Football league reflections & a look ahead to the Division 1 final

And so the 2024 Allianz Football League heads for its conclusion, the regular round of games done and dusted with the finals slated for this weekend.

Counties won't get much respite, as the provincial championships get going in April.

It means that the springtime fare is something of a phoney war, with RTÉ's Allianz League Sunday panel discussing the challenges of the current schedule.

"It's very difficult for managers to go full throttle for the league, because of the fact they go week on week on week, and straight into week on week on week (in the championship," said Paul Flynn.

"Coming from a tough club campaign, it is difficult.

"These guys are going week on week and having to go to work the next day as well. It's not sustainable. That's why we're seeing an increase in the number of soft tissue injuries being picked up.

"So I do empathise with managers having to try to pick the best squads, but when we're here watching games we want to see the best players play against each other. But the structure doesn't allow that."

Sean Cavanagh concurred, and said the congested, demanding calendar means top teams simply have to hold something back during the league campaign.

"There should be a break," he said. "It always used to be a case where you went hard at the league, knowing fine rightly it was was three or four weeks (break).

"Maybe you'd go back to the clubs, you'd a bit of a fresh head and then all of a sudden you'd sort of a second season within the season. That itself then allowed you to go full tilt at the championship. Now it's all blurred together."

That being said, both pundits expect Derry to have a real go at Dublin when they collide in Sunday's Division 1 decider.

"I think they have to," added Cavanagh. "I don't think