After much coming and going in the league due to the original fixture being rained off, Leitrim were relieved to get away with a win in London. That should have created a certain frisson given that the visitors were the only previous victims of the exiles, 30 years ago, and more recently, 10 years ago, were taken to extra-time in this fixture.
Leitrim's NFL season was positive in that they avoided the drop to Division Four but otherwise there was disruption with manager Dessie Dolan's unavailability through illness in the early stages.
Nonetheless London's selection is blighted by injury and the usual problems of continuity apply with only two players lining out who started last year's championship match against Mayo (Paddy McConagley, captain 12 months ago, tomorrow makes his debut for Donegal).
Ref: M Hughes (Tyrone) Verdict: Leitrim.
Connacht SFC - First Round London v Leitrim Tomorrow, Ruislip 3.0
Surely this fixture has reached its tipping point. Tomorrow's repeat of last July's Ulster final sees Donegal meriting favourites' status for the first time this decade. Armagh's suspected decline has been exacerbated by a disastrous run of injuries and a number of significant retirements.
On the other hand Donegal have won their first league - a first national title since the 1992 All-Ireland - and have home advantage. This gives them confidence going into what has been an unforgiving fixture in recent years.
It could be argued that the home team have no great history of becoming too obsessive about matches and their elation three years ago at beating then All-Ireland champions Tyrone set them up for a drubbing by tomorrow's opponents in the Ulster final.
Donegal have lost three provincial finals to Armagh in the past five years but there was a great deal of promise about last year's Croke Park contest.
Under Brian McIver Donegal have kicked on this year and maintained their progress with some excellent football during the spring. The chronic problem of discipline or compliance hasn't entirely disappeared but it has been dealt with more assuredly than last year.
Nonetheless pessimists in the county have uneasily noted that the last three teams to play Donegal on the run-in to last month's NFL title - Mayo, Kildare and Limerick - all lost comprehensively last weekend but there is much about this match that logically points to the home team.
Since last year's Ulster final McIver has reclaimed Brendan Devenney, Colm McFadden and Kevin Cassidy and all made a big contribution to the league success.
By contrast Armagh are missing the spine of last year's attack, Ronan Clarke (injured) and John McEntee (retired), who between them contributed five points from play in a low scoring, 1-9 to 0-9, match. Retirement also deprives the team of McEntee's twin Tony, who would have provided an experienced option at full back after the unfortunate injury to Francie Bellew.
Joe Kernan has been forced into a great deal of improvisation by serial injury blows over the past 12 months. Players like Brendan Donaghy and Kieran Toner have had to be fast tracked into the team and Diarmuid Marsden has risen from retirement, but it's asking a lot of these players to hit the ground running in a match like this.
Donegal's largely solid defence, capable centrefield and in-form attack give them the platform for an important win.
ARMAGH: P Hearty; E McNulty, B Donaghy, A Mallon; A Kernan, K McGeeney, C McKeever; K Toner, P McGrane (capt); P McKeever, S Kernan, M O'Rourke; S McDonnell, D Marsden, O McConville.
DONEGAL: P Durcan; N McGee, P Campbell, K Lacy; P McConigley, B Monaghan, B Dunnion; N Gallagher (capt) , K Cassidy; C Bonner, M Hegarty, C Toye; C McFadden, B Devenney, K McMenamin.
Referee: John Bannon (Longford).
Ulster SFC - First Round Donegal v Armagh Tomorrow, Ballybofey 4.0pm, live on RTÉ 2
When Mick O'Dwyer took over in Wicklow during a frenzy of expectation at the end of last year this was the fixture that dominated his landscape.
A disappointing NFL campaign didn't change that even if it rendered the context less optimistic.
Last week's industrious and at times slick performance in holding hot favourites to a draw has revived a lot of the original enthusiasm but the usual rules of replays point to Louth making a better fist of things this time around.
It was plain last week that the favourites had been surprised by the quality of Wicklow's challenge and they needed a fortuitous late goal to stay on their feet.
Whereas there's no doubt that Eamonn McEneaney's team have the greater room for improvement, the benefits of last week's widely praised performance by Wicklow should be enhanced confidence and apprehension on the part of their opponents - something with resonance for a Louth team that last year let both Meath and Tyrone off the hook in championship and qualifier matches.
McEneaney acknowledged last week that his team had played poorly and been lucky to survive.
Their forward play was particularly lack lustre and Ronan Carroll's goal, punched in during a pinball attack in the closing minutes, was the team's only score from play in the second half.
Wicklow moved better and with the confidence that O'Dwyer is so expert at inculcating in teams but they too have some scope for improvement.
Despite Tommy Gill's excellent display the forwards lacked composure - wides and option taking - but for which they could have put the match beyond Louth.
The favourites for their part need an even bigger improvement up front and questions about Shane Lennon's fitness are of particular concern. From Wicklow's point of view Brendan Ó hAnnaidh remains a doubt after taking a knock last week.
LOUTH: S Reynolds; D Brennan, C Goss, A Page; R Finnegan, P McGinnity, J Carr; P Keenan, R Carroll; C Grimes, M Brennan, M Stanfield; A Hoey, S Lennon, D Clarke
WICKLOW: B Norman; C Hyland, D Power, A Byrne; B Ó hAnnaidh, D Ó hAnnaidh, JP Dalton; J Stafford, T Walsh; P Earls, L Glynn, P Dalton; T Gill, D Jackman, T Hannon.
Referee: Séamus McGonigle (Donegal).
Leinster SFC - First Round Replay Louth v Wicklow Sunday, Parnell Park 3.30 Ulster SHC - Semi-final replay Down v Derry Today, Casement Park 3.30
Ruairí Convery's equaliser sent Derry's second successive tight finish to a replay albeit that Down represented a step-up in standard from Armagh. Down should have come on after what was their first outing and can deliver on their favourites' status.
Ref: F Smith (Meath). Verdict: Down.
