Slaughtneil looked on in envy last year as Dunloy took down St Thomas’ to reach the final. Whoever wins Ulster will have to take on the Leinster champions - but that prospect looks much more enticing and attractive now with Ballyhale out of the equation.

The flipside is that all eight sides in the Leinster championship will also see this as a glorious opportunity – because this looks like the most open Leinster hurling championship in decades. It’s not a stretch to say that it is possibly the most open in the history of the competition.

O’Loughlin Gaels are the clear favourites, having beaten Ballyhale, but they have to go to Carlow to take on Mount Leinster Rangers, a side with huge tradition in the competition, having reached the 2014 All-Ireland final. When MLR last played in this competition, they ran Ballyhale to six points in the 2021 quarter-final in Dr Cullen Park.

They’ve had to deal with a three-month lay-off, but last year’s Carlow champions – St Mullins – overcame that obstacle when defeating Ferns St Aidan’s. In their defence, Ferns were dealing with a similar lay-off, which is a challenge Naomh Éanna now have to overcome when taking on Kilcormac-Killoughey.

At least Naomh Éanna have a home fixture in Wexford Park but they’ll need every advantage going after KK looked so slick and ruthless in the Offaly final. Moreover, a side loaded with Offaly seniors and U20s will also lean on their rich tradition in this competition, having won the 2012 Leinster title and reached finals in 2014 and 2017.

Raharney’s last game in this championship was a disappointing defeat to Kilmacud Crokes in 2021 but the Dublin side they face now on Sunday – Na Fianna - are first-time county champions who have never played on this stage before. Will that make a difference? Raharney certainly feel it will in Mullingar.

Naas have to travel to Portlaoise to take on Camross - who looked very impressive in the Laois final - but all of these Naas players are more than comfortable in any territory in Leinster now, with a handful of them already having played in a Leinster club football final.

All-Ireland Intermediate champions in 2022, Naas hammered the Offaly champions Shinrone in last year’s Leinster championship by 15 points. They subsequently lost to Ballyhale in the semi-final but not after frightening the daylights out of them early on when a six-point lead should have been at least 10.

At face value, this Leinster championship doesn’t look so open considering that half of the eight teams have already won provincial titles – O’Loughlin’s, Kilcormac-Killoughey, Camross and Mount Leinster Rangers. Yet none of those clubs have won a Leinster title in the last ten years. And three of those teams are on the same side of the draw, which means that one of Camross, Naas, Na Fianna or Raharney will contest this year’s Leinster final.

Na Fianna may be fancied by the bookies to be that team but the other three clubs won’t see it that way. O’Loughlin’s will be favourites to emerge from the other side but that’s certainly not black and white either. Nothing is. Because in this Leinster championship, every side will feel that they have a chance of doing something.

Are Scotstown ready for the Kilcoo machine?

Before Scotstown last played Kilcoo in the Ulster club championship, back in 2016, Scotstown had the kind of profile in the competition that Kilcoo were desperately chasing. The joint-third most successful club in the competition with four titles, Scotstown had been in the previous year’s Ulster final, which they’d lost to Crossmaglen Rangers. Kilcoo had reached an Ulster final just four years earlier, which they also lost to Crossmaglen, but trying to crack Ulster had become an obsessive quest for the Down side. And consistently beating Ulster’s best sides was the only way they were going to reach that destination.

Kilcoo were getting closer and that 2016 clash against Scotstown was another staging post along that route, especially with the Monaghan side having lost to the eventual champions in their previous two Ulster campaigns; in 2013 Scotstown had Ballinderry on the rack but couldn’t close out the match; in 2015, they went down to Crossmaglen after extra time.

Kilcoo went on to win by two points because they were just more clinical and efficient – they only shot three wides to Scotstown’s 13.

And yet, as the decade progressed, and both teams continued to try and make the breakthrough in Ulster, Scotstown looked every bit more likely to get there first. Kilcoo were just unlucky to come up against a brilliant Slaughtneil side, that defeated them in the 2016 final and the 2017 preliminary round, whereas Scotstown returned to another final in 2018.

The Monaghan side looked primed to bridge a 29-year gap that season after beating Derrygonnelly Harps, Burren and Eoghan Rua en route to a decider against Gaoth Dobhair. A Donegal team hadn’t won an Ulster club for 43 years but Gaoth Dobhair edged a titanic battle by one point after extra-time.

That defeat was such a concussive blow that it inevitably took Scotstown a while to recover. Clontibret defeated them in the 2019 county final by six points and, although Scotstown returned to win the 2020 Monaghan decider, they didn’t reappear in the Ulster club championship again until 2021, which was a chastening experience - Glen hammered them by nine points.

Since that 2018 Ulster final defeat, Scotstown - like every other side in the province – have been chasing Kilcoo and Glen, who have assumed control of the Ulster championship. On the other hand, despite having dominated the Monaghan championship over the last decade, with eight titles in 11 years, Scotstown’s win percentage in the Ulster club during that time is still only 45%, with just five wins from 11 games. And three of those came in one season.

Ulster is a desperately hard province to crack but having to go to Newry to take on Kilcoo on Sunday makes it all the harder again. Since the sides last met in Ulster seven years ago, Kilcoo have become accustomed to beating the best Ulster has to throw at them. So are Scotstown just another big scalp in waiting for Kilcoo? Or are the Monaghan champions finally about to make a huge statement in Ulster again?

Coolera-Strandhill find a nice blend and balance 

When Coolera-Strandhill won the Sligo championship two weeks ago, defeating St Molaise Gaels in the final, Tommy Breheny pointed out in the ‘Sligo Champion’ how Peter Laffey was the third generation Laffey to win a Sligo senior championship.

His grandfather and namesake Peter originally played for Coolera, winning a senior league medal in 1939, before transferring to Craobh Rua, with whom he won a senior championship in 1944. Peter Snr’s son Mick later won eight senior championships with St Mary’s, along with three Connacht club titles.

Players often move clubs, where one club’s misfortune become another’s fortune, even if that bounty is often reaped decades later. Coolera-Strandhill have lost players over the years but a couple of imports was critical to them bridging an 18-year gap this season.

Despite bagging an All-Ireland club title with St Vincent’s in 2014, Luke Bree isn’t in that category. He just brings a different form of experience, with the former Sligo player having served as a coach and selector with Anthony Cunningham’s Roscommon in 2022, before joining up with Andy Moran’s Leitrim in 2023 as a coach/selector.

Jonathon Cassidy won three Leitrim senior titles with St Mary’s Kiltoghert, with Cassidy having won his first county senior medal 20 years ago, while Ross O’Carroll won an All-Ireland club title with Kilmacud Crokes in 2009. A former Dublin hurler and footballer, who was part of the football squad which won the 2011 All-Ireland, O’Carroll transferred to Coolera-Strandhill a couple of years back after he and his wife settled in Sligo.

O’Carroll, who teaches English, Religion and Irish in Summerhill College, has got to see first-hand the talent in the club across all levels. When Summerhill reached the All-Ireland Colleges final back in March, one of their standout players was Mark McDaniel.

Along with Ross Doherty, McDaniel played on the Sligo U20 team which reached the All-Ireland final in May, which they narrowly lost to Kildare. In last month’s county final, McDaniel was the man of the match.

With the influx of new young talent, combined with the experience and nous of players who have accumulated hardened worldliness elsewhere, fused together with their Sligo senior players - Laffey, Niall Murphy and Keelan Cawley - Coolera-Strandhill have found a productive balance and blend now.

They’ll need it on Sunday – against St Brigid’s from Roscommon - in their bid to try and win a first Connacht club championship match.