Time is flying by in this year’s championship, but I don’t think anyone can argue against the fact that all four provincial championships were good for football. There were no end of shocks and underdog stories. And, swiftly moving on, we’re into the first round of the All-Ireland with hardly time to draw breath – and now with some degree of jeopardy on the line.The new format that comes into play this year replacing the round-robin brings a sense of peril and intrigue into day one, and nowhere more so than in the standout tie between Kerry and Donegal in Killarney. For this match, and indeed with the others (Meath going to Cork, Galway hosting Kildare, Roscommon at home to Tyrone) there are more questions than answers. How will Donegal respond to losing to Down in Ulster? And then watching Down get hammered by Armagh the next day out? How will the injuries (that we know of) affect the teams? How have some teams managed the long wait since their early exits?What we do know is that whatever teams win the first round matches this weekend are well set going forward. For the losers, with the safety net of the round-robin gone, they are into a next match that is straight knockout, which is what championship football traditionally has been about.As a consequence of how successful the provincial championships have been, we have what is on paper a lopsided draw – because the provincial championships threw up some massive games and some results that none of us could have predicted. Would any of us have guessed that Westmeath would go and beat Meath, Kildare and Dublin? Would any of us have predicted that Donegal would be beaten by Down in the first round and enter the draw so early? We really don’t know where a lot of these teams are. So that’s what makes this weekend so intriguing. You couple that with the jeopardy and that makes for a big weekend.Many of those teams who exited the provincial championship early – Donegal, Meath, Tyrone are all in the same boat – have had to handle situations different from what they would have envisioned. Because of the fact that there was such a gap between when they were beaten and their next game, it probably led to teams taking maybe a week away from the group altogether – just to dust themselves down, get bodies right and get injuries cleared up. Kerry manager Jack O'Connor commiserates with Donegal manager Jim McGuinness after 2025 All-Ireland final. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/©INPHO At that point, they would come back together as a unit, but wouldn’t yet have known who they were playing. I suspect the preparations would have restarted with a couple of fairly tough physical training sessions to blow the cobwebs out, to resharpen and to refocus the mind. And it would have been a week or two into that process that probably the analysis really would have got under way. And then you start into looking at the tactical element of things. You get the heads right, you get the bodies right, and then you look backward before moving forward.[ Ciarán Murphy: Win the Tailteann Cup and good things can followOpens in new window ]You need to sit down and learn where it went wrong and what needs to be done better. So, it has been a long wait for some of them. And it can be hard to navigate that.The provincial championships have thrown some big teams into that pot of eight very soon and, for sure, Donegal would not have wanted to be travelling down to Killarney to face Kerry in their first match. And Kerry would not have expected to be facing their National League final conquerors so quickly either in the All-Ireland.Where are both teams at? Kerry’s injuries must be a concern. Paudie Clifford went off injured at half-time in the Munster final against Cork. Gavin White only got half a game. Joe O’Connor, Seánie O’Shea and Tom O’Sullivan didn’t play at all. Serious questions remain about the fitness of such big players.Neither Kerry nor Donegal would have wanted this match so early in the All-Ireland. The loser of this one has a long way to go to reach an All-Ireland final, while the winner is set up nicely.Kerry’s Paudie Clifford and Maurice Shanley of Cork. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/©INPHO If this were a year ago, when the round-robin format was used, it really wouldn’t have made a whole pile of difference what happened in the game because both teams were most likely to qualify. That is categorically not the case this weekend. If these two teams were to meet again, it would likely be in an All-Ireland final. But if you’re beaten this weekend, you’re then into knockout football from there and it becomes a very long way to the steps of the Hogan Stand.