance at the top of the Association.
By not allowing a motion on the Pay per view deal they have confirmed for me that they consider themselves always right and everyone else wrong.

Because Liam O Neill has put a massive effort into the Presidency, it doesn't mean these decisions should to be criticised.

The role of President needs to be looked at; it demands too much of the individual and should not involve the candidate has to take a career break.

Padraig has let fly because there is a perception among GAA people that there is a Corporate GAA. Well there is.
And it's leading us in the wrong direction.

What is going on with Revenue??
This attack on GAA refs is extraordinary. Why aren't all codes included sorry why os any code included. It's outrageous and should be reversed immediately.

Is this the only tournament run in the country that is named after it's living organiser?
Why do the media and politicians fawn over him?
Having played in the event many years ago I immediately came to the conclusion that it was purely a money making racket for his pub in Ceann Trá! The football was not even secondary...
Can the GAA give permission and insurance cover for a tournament seemingly organised by an individual and not by a Club? Are Clubs and players covered?

I squirmed when I heard that he has now named the cup after the great Dermot Early and player of the match after Aengus Fanning. Forgive me for saying it smacks totally of opportunism and looks to me to be purely a promotional stunt. Don't like to see memories of people used in what seems to me to be a cynical fashion.

If this tournament was run by his CLub and for his CLub I would have no issue but it just seems extraordinary that it is billed as an 'individual's personal tournament'.

Am I unfair to the man, who was I recognise a brilliant Kerry footballer and Manager, and a great character too.

I posted this in another thread and someone suggested it could a topic on it's own. So here it is.

Croke Park should hang it's head in shame.
This is a typical example of the ridiculous approach to disciplinary matters (Derrytresk ban) by the GAA, in fact to more than discipline, to how it sets up competitions and committees.
The GAA cannot organise a competition on simple and fair lines, everything has to cater for exceptions to the rule rather than be equitable and fair.

Likewise with it's approach to discipline. One law for a club a different standard applied to counties.

In a court of law you at lease hear all the evidence and can contest it. GAA discipline is administered by Committees who 'investigate' matters but a Club or individual cannot hear or see the evidence against them, only the allegation. It's almost impossible to get justice. It's one of the reasons we have such a poor disciplinary record as compared to other sports.
Many of the Committee members sitting in judgement have little in terms of ability, training or expertise in dealing with such matters. Their thinking is often coloured by personal preferences, by club and county politics, by media coverage and by possible media coverage of the outcome. Doing the right thing doesn't come into it very often.
The rules are deliberately vague and if they want to get you they will get you - 'misconduct considered to have discredited the Association', 'behaving in any way which is dangerous to an opponent', 'contributing to a melee'.... what does that mean???
It's very judgemental and non specific, open to interpretation and abuse.
'Attempting to strike'.....'attempting to kick'....'inflicting injury recklessly by means other than those stated above'......'minor physical interference (e.g. laying a hand on, pushing, pulling or jostling) with an official - laying a hand on could be widely misinterpreted if one wanted to be vindictive....disruptive conduct at games by team officials or supporters - what exactly is that...
Most of these terms are catch all phrases designed to allow Committees absolute power to discipline anyone they have a dislike for..
The hearings themselves are then conducted in a mystical setting where you never hear the evidence against you, the opposition can say what they will and you cannot refute it...

Referees then, don't get me going!! Many of them are only in it for the money. Some refs could be doing 10 games a week between adult and juvenile leagues, schools games, practice games. They are doing well out of it and too many are motivated only by the few bob, many of them display as much if not more contempt for players as some players have for refs! And at club level they don't forget.... Clubs and players know that and it's not fashionable or politically correct to say it, but it's often true. Some refs have been known to abuse players during games, some to vow to 'do a player' in a future game..

The GAA has become unwieldy, Croke Park has far too much sway and too many 'experts' pushing more and more obligations onto over worked volunteers at club level - ASAP Offices etc etc...
Maybe it's time for a new organisation - The Gaelic Clubs Association where players can play with their clubs when they should be instead of at the whim of a county manager who only has one interest - self promotion....

Croke Park and it's officials are leading us up a garden path - and we are letting them away with it.
There is a small army of paid officials running departments to implement 'best practice'! ASAP etc!.
Standards are being imposed that professional sports bodies wouldn't live up to and the demands on volunteers is out of hand.
Our core business is being pushed further down the agenda each week that passes.
These people have to justify their salaries at our expense. There is more reporting and statistics keeping than in the Civil Service. A numbers game is being played with the Dept of Sport on participation levels and all sorts of areas. That is driving GAA policy in Go Games etc.

The top brass are completely out of touch and have become too politicised. The election of GAA presidents epitomises that where candidates have to have a campaign to get elected, they feel they have to have an agenda which they will drive and they end up trading for votes. Into the bargain we have to pay for their secondment regardless of salary level!! So if the head of Smurfit earns €1,000,000 annually and is elected Uachtaran we have to compensate Smurfit! It's barmy.
Time was when it was solely a figurehead position, someone who had given great service to the GAA, to be the public face of the Association. Not any longer. These guys are GAA politicians.
Likewise our Ard Stuiritheoir used go about his job quietly and efficiently ( Liam Mulvihil and Sean o Siochan).
The present incumbents have started a campign against team managers that they have blown out of all proportion resulting in a Prime Time special tonight!! What have we become?
I am training Club teams for 30 years now without any payment and I know the vast majority of managers do likewise. I also know that there are many outside managers in Clubs who do receive payment but most of them are getting their expenses and maybe a little extra. A tiny minority are getting above and beyond legit exps. It is not the problem it has been portrayed as - by our own leaders...... who have managed to put us all under a cloud - no smoke without fire and all that..Shame on them.
It would serve them better to get back to reality, stop paying a nominal position compensation for giving up work (there's no need to do that, unless you want to self promote yourslef in the 32 counties).
I'm afraid the GAA has turned into a monster and cannot be turned back. It may be time for a Gaelic Clubs Association to put the Club back at the forefront of the games.

Given the demands being placed on young players at this time of year John Maughan's call for a halt to this carry on should be heeded.
The top brass in the GAA love to talk about their concern for player welfare and on burn out but only add to the problems with their ridiculous closed season and training ban...

These College players are being abused left right and centre.
We have a glut of competitions, competing managers all demanding their pound of flesh...

We have an organisation prisoner to tradition and unwilling to take simple steps that would eliminate so many of the factors placing these demands on young lads....

At a stroke of a pen, the pressure can be released - unhitch the provincial championships from the All Ireland competitions and immediately a proper games programme can be implemented. Imagine knowing for sure when you are due to play games, imagine freeing up weekends so clubs can play too!
Delete rules on training bans and slot the Leagues and College competitions into a defined playing calendar.

If player welfare truly is a priority these things would be done over night, but it's all lip service..

Again going back to what pressure these young lads are under - some of our colleges call players back in for training during the holiday period - regardless of where they live and without consideration for the expense involved for players. It's no joke for players to have to drive or get buses from home merely to attend college to train for a team where maybe some players are on substantial scholarships (different story for them). It's very much a  two tier system. The guys on scholarship wouldn't be worth tuppence if the ord guys were'nt playing ball.
Then you have these county managers looking for these chaps to commute home for county training - regardless of the distance. I know of a few lads who have to travel over 100 miles for county U21 training! In fairness they are compensated financially but can anyone justify the time demand involved and the impact travel has on their lives.
Would they not be better players if they could skip mid week training at home and train with the college?
Young lads being young lads want to do it all and don't realise that their performance levels are affected by such workloads - and in many cases the quality of training doesn't justify the journey!

I give the GAA 5 years max before it runs into a serious drop off in interest levels.
Clubs are sickened by the exclusion of County players from playing with them; club coaches are, contrary to media reports, mostly voluntary and fed up investing so much time developing players only to be prevented from accessing them in the playing season. Players are gonna walk away as they become disllusioned and burnt out, fed up with self serving officials on power trips (best described to me as 'failed politicians').

The GAA has lost touch with grass roots, the primacy of the Club has been ignored despite all the clap trap from Croke Park, Provincial Councils and County Boards. We have a plethora of full time staff in Croker to run the organisation, (that used by run by Paddy O Keeffe and a secretary) jumping up and down to people in the Sports Council and elsewhere; rolling out programmes that Clubs couldn't possibly have the expertise or personnel to delve - ASAP etc......I thought we were about the games....

What is going on with our Kerry colleagues? Dr Crokes have requested that supporters be segregated for their All Ireland semi final clash with Crossmaglen Rangers in Portlaoise on Sunday week.
I think this is an outrageous request that goes against the whole ethos of GAA.
A very very small number of our games result in trouble between supporters and the GAA Supporters of all counties and clubs are rightly lauded for their ability to mix freely at games without incident.

This is pure gamesmanship designed to put pressure on their opponents.

The over the top reaction to events at last week's game also reflect poorly on Kerry GAA people. Having looked at the video I can say with confidence that the incident looked much worse than it actually was. I agree fully that the Derrytresk subs and supporters who got over the barrier acted shamefully and deserve the maximum punishment possible under rule and if Gardai have grounds to act they should do so.
But most of what happened was either shoving/pushing or trying to pull lads away.

Dromid haven't helped their cause with their hysterical media comments.

One would think this type of thing never happened in Kerry when the opposite is true. I can recall an incident a few years ago between two neighbouring South Kerry Clubs who are located only a stones throw from Dromid that ended up in a court of law over a vicious assault.

Kerry are rightly considered football purists but they have had their fair share of club incidents down the years and always had a few hatchet men to shore up their back line. If my memory serves me right their great team of the seventies were involved in a running battle v Dublin in New York (?).