Need to find a new defensive spine - and a sense of history and mission that wasn't quite there in '05

2 TYRONE (-1) Players out No one of note Players to watch Seamus Mulgrew, Colm Cavanagh An injury list worse than Tottenham's in the Gerry Francis era meant we could only rank them sixth at the end of last year, but now that everyone's back on the grid, they're best positioned to take Sam off Kerry Need to find a full-back, have Stephen O'Neill free from injury and suspension, and for one, if not both, of the two Brians back in '03 form

3 MAYO (+2) Players out No one Player to watch Liam O'Malley No guarantees they'll win an All Ireland but with John O'Mahony in charge, there'll be no regrets either Need to develop a harder edge at the back, remember they're better than 28 counties and be prepared to win ugly against the other two or three

4 DUBLIN (No change) Players out Senan Connell Players to watch Diarmuid Connolly, Ross McConnell Equipped to win it all but? Need to win a few away games this spring, and find either the full-backs or the system to stop leaking so many scores outside Leinster

5 ARMAGH (-2) Players out Aidan O'Rourke, John Toal (both dropped) Players to watch Charlie Vernon, Tony Kernan With the Crossmaglen contingent on club duty and Ronan Clarke out for most of the year, finding players, not points, is the priority this league Need to unearth some leaders who weren't involved in '02 and a forward who'll give McDonnell support

6 CORK (+1) Players out Gary Murphy Player to watch Eoin Cadogan From one to nine, they're as good as anyone in the country, but as much as Donncha O'Connor has progressed in the last nine months, James Masters doesn't appear as if he'll have enough support up front to get to an All Ireland final Need to discover another scoring forward (Daniel Goulding? ) and beat either Kerry or Dublin away - in both league and championship

7 LAOIS (-1) Players out Ian Fitzgerald (retired), Donie Brennan, Colm Kelly (out of favour) Players to watch a rejuvenated Colm Parkinson, Paul Lawlor You know you're getting old when the likes of Parkinson and Beano have more years behind them than ahead of them Need to be merciless in a weakish division, and find another scoring forward

8 DONEGAL (+6) Players out Damien Diver Players to watch Kevin McMenamin Have everyone back, including Brendan Devenney, Kevin Cassidy, Colm McFadden and Ryan Bradley.

With their Ulster quarter-final in Ballybofey, they'll never get a better chance to beat Armagh. But before that, they? Need to gel and find a midfield partnership

9 GALWAY (-1) Players out Michael Donnellan (retired) Players to watch Nicky Joyce (returned), Paul Geraghty A few days ago you'd have fancied them to top Division 1B, but the premature death of Mairead Meehan is bound to affect brother Micheal, boyfriend Kieran Fitzgerald and the panel in general. Michael Donnellan won't be back and Padraic Joyce is unlikely to be, and though the recall of his cousin Nicky helps, it's hard to see them regaining the momentum of last spring when they looked All Ireland semi-final material Need to find a midfield to show they're more than a league team and a Stop-Mayo movement

10 FERMANAGH (+6) Players out No one of note Players to watch out for Shane O'Brien On paper should be even stronger this year with the return of fullforward Stephen Maguire and Niall Tinney to challenge Chris Breen for the number-one jersey. Couldn't have a tougher draw in both league (Division 1A) and championship (Tyrone) though Need to finally unearth a replacement for Raymie Gallagher to be again playing last-12 football in the summer and top-16 football next spring

11 DERRY (-2) Players out Paul McFlynn, Johnny McBride (both retired), Conleth Moran Player to watch Ruairi Convery Must realise now that beating Tyrone doesn't represent winning an All Ireland Need to win two of their first three league games or else Paddy Crozier could well encounter some county board officers jumping out of a van

12 WESTMEATH (+9) Players out No one of note Players to watch Alan Rigney and Ciaran Gavin Had a good year last year but twice imploded in Croke Park. As much as the return of Martin Flanagan and Fergal Wilson helps, they lack the flair to hurt a top-eight team Need to avoid dropping into Division 3

13 OFFALY (+10) Players out Cathal and Mark Daly (retired) Player to watch former Westmeath forward, PJ Ward Could well win Division 2 like they did in '04, though hopefully this time the board won't shaft the coach Need to win more ball around mid"eld to feed McNamee and Deehan - and get to an All Ireland quarter-final

14 WEXFORD (-1) Players out Leigh O'Brien, John Hudson (retired) Player to watch Redmond Barry, now that he's no longer hurling Paul Bealin decided his team could take last year's league off but they can't this year Need to win promotion, get Matty to control that temper, and then get him the ball

15 MEATH (No change) Players out: None Players to watch Eoin Harrington, Cian Ward Still regenerating but it's a slow process; Colm Coyle used 32 players in two O'Byrne Cup matches. Darren Fay's return is crucial Need to give Coyle time