THIS YEAR, MUCH more so than in those that have flitted by recently with as much pace as excitement and entertainment, the championship is both top-heavy and tail-heavy.

Already we are fairly sure we can name seven of the eight sides that will line out in August, and from the quarter-final stage onwards this season should be something special.

But that doesn’t mean we should turn our backs on the rest of the summer and scoff at the rest of those teams struggling to make a living in what has become an elitist footballing society.

Right now neither Roscommon nor Galway can keep up with the very best, despite being on an upward curve, yet the championship is about tributaries as much as the main stream and at least the fixture makers have given us something interesting to look forward to on the opening day.

For those that say the championship has lost something with the safety net of the back door now hanging there as we push team after team over the ledge, consider Hyde Park on Sunday.

Whoever wins will rightly believe they’ll be in a Connacht final and that it is winnable. Whoever loses has to hang around on street corners until the qualifiers and hope to stay out of trouble.

That won’t happen. Not in this economic climate and not in this footballing climate where all that a few back-door wins will lead to is the guillotine as Cork or Kerry, Dublin or Kildare, Tyrone or Donegal will stand tall as the executioner. That’s how much is at stake on the very first day of the championship.

But as for the game itself, it has all the intrigue that such a do-or-die scenario deserves. All the talk in the back of church has been about Galway but is it really any more than gossip? One game against Kildare that’s fresh in the mind has got people excited but remember, this is a side that couldn’t beat Louth and lost to Westmeath in recent months as well. They don’t score a whole lot either and while their under-21s of 2011 were the most brilliant crop we have ever come across, they aren’t there yet.

Fifteen to one

Then there’s the team. We know of Finian Hanley’s quality and we know Gareth Bradshaw will win an All Star at wing-back one of these years when his team plays as well as he does. But for a long time now we’ve questioned Galway around the middle, questioned Joe Bergin as an alpha midfielder and questioned their over reliance on Pádraic Joyce and Michael Meehan, neither of whom are present or correct.

Indeed, the half-forward line doesn’t strike terror, Paul Conroy is largely unknown on the edge of the square and while Seán Armstrong could have a throw back to the days of the modern-day terrible twins and go wild, that’s been a rarity in his senior career.

All of which makes you wonder if there’s an upset creeping up on us from behind. Potentially, Roscommon have a spine as good as anyone in Connacht, certainly better than Galway. Niall Carty and Peter Domican are steady, Michael Finneran and Karol Mannion are formidable, Cathal Cregg, Donie Shine and Senan Kilbride are proven. The issue is that none have played well for Roscommon consistently this league for a variety of reasons and while in recent seasons Fergal O’Donnell could get the best out of them at the first sign of a flower blooming in summer, we don’t yet know if his replacement Des Newton can.

During the league they looked disjointed, lacked a gameplan and looked low on confidence at times. But management aside, they are a group that’s experienced enough to know what this game means to their season and what awaits if it goes wrong. On those grounds, they shouldn’t need a manager to spell out the importance of this.

So, as much as the summer will be predictable for the most part, this game certainly won’t be. If Roscommon open their eyes, wake up and get out of bed, there’s an upset and what an introduction to 2012 that would be.

Verdict: Roscommon by two

Connacht SFC Quarter-final; Roscommon v Galway, Dr Hyde Park, Roscommon, 4.00 Live, RTÉ Two, 3.15

Roscommon: G Claffey; S McDermott, N Carty, S Purcell; C Dineen, P Domican, I Kilbride; M Finneran, K Mannion; D Keenan, C Cregg, J Rogers; S Kilbride, D McDermott, D Shine.

Galway: A Faherty; K McGrath, F Hanley, K Kelly; G Bradshaw, J Duane, G O’Donnell; J Bergin, G Higgins; G Sice, D Burke, T Flynn; S Armstrong, P Conroy, M Hehir.

Poll: What’s the championship game of the weekend?