A new team for a bright new eraWestmeath’s win over Cavan in the 2022 Tailteann Cup final marked the first time the county had recorded four championship wins in succession. On Saturday, they beat Cavan again to seal their fifth consecutive championship win – another first.The team sheets for both meetings, four years apart, make for interesting reading through the prism of turnover in county squads.In total, 75 different players saw game time across the two matches, with only nine featuring in both. Gerry Smith, Conor Brady and Paddy Lynch started both games for Cavan; Jason Daly, Ronan Wallace, Ray Connellan and Sam McCartan did likewise for Westmeath. Niall Carolan and John Heslin started in 2022 and came off the bench on Saturday.This is striking when compared to the player retention of other counties who played at the weekend. Eleven Dubs and 12 Louth men, for example, played in both the 2023 Leinster final and again on Sunday. The stats from the 2023 Ulster final between Derry and Armagh and Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC match between the same teams are notable. Nine from Armagh featured in both games while, remarkably, 10 Derry men started both matches, with Lachlan Murray coming off the bench three years ago and starting on Saturday.A draw to raise the hacklesSpeaking of Westmeath, manager Mark McHugh didn’t hold back after his team’s victory against Cavan. He described the staging of the All-Ireland draw prior to the provincial finals as “a joke”.McHugh said Cavan had four weeks to think about his team, but it didn’t work both ways. “We didn’t look at Cavan, probably until about 10 days out,” he said.Louth’s Ciarán Byrne celebrates a score during his team's victory against Dublin at Croke Park on Sunday. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho In referencing the advantage of preparing for a fixture before an opponent, the Kilcar man had a point. Louth’s man-of-the-match Ciarán Byrne inadvertently touched on something similar following his team’s victory against Dublin on Sunday.“There was probably a wee bit of fear of the blue jersey but we put our shoulder to the wheel, five weeks of tough training and we studied Dublin inside out,” said Byrne.Different ball, same gameLouth’s most recent championship win over Dublin prior to Sunday was in the 1973 Leinster round-two replay. It was so long ago that an entirely different football was used.Following the game 53 years ago, the Dundalk Democrat noted: “A lot of history was made on Sunday in the Louth v Dublin Leinster SFC replay as this was the last game in the championship to use the leather ball, as from next Sunday the new ‘plastic’ ball will be used.” The article was accompanied by a photo of Louth captain Benny Gaughran holding the “old” ball.The “leather v synthetic” debate was a lively one that year. Louth wanted to play with the leather ball, the Dubs wanted plastic. The Leinster Council ruled in Louth’s favour for the replay but decreed the new ball would be used after that.Red Hands down but far from outKerry's Ronan Carroll (left) jumps for the ball with Michael McNamee of Tyrone during the All-Ireland Under-20 Football Championship final at Croke Park on Saturday. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho Though Tyrone’s Under-20s fell to Kerry in Saturday’s All-Ireland final, the county’s conveyor belt is probably the envy of the country. Since 2020, the Red Hands have won nine of the 14 Ulster Under-20 and minor titles up for grabs and have reached six underage All-Ireland finals, winning four. They added their most recent Ulster minor title last Friday.The last time Tyrone put together a similar underage run was from 1997 to 2003, when they won eight out of a possible 14 Ulster minor and Under-21 titles, as well as four All-Irelands. The county’s senior team won Sam Maguire three times that decade – in 2003, 05 and 08.Quote“Many a traditional man in Ireland will just replay that goal happily.” – Enda McGinley, on RTÉ television co-commentary, hails Monaghan’s route-one goal. It involved a couple of long kick-passes and a spectacular catch in front of goal by Bobby McCaul, who unfortunately went off with a nasty-looking injury a couple of minutes later.Number: 4The amount of times Derry hurlers had lost the Christy Ring Cup final since 2021. They made it fifth-time lucky with a tremendous upset win over favourites Kerry on Saturday.