It's back. Thank God. We distracted ourselves as best we could, but really and truly we've been waiting impatiently for the summer and, more importantly, the championship to brighten up our lives again. And first up is one of the oldest rivalries in the game. No, no not Antrim v London in the hurling - we're talking about Down v Cavan in the Ulster football championship.
The last time the teams met, two years ago, it took two and a half hours of football to separate them, with Cavan finally prevailing in the replay - by which time the teams had, between them, hit seven goals and 51 points.
Both counties have tasted All-Ireland success five times, with Down claiming the title as recently as 1994. However, only the more mature Cavan supporters will remember the Sam Maguire arriving in the county and, believe it or not, they may also remember that the 0-9 to 0-5 All-Ireland final victory - claimed over Meath on October 12th, 1952 - sent shock waves across the world.
On a day when South Korea and China were fighting for White Horse Hill in Chorwon Valley (it changed hands 20 times that week) and a new face-and-hand paste was unveiled that, seemingly, would protect against a nuclear bomb, Pope Pius XII realised he could not remain silent on the Ulster county's growing superiority. On the evening of the game, in a message to a crowd of over 500,000 at St Peter's Square in Rome, the Pope claimed "that the world order was being threatened by an enemy whose identity the assembly did not need to be told".
Kerry supporters nodded.
"The whole world stands in danger of being contaminated," the Pope warned, going on to describe "clouds descending on the world".
The stark message continued: "Five years ago there were 70,000 of you, today your number has doubled" - an obvious reference to the recent emergence of Cavan in 1947 as a global power, when they claimed the first of the three All-Ireland titles in six years, in New York against Kerry.
While the 1952 final was by no means a classic - with captain Michael Higgins kicking seven points from frees - we feel the Vatican's reaction probably a little over the top. Still, we can't wait to see the reaction should Cavan ever add a sixth title to their collection.
September Road
Armchair Gaelic Football Fan's Guide To The Summer: RTÉ's live schedule
How The Bookies See It. . .
Compiled by Damian Cullen
dcullen@irish-times.ie
Pope's fears prove slightly excessive
Ulster SFC - Round One
Down4/9
Cavan9/4
Draw15/2
Handicap
Down (-3)10/11
Cavan (+3)10/11
Ulster Title
Down12/1
Cavan40/1
All-Ireland Title
Down40/1
Cavan150/1
To reach All-Ireland Quarter-final
Down9/4
Cavan14/1
Three Against Thirty
Many believe the senior football championship is merely a three-horse race, with bookmakers offering generous odds against Kerry, Armagh or Tyrone claiming the Sam Maguire. The "Big Three" are 4/7, with the other 30 teams competing in the championship on offer at 5/4.
Tomorrow
Ulster SFC - Down v Cavan (3.30pm)
May 14th
Leinster SFC - Westmeath v Offaly (4pm)
May 21st
Connacht SFC - Galway v Sligo (2pm)
May 28th
Ulster SFC - Tyrone v Derry (2.15pm)
June 4th
Ulster SFC - Donegal v Down/Cavan (4pm)
June 11th
Ulster SFC - Armagh/Monaghan v Fermanagh/Antrim (2.15)
Munster SFC - Cork v Clare/Limerick (4pm)
June 17th
All-Ireland SFC - Qualifiers Round One
June 18th
Connacht SFC - New York/Roscommon v Galway/Sligo (2pm)
Leinster SFC - Kildare/Westmeath/Offaly v Wexford/Meath/Louth (4pm)
June 25th
Leinster SFC - Longford/Dublin v Laois/Wicklow/Carlow (2pm)
July 1st
All-Ireland SFC - Qualifiers Round Two
July 9th
Ulster SFC - Final (2pm)
Munster SFC - Final (4pm)
July 15th
All-Ireland SFC - Qualifiers Round Three
July 16th
Connacht SFC - Final (2pm)
Leinster SFC - Final (4pm)
July 29th
All-Ireland SFC - Qualifiers Round Four (2)
July 30th
All-Ireland SFC - Qualifiers Round Four (2)
August 5th
All-Ireland SFC - Quarter-finals (2)
August 12th
All-Ireland SFC - Quarter-finals (2)
August 20th
Tommy Murphy Cup - Final
All-Ireland SFC - Semi-final
August 27th
All-Ireland MFC & SFC - Semi-final
September 17th
All-Ireland MFC & SFC - Final
Tradition suggests Kerry will be among the last four still in the hunt for championship honours in the middle of August. And not just because of Kerry's unrivalled historical success, but more because the Kingdom claimed the NFL title last month.
While the league has often been dismissed as irrelevant in the recent past, in each of the last three seasons the league champion has, at the very least, reached the subsequent All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final.
Tyrone won the NFL in 2003 and then lifted the Sam Maguire that September, Kerry performed the same trick the following year, and 2005 league champions Armagh reached the All-Ireland semi-final last summer.
However, the link between winning the NFL and performing well in the championship is rather a recent phenomenon. In fact, in the entire 10 championships played during the 1990s, only Kerry (in 1997) managed to claim the Sam Maguire Cup after a successful run through Division One of the league. And, of the 20 teams that reached the Division One finals in the 1990s, only two teams (Meath in 1990 and, of course, Kerry in 1997) managed to even reach the subsequent All-Ireland final.
So at least fans can now point to good form in the league and, more realistically than ever, point to the likelihood of carrying that form into May and June.
Which, of course, is all well and good if your team finished near the top of the league, but you'd probably rather continue to dismiss the link between league and championship if you are a supporter of London - who host Mayo at the end of the month. London's 2006 league form reads: played 7, won 0, lost 7, points difference -97.
