Throw in: looking ahead to the National Football League Division 1

Armagh

Manager: Paddy O’Rourke

Last season: 6th, Division 1

First match: Home v Cork, Sunday (2.30pm)

Armagh came perilously close to relegation last season with just two wins from seven games in the top flight, and Paddy O’Rourke will have to strike a fine balance between experimenting and maintaining the Orchard’s Division 1 status.

Crossmaglen’s perennial progress to the latter stages of the All-Ireland club championships and injury to veteran attacker Steven McDonnell have weakened Armagh for the opening rounds of games. These absentees didn’t appear overnight though, and O’Rourke was happy to use the pre-season McKenna Cup to test some new faces. Five newcomers make their league debuts in tomorrow’s opener against Cork, a game which will be a tough test despite home advantage.

Beyond that, the schedule has not been the kindest to Armagh, though O’Rourke will surely be targeting a home double against Mayo and Down as well as two points from the trip to Laois as an acceptable minimum.

Cork

Manager: Conor Counihan

Last season: Winners, Division 1

First match: Away v Armagh (Sunday, 2.30pm)

The National Football League is often painted as a bit of an irrelevance by some managers — not Conor Counihan, though. Under his stewardship, Cork have won back-to-back Division 1 titles in the last two seasons. And if the Rebels’ performances in this year’s McGrath Cup is anything to go by, they mean business again this time around.

Long-term injuries mean that Daniel Goulding and Ciaran Sheehan are unlikely to return to competitive action before the summer, though the inclusion of the experienced heads of Donncha O’Connor and Colm O’Neill is a welcome boost for tomorrow’s opener in Armagh.

Cork’s schedule is frontloaded with the comparatively easier quartet of Armagh, Down, Donegal and Laois, but it’s at the other end that league titles are decided. By the time Mayo, Kerry and Dublin roll around, Cork will have had plenty of time to hit top gear and gel any new faces. They could prove difficult to derail again.

©INPHO/Donall Farmer

Donegal

Manager: Jim McGuinness

Last season: Winners, Division 2

First match: Away v Down, Saturday (7pm)

Jim McGuinness’ recent row with DCU manager Niall Moyna means that the wagons are fully circled before Donegal even begin their league campaign. The us-against-the-world, vow-of-secrecy mentality worked to perfection last year as Donegal won Division 2 and reached the All-Ireland semis. And if it ain’t broke…

There’s no sure-fire strategy to counteract Donegal’s hard work and determination, but opponents are a year older and a year wiser now, and it will be interesting to see how McGuinness and his men fare in their second term. The absence of star forward Michael Murphy, who will miss much of the campaign to have surgery on a groin injury, will force a slight change of plans.

This evening’s trip to Down will provide us with the surest indicator of Donegal’s prospects this season. Two wins from seven should be enough to consolidate their top flight status — the primary aim this year — and the home games against Laois and Armagh may be their best chance to pick up the necessary points.

Down

Manager: James McCartan

Last season: 4th, Division 1

First match: Home v Donegal, Saturday (7pm)

Earlier this week, James McCartan explained that Down’s priority this season will be to avoid relegation. After that, anything else will be a bonus.

Those expectations are not a mark of the manager’s pessimism or his side’s weakness as much as they are an indicator of how tight Division 1 will be this season. Although McCartan drafted in a raft of fresh faces for the McKenna Cup, McCartan knows that there will be little room for tinkering this spring; his side will need to be at their best if they are to pick up points.

The loss of two talented forwards in Martin Clarke and Caolan Mooney to Aussie Rules hasn’t helped matters, nor has injury to Paul McComiskey. But Ambrose Rogers looks to have returned to form in the McKenna Cup, and an opening-night win at home to Donegal this evening would help get the campaign off on a slightly more optimistic note.

Dublin

Manager: Pat Gilroy

Last season: Runners-up, Division 1

First match: Home v Kerry, Saturday (7.15pm)

Dublin’s defence of their All-Ireland title effectively begins tonight with a repeat of September’s showdown against the auld rival from Kerry. The league is not the be all and end all for the top footballing counties but, increasingly, it has become an important phase in any serious Championship challenge.

The infamous 6am training sessions are already in full flow and you can be sure that Pat Gilroy is eyeing a repeat of last year’s unbeaten league run. Although a number of the Dubs’ familiar faces are missing from tonight’s line-up, eight of the All-Ireland winning side start, with Craig Dias handed his league debut alongside James McCarthy and Ger Brennan in the half-back line.

At a minimum, Gilroy will be hoping for a strong start, leaving little at stake for the final two games at home to Donegal and in Cork. The pain of last year’s defeat against Cork in the final has been tempered somewhat by the return of Sam, but it remains a wrong that Gilroy and the Dubs will be determined to right come April.

Jack O’Connor consoles Darran O’Sullivan at the final whistle of last year’s All-Ireland final (©INPHO/James Crombie)

Kerry

Manager: Jack O’Connor

Last season: 3rd, Division 1

First match: Away v Dublin, Saturday (7.15pm)

It’s harder than usual to judge Kerry’s prospects this time around. Jack O’Connor’s decision to skip the traditional McGrath Cup warm-up means that tonight’s All-Ireland rematch against Dublin will be their first competitive outing since that fateful September Sunday.

The one thing that can be said with certainty is that last year’s loss has forestalled the wholesale changing of the guard predicted for the Kingdom. Tommy Griffin aside, O’Connor has a strong hand to choose from as he prepares for a tilt at Kerry’s fourth Division 1 title since the turn of the century.

If there’s one area where Kerry may struggle in the opening rounds, it’s up front. Colm Cooper’s club commitments with Dr Crokes rule him out for the opening rounds and Donncha Walsh is sidelined with a groin injury, while Declan O’Sullivan is unavailable following an exhausting club campaign with Dromid Pearses.

But Seán O’Sullivan’s return to the half-forward line may help to alleviate the strain, and James O’Donoghue and Barry John Keane will no doubt be anxious to make the most of their more experienced colleagues’ absence.

Kerry have not finished outside the top four since 2003. Expect that trend to continue this spring.

Laois

Manager: Justin McNulty

Last season: Runners-up, Division 2

First match: Home v Mayo, Saturday (7pm)

2011 held a glimpse of promise for Justin McNulty and Laois. But a fine spring and promotion to Division 1 was followed by a game defeat against Dublin and Championship exit at the hands of Kildare. A reminder, if it was needed, that there are no easy battles at the top level.

Winning the O’Byrne Shield will give the O’Moore men a confidence boost ahead of their return to the top flight, but as McNulty himself stressed last weekend, the real business only begins tonight against Mayo.

The next few months will be a true test of Laois’ character, and of a forward line which really started to click in Wexford Park last weekend. David Conway and Paul Cahillane have impressed in recent weeks, and if Laois are to beat the odds and avoid the drop, they will need to stay fit and firing.

Mayo

Manager: James Horan

Last season: 5th, Division 1

First match: Away v Laois, Saturday (7pm)

New season, same old optimism in Mayo GAA circles that this might finally be the year that they end their wait for Sam Maguire.

Who can blame them? Last year’s run to the All-Ireland semi-finals proved that this Mayo squad are more than capable of playing with the big boys come the season’s end, and there’s nothing to suggest that things will be any different this time around.

Manager James Horan has broadly settled on his panel for the spring, and there’s unlikely to be much chopping and changing between now and the summer. The return of Andy Moran, sidelined since breaking his leg at the International Rules trials last September, is a huge positive, as will be the presence of Trevor Mortimer when he’s back with the squad by round three.

Home advantage against both Dublin and Cork will give Mayo hope of overturning fancied opponents. The race for the four semi-final spots will be a tight one, but Mayo have the tools and the belief to sneak in.