Uncharted waters as teams adapt to whole new ball game

We're into uncharted waters in the first round of this year's league. Making definite predictions about how things will go is a mug's game this weekend.

So much depends on how quickly teams can adapt to the new rules, which are still bedding in. It could be a recipe for chaos and confusion on the pitch and in the stands in the early rounds.

Teams will be ultra-mindful about the new rules concerning the two-point arc, the requirement to keep three players 'up-top' and the solo-and-go. But you're also coming up against fairly ingrained habits in terms of how county players have learned to play the modern game. These could die hard.

I was a big proponent of abolishing the pre-season competitions but there is some irony that the first year they were gotten rid of was one where they might have proved useful.

We did get a taster in the challenge matches, where we got plenty of mixed reports of how teams were adjusting.

I heard reports that the '3v3' rule was missed by referees and officials, who presumably had their eyes on events at the other end of the pitch. That wasn't the case in Newbridge, where Galway gave away four gimme frees off the back of failing to keep three forwards advanced. David Gough was alerted to the fact by the home crowd, who weren't shy of letting him know.

There was better news for Galway in other regards, though. As suspected, Paul Conroy made hay, landing four two-pointers after coming on in the second half. At 35 years old, the Footballer of the Year could be just coming into his own.

By contrast, I watched Mayo-Monaghan live-stream, where there wasn't a single two-pointer kicked by either team. Not for the want of trying from Mayo's perspective. Worryingly enough, they dropped somewhere in the region of