Football talking points ahead of 2023

So, after a particularly long break owing to the new split season, inter-county football is just around the corner once more.

We'll have the false start of the pre-season competitions, but the real interest will come with the return of the Allianz League on the weekend of the 28/29 January, with the finals being played in early April.

Kerry will be defending their title - a theme for the year - while Dublin will be competing in Division 2 for the first time since the 2008.

This year's All-Ireland final is due to take place at Croke Park on 30 July.

Good Kerry team looking to become great

Kerry finally reached the promised land in July... for the 38th time.

After much underage joy it took the return of manager Jack O'Connor to give them men from the Kingdom that extra something they needed to get over the line once more. O'Connor's exceptional record of delivering the Sam Maguire in the first year of his reigns in the Kingdom continued as he repeated the trick of 2004 and 2009 at the start of his third stint with the Kingdom.

They overcame Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final - a first victory over the Metropolitans in 13 years - after a masterful late free by Sean O'Shea into Hill 16, with the goals being moved by the noise coming from the masses in Blue, as well as the not so subtle rattling of the posts by Dubs goalkeeper Evan Comerford.

Then in the final they trailed Galway by two points in the second half, but they weren't going to be denied as they outscored the Tribesmen by 0-08 to 0-02 to take the title.

The challenge now is to do back-to-back titles. You won't be considered great, or maybe even above average, in the Kingdom if you can't put consecutive titles together.

And there's no reason to believe they can't do it,