DARA Ó CINNEIDE: One long search for the X Factor

As Woody Allen might say, if you’re not failing every now and again, you’re not doing anything very innovative

There was a time not so long ago when the Allianz Football League would begin with games that could only disappoint, like a Cecil B de Mille film — full of pomp and circumstance but ultimately unsatisfactory. These were games that were big on fanfare and raked enough at the gate that nobody noticed or cared about the lack of a genuine competitive edge on the field.

Now that us league fetishists have accepted that the floodlit excitement of February will end in low wattage mediocrity in May, we can appreciate the competition on its own terms.