Slow learners the GAA as an organisation may be, but the beneficial lessons of reform were there for all to see last weekend. Yet in the middle of all the feel-good reflection, a certain melancholy persists.

What way would you be feeling in Westmeath? Frustration at coming so close - yet again - to recording a first championship win over neighbours Meath, elation at the latest affirmation of the county's new status as genuine contenders, or trepidation at the prospect of Saturday's replay? Possibly all of the above.

But maybe you'd also feel angry at what the county has lost over the years to the stifling effect of heedless conservatism. Traditionalists have opposed tooth-and-nail changes to inter-county competitions in recent years, and on every major issue they been proved absolutely wrong.

In fact the weekend was the clearest evidence of the summer to date that counties such as Westmeath have been systematically ripped off over the decades of championship history. How could any team with no tradition to speak of and without some sort of opportunity to develop and evolve hope to break through against teams that had been beating them year in, year out?

The point has been frequently made that, were it not for the qualifiers, Westmeath would have waited a year from last June 3rd for their next championship outing. The cumulative effect of all this has been akin to telling half a classroom at the end of September to go home and not return for 12 months - and then to expect them to hold their own against pupils who were allowed stay around for the full academic year. Even the brightest kids would be unequal to the struggle.

There is one luminous irony about the success of the qualifiers. It concerns the impact on the provincial championships. No one can doubt that they have been seriously affected by the new system. Their titles are no longer the exclusive gateway to All-Ireland success.

None of the champions won at the weekend, and two have been eliminated without even playing a representative of another province, let alone getting to Croke Park.

Roscommon will regard the Connacht title as merited recognition of great improvement this year, but it can hardly be said that they have emerged as the best team in the province. Tyrone probably had their sights set higher, but the same argument can be made about them.

When the Football Development Committee presented its proposals for a new championship format 18 months ago, it attracted much fire from the provincial councils. This was based on the perceived reduction in the status of the provincial championships. In fact, the FDC bent over backwards to appease the councils. The feeding of teams from the Connacht-Ulster and Munster-Leinster groups into provincial play-offs weakened the blueprint, and those in whose interest the measures had been introduced in the first place weren't slow to exploit that weakness.

When the current qualifier system was introduced last October, it was remarked here at the time that the provinces had evidently swallowed something a lot more toxic than the FDC proposals. And so it has proved. More than that, the very basis for the qualifiers' success was the same as that identified by the more radical plan: more matches benefit everyone.

Look at how Westmeath have come on given the availability of a steady programme of activity (Saturday will be their ninth championship match this season). Consider also the number of teams who will feel better about themselves after this summer.

Wexford drew with Westmeath in the first-round qualifier and must be cheered by the comparison that suggests. Louth crashed to Longford, but surprised Offaly and ran Westmeath close. Wicklow lost a replay to Carlow but went on playing up to July and had a red-letter day in Aughrim against last year's All-Ireland finalists, Galway. The list goes on.

Then there have been the crowds. Never mind last weekend's turnouts; All-Ireland quarter-finals were always going to be a success if anything remotely like the best eight teams qualified for them. Of far more significance have been the week-in, week-out crowds at the qualifiers. Westmeath and Wexford drew 10,000 - probably a record for a championship meeting between the teams. Sligo played in front of 60,000 at Croke Park. East met west in Hyde Park as 23,000 turned out to see Westmeath and Mayo.

Even if the big flaw in the FDC document was the potential number of matches with little at stake, it still envisaged a decent schedule of matches to cater for medium-sized crowds. Fewer spectaculars perhaps, but a greater number of crowded provincial venues on summer evenings.

From the GAA's point of view the new format has been most successful as a promotional device. There have never been more people talking about the football championship. It has generated massive support and profile in counties where little had existed for years. The number of replica jerseys - that hoary sporting demographic - around the country is particularly noticeable.

This isn't to suggest that everything's perfect. The pendulum has probably swung too far against provincial champions. Last October's special congress removed the proposal that the four winners be given a quarter-final venue in their own province. In the event it wouldn't have made much difference to this year given the way the draw turned out, but regardless of that, rejection of the idea was probably mistaken.

Not only do the provincial champions now not get any bonus for their achievement, but they are actually being penalised. Roscommon and Tyrone came up against Galway and Derry teams unrecognisable from the sides they beat two months previously.

The format guarded against the wrong danger, that of the provincial finals being replayed at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage. Instead, any pairing previously played the same summer should be avoided if possible.

Of course it wouldn't have happened under the FDC proposals.