Éamonn Fitzmaurice: Football's new conundrums — disrupting momentum and different defending

The NBA's Indiana Pacers could be an interesting point of reference for how football teams go after the ball and rattle the opposition this summer

CHANCE AT REDEMPTION: On Sunday, Armagh get a chance to address what happened in the second half of last year's All-Ireland quarter-final against Kerry. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile

WE'VE landed on the biggest weekend of the year in the football calendar. The giddy enthusiasm and expectation that all teams approached the start of the league with only eight weeks ago has been replaced with a reality that only the context of results can bring. Good and bad. 

Some counties like Kerry, Donegal, Meath and Down are in rude health, and playing really well, maybe too well. Cork, Roscommon, Derry and Mayo are all happy, but with work to do. Louth are belatedly reborn. Armagh are motoring nicely but without the results to show for it. Tyrone have the look of a team that are uncomfortable with each other and in their own skin at the moment. Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Cavan, Laois, Sligo and Limerick are all fighting for their lives. And Division Four is pregnant with promotion possibilities for seven of its teams heading into the last day.