This is one consistently inconsistent Allianz League Division One race

The only consistent thing about this year’s Allianz League Division One is its inconsistency.

League leaders Mayo were the latest member of the top flight to suffer a major malfunction. It was Kerry in the previous round and Dublin, Mayo and Cork in the round before that.

In the opening round of the League, both Kerry and Tyrone got off to poor starts and Donegal malfunctioned in Round 2 against Dublin.

Most pundits would place Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Donegal, Cork and Tyrone in the top six category in the country — the 2015 All Ireland winners are almost certain to come from this group — but on any given day all six are capable of beating each other.

This year’s championship promises to be an exciting one. All-Ireland favourites Dublin finally woke from their slumber and produced a scintillating performance against Mayo in Castlebar. What was fascinating about Dublin’s earlier League games was their low collective tackle count. That changed on Saturday. Dublin made 69 tackles which was a little nearer to what you would expect from a top flight team. Most managers would look for 80 or better but, as of now, only Donegal against Kerry have bettered the 80 tackle barrier.

When you look at the individual tackle count of this week’s featured games, Anthony Maher was top dog in Kerry with 13, Michael Murphy had 12 tackles, Aidan O’Shea 11 and Diarmuid Connolly, on his first game back this year, topped the Dublin tackle count with 9.

These figures illustrate how the modern day star players are prepared to work for their team. It’s a lesson any aspiring young player needs to learn before they contemplate a career at the top level these days. Dublin also dominated possession on Saturday with a controlling 60% as well as winning more kick outs.

While you may be fed up of hearing it and reading it Stephen Cluxton again was almost pitch perfect with his kick outs completing 15/19 or 78%. Eight Dublin players topped 20 possessions in an illustration of Dublin’s collective work rate — Jonny Cooper (21), Philly McMahon (26), Cian O’Sullivan (21), Jack McCaffrey (24), Diarmuid Connolly (24), Tomás Brady (23), Ciarán Kilkenny (25), Kevin McManoman (25). There were no superstars in this Dublin performance. This was probably best illustrated by Kevin McManoman, who did not score on the night but finished the game with six assists.

If Jim Gavin was happy with Dublin’s display, the same could be said of Eamonn Fitzmaurice, who saw his Kerry side bounce back from a woeful display against Cork the previous weekend. Donegal and Kerry produced a cracking game full of incident in almost an exact reversal of the All Ireland. The reason for this?

Donegal came out to play. While the men from the northwest still put 13 men behind the ball their game plan against Kerry was a more expansive — perhaps based on the way Cork had beaten Kerry the previous weekend.

The only problem from a Donegal point of view was the fact their long ball delivery into Michael Murphy didn’t work. As we illustrated before, Donegal rarely kick the football and this weakness showed on Sunday. Time and time again Donegal players struggled to kick the ball to a team mate. Interesting to see if Rory Gallagher persists with this tactic.

Kerry’s turnaround in form can be attributed to the return of key defensive personnel. Both Killian Young and Peter Crowley did excellent jobs sweeping in front of the Kerry defence while Mark Griffin went toe-to-toe with Michael Murphy and won the battle. Kerry’s trio of high-fielders — Maher, Buckley and Moran — were also crucial to this win.

Even more importantly Kerry still await the return of Marc Ó Sé, Aidan O’Mahony, Colm Cooper, James O’Donoghue, Donnchadh Walsh, Darran O’Sullivan and Paul Galvin. The strength in depth of teams like Kerry, Cork and Dublin could see all three have a major advantage as the season goes on. Donegal had to reintroduce Martin McElhinney as their third sub on Sunday, which says a lot about the other nine members of the panel who were left to sit on the bench.

Panel strength could prove all decisive in September.