EARLY DAYS IN the Allianz Football League, still, but for many of those counties who haven’t picked up any points yet, the cold sweat of a survival battle is sinking in.

The first of the relegation four-pointers, to butcher a phrase more usually associated with West Brom and Norwich City, will get underway this weekend.

It’s in the middle tier, off-Broadway, where those games will be most fervently contested, with three counties off to winless starts in both Division 2 and 3, and two of those teams to meet in each division this weekend.

In Division 2, Mickey Harte’s Louth welcome Limerick under Ray Dempsey’s new management ticket to Ardee, while at the foot of Division 3, it’s Tipperary against Andy McEntee’s Antrim at Semple Stadium.

Lose those and risk getting detached at the wrong end of the pile.

For Louth and Tipperary, their league campaigns have taken a toll already with injury blows to star forwards Ciarán Byrne, who rejected an AFL offer to stay in Harte’s setup, and Conor Sweeney, who was to continue as Premier captain this year.

It’s in Tipperary, though, where that turnover of players has hit hardest. Of their 2020 Munster champions, 11 of the 20 who played that day are no longer part of the panel.

There are those who are living abroad in Alan Campbell, Bill Maher, Liam Casey, and Colin O’Riordan, as well as Jason Lonergan who was an unused sub that day. There are those who have slipped into retirement in Brian Fox, Philip Austin, and most recently Robbie Kiely.

Star forward Michael Quinlivan hasn’t lined out since 2021 due to work commitments, then-goalkeeper Evan Comerford is currently lining out with Clonmel Town, while Liam Boland and Padraic Looram are also no longer involved.

Tipp’s regular full-back in the years leading up to 2020, John Meagher, switched his focus to the hurlers that year although he is currently on neither panel.

And then of the nine who remain, Sweeney is joined by Conall Kennedy and Paudie Feehan on the treatment table.

Many of those listed above are the cream of crops that delivered an All-Ireland minor title under current senior manager David Power in 2011 and got to national minor and U21 finals in 2015 under Charlie McGeever and Tommy Toomey, both members of Power’s backroom team.

Those years of plenty at underage level have passed. From 2016 on, they’ve had losing records at minor and U20 against every Munster county except Waterford. They lost five in a row to Clare at minor and three in a row to Limerick at U20 before snapping those losing streaks in the last two years as performances improved.

While Power and his team, which also includes local legend Declan Browne as a selector, face the immediate job of fortifying the senior side, their knowledge of the structures that worked so well in the past can help revitalise those underage grades.

The 2023 McGrath Cup and league has demonstrated a shift of tactics to a greater emphasis on the long ball.

Steven O’Brien lined out at full-forward in pre-season in a ball-winning full-forward line between Sweeney and Seán O’Connor, a member of UCC’s Sigerson Cup team.

Bad luck, then, that the Ballina target-man was injured for Tipp’s league opener, although he did come on at half-time to make an immediate impact in their comeback to a three-point defeat against 14-man Down.

There was evidence of teething problems in O’Brien’s absence that day as Tipp failed to get off a shot from play in the entire first half, although Power bemoaned Down’s tactical fouling.

Losing Sweeney that day compounded those woes.

On day two, Cavan’s new centre-back Dara McVeety profited from the opposition kick-out and direct running to the tune of three points.

It doesn’t help either that calamitous defensive errors in catching and picking the ball have come at the cost of two of their three goals conceded.

Up front, there were more casualties, losing their centre- and full-forwards early to injuries at Breffni Park in Mikey O’Shea and the luckless O’Brien.

In the middle third, at least, Mark Russell is starting to build up fitness with his first start after injury in an area where Tipp’s need for his presence and long-range scoring ability is even more acute with O’Brien committed to attack.

Of course, all is not lost by a winless league start. In Division 4 last year, Tipp opened with a draw against Waterford and a heavy defeat to Leitrim before winning out their final five games to pip Sligo for promotion.

This is a higher standard, though, and their panel needs to find deeper reserves than ever.

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