The narrative has been well established at this stage. Gaelic football teams, most especially those residing in Division 1, have spent the spring busily trying to kill the game of Gaelic football stone dead. And the sport, in the estimation of many of our less optimistic pundits, is in a critical condition as a result.
The keening newspaper columns of the pessimists have been heavy on anecdote but light on statistics so far, but here is one stat they may choose to latch onto.
Goals in Division 1 are down by a whopping 38% on 2014.
Number of goals in Division 1 down by almost 38% (48 from 77) on last year. All Donegal's fault if you believe some people. #GAA
— John Fogarty (@JohnFogartyIrl) April 6, 2015
John Fogarty believes that many may attribute this to Donegal's presence in the Division, however it is Mayo, Tyrone and Dublin who account for the drop-off from last figures most of all.
Mayo played last year's League in a manner which suggested Kevin Keegan was allowed in for a pre-match pep talk before every game. They both scored and conceded a remarkable 14 goals in the 2014 league, not including their 2-15 to 1-16 loss to Derry in the semi-final.
This year, they were somewhat more cautious, scoring eight goals and conceding seven. Tyrone, meanwhile, have only struck 3-76 in all seven matches this year compared with the 10-110 they racked up last year. They will be playing Division 2 football, along with most of the rest of Ulster, next year.
And it is Dublin, the sunshine boys, the apple of the purist's eye, who emerged as the most parsimonious team this spring. They conceded a miserly 2-78 compared with 8-91 last year.
Does all this vindicate Joe Brolly? Not quite. The truth is that 2014 was just an exceptionally free-scoring year in the League, with many adopting Dublin style tactics following the 2013 championship.
These stats do indicate one big thing to keep in mind for the championship. Dublin were mugged by reality in last year's All-Ireland semi-final and are determined that this will not happen again.
