Galway and Donegal can join the big four in 2022 - Gooch

Colm Cooper expects the big four of Dublin, Tyrone, Kerry and Mayo to remain the teams to beat as this year's Allianz Football League gets set to start, while the former Kingdom star expects Donegal and Galway to make a statement of intent for the year ahead.

The league campaign begins this weekend and all eyes will be on that top tier, where eight teams will look to battle it out ahead of a condensed inter-county campaign in the first half of the year, with the All-Ireland championship beginning in April and finishing in mid-July.

The big four are all vying for that top-tier title, and according to the Gooch, a league-winning campaign can auger well for a successful championship.

"The top four has been quite settled for the last number of years with Kerry, Dublin, Tyrone and Mayo, so that should continue, but the two teams that are capable of breaking into that are Donegal and Galway," said Cooper, speaking on Morning Ireland.

"Donegal have flattered to deceive a bit over the last couple of years, they’ve got into great positions to qualify for semi-finals, and even if you go back to the Super Eights, they’ve let opportunities slip. But I think they’ll be gunning for 2022.

"Galway are in Division 2, they’re a sleeping giant in football and Pádraic Joyce has been there for the last couple of years, the Under-20s won the All-Ireland a couple of years ago, so it is time for them to stand up and make a real statement in 2022."

And now with the half-year inter-county campaign taking in what is essentially back-to-back competitions between league and championship, Cooper feels that county managers will be taking the first extremely seriously to put their sides in prime position to challenge for summer honours.

"It’s a rapid season