Reffin' and rulin' - Martin McNally's team continue to prepare for league season as Fermanagh edge Louth

The two-week countdown has begun, the Allianz League throw-in is now moving from amber towards green as teams finalise their preparations – and the same goes for match officials too.

There's set to be one topic dominating discourse in the opening rounds and with that in mind, RTÉ Sport joined the referring team, led by referee Martin McNally, to witness how players and officials were dealing with the new rules as Louth hosted Fermanagh in the Jimmy McGeough Cup in Haggardstown on Saturday evening.

Monaghan man McNally is an experienced campaigner by this stage, and he also had the honour back in October of being the referee as the Football Review Committee’s radical changes were beamed out to TV audiences for the first time as Connacht defeated Leinster in the inter-provincial semi-final at Croke Park.

It’s coming up on three months since those games took place and most squads - and most referees - will feel far more comfortable having taken charge of a number of games in the meantime.

LANDSLIDE VOTE MEANS NEW GAA RULES

McNally was hoping that remained the case as the sides met at the Geraldines GAA ground with both management teams insisting that there was a strict application of the changes to replicate their forthcoming league openers against Westmeath and Kildare respectively.

The lights flicker on at 4.17pm and as McNally mills around the dressing room area, he has his ear reddened by more than the usual suspects and they all want to talk about one thing – the rules.

Stewards and supporters catch a quick word on the changes while Erne boss Kieran Donnelly seeks clarification on one or two points also.

Over the weekend, inter-county referees completed fitness tests in Abbotstown before partaking in a range of seminars on