The state of play in the Kerry senior football championship

CONTRASTING FORTUNES: James O'Donoghue of East Kerry in action against Shane Brosnan of Kerins O'Rahillys. East Kerry are already through while Rahilly's are already out of contention. Pic: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus Ltd

Put your calculators away, we have no use for them here.

Having promised so much when unveiled last February, Kerry’s new-look county football championship format will deliver very little by the way of final round drama this weekend.

Of the eight quarter-final places up for grabs across the four four-team groups, seven have already been filled ahead of Round 3 fare this Saturday and Sunday. Last weekend’s moving weekend, as you can now gather, moved a little too much, leaving virtually nothing to play for in Round 3.

For those who enjoy a good set of permutations, turn the page, we have next to nowt for you here.

Outside of the outlier that is the still-to-be-settled Group 4, all that’s really up for discussion this Saturday and Sunday is who progresses to the last eight as group winners and who goes through as group runners-up. Group winners cannot be pitted against one another in the quarter-finals, each last-eight pairing to comprise of one group winner and one group runner-up.

Group 1 

Unbeaten Dr Crokes and Kenmare Shamrocks, both of whom are already in the bowl for the quarter-final draw, meet on Saturday to determine who tops the group. Crokes have the better scoring difference so they will proceed as group winners if the game finishes level.

Down the bottom half of the table, winless and already eliminated St Kieran’s and Shannon Rangers are playing for nothing more than pride.

Group 2 

Exact same story as in Group 1: pace-setters Dingle host county championship favourites East Kerry on Sunday afternoon to see which of them advances as group winner and which of them will meet a group winner in the quarter-finals.

Even though table placings is all that is to be decided at Dingle, this fixture will garner significant attention from those occupying knockout places in the other three groups as they will be keen to know whether they can or cannot encounter East Kerry in the quarters.

Group 3 

Okay, this is beginning to get very repetitive. Group 3 once again shows us two teams on four points - Austin Stacks and Mid Kerry - who will tango for top spot this weekend.

Na Gaeil and West Kerry, like their fellow third and fourth placers in Groups 1 and 2, are winless after two rounds and contest the wooden spoon game on Saturday.

Group 4 

Finally, something to play for. Surprise package Feale Rangers boast two wins from two outings and so they cannot be relegated from the top half of the table. Behind them, there is a battle royale taking shape between Templenoe (3 pts, +1) and South Kerry (1 pt, -6) for the last remaining qualifying spot.

If Templenoe avoid defeat against Feale Rangers, then the tiny little club on the road between Sneem and Kenmare will be among the last eight standing in the race for the Bishop Moynihan Cup.

But if they lose and South Kerry beat an already eliminated St Brendan’s, then second place will be decided by score difference. Head-to-head does not come into play here given the pair finished deadlocked when they met in Round 1. And as you can see from above there is very little to separate them on the score difference front.