The GAA lapsed into a frenzy of productivity at this year's Congress and actually got a few things done. One of these was the shake up of the format of the All-Ireland quarter finals, which have now been rebranded as the Super 8s in perhaps the only known instance of superlative in the GAA officialdom, ever.
They were not exactly feted at the time of their passing at Congress, and even less so now: the official change, it seems, to a round of totally uncompetitive quarter-finals is to have three times as many of them.
The cumulative winning margin across the four games was 58 points, as The Big Four flexed their muscles. The gap between the elite and the rest is self-evident now, and there was plenty of concern about what's in store next year should an increase in games fail to yield a corresponding increase in competitiveness.
So what would it have been like had the format been in this year?
The groupings for the latter two years of the trial have not been announced yet - they will be decided by Central Council - but the delineation of next year's groups is known.
So, were the system in place this year, with the format that has been decided on for 2018, here's how the groups would look. It would, in fact, have given us a far better spectacle, as Mayo, Dublin, and Tyrone would all have been thrown into the same group.
Group 1
Kerry (as Munster Champions)
Roscommon (as Connacht Champions)
Monaghan (as they had beaten the runners-up of the Ulster Championship)
Armagh (as they had beaten the runners-up of the Leinster Championship)
Group 2
Dublin (as Leinster Champions)
Tyrone (as Ulster Champions)
Mayo (as they had beaten the runners-up of the Munster Championship)
Galway (runners up of the Connacht Championship)
It would have been more stratified had Mayo won the Connacht Championship, so should any of the Big Four fail to win their provincial championships next year, at least one of the Super 8s would be pretty tasty. Add in the dimension of games taking place at tighter provincial grounds around the country, with the Dubs taken out of Croke Park, the second group, in particular, would be fairly spectacular. And while the first group looks like a relatively handy platform for Kerry to reach a semi-final, the jostling for position beneath them would be compelling.
The pairings for the semi-finals are worked out as you might expect: the top side in each group plays the side that finished second in the other.
So let's not be too down on the system before we see it in action.
See Also: Galway Great Tony Keady Has Fallen Seriously Ill In Hospital
