Croke Park might garner most headlines but Division Two is where the drama is.

If Clare lose in Longford, then the P�id� � S� strut is coming to the Tommy Murphy Cup; surely he wasn't brought to Clare to win something John Kennedy already has? Should Longford lose, then Luke Dempsey will be coaching in the Murphy Cup. Pat Roe could find himself there too. Even Roscommon might get dragged in.

What was something merely complicated is now one awful mess. There's been no consistency. First, scoring difference was meant to decide the placings; then after the Ken Casey case that was scrapped. Casey shouldn't have played under appeal;

then he won that appeal, begging the question, why was he suspended at all? Even at Congress, Longford were looking to have scoring difference reintroduced.

Their appeal failed. Bottom line: any teams who finish level with Offaly or Longford for spots determining who makes this year's Division Two semi-finals or the constitution of next year's Division Three and Four will have to play-off. If that transpires, it could possibly be June until this year's Division Two final is played.

Only two things are straightforward about Division 2A. Monaghan will play Meath in a semi-final pencilled in for next Saturday in Croker as part of a Division Two double bill, and London and Carlow are already condemned to Division Four, making their game today academic. The other three games are massive. Should Roscommon or Leitrim draw or win, they're assured of qualifier football, but should they lose - which is more probable than possible - then they'll be stuck on eight points with Offaly and the winners of today's game in Pearse Park.

That would mean two games next weekend, with the two winners then playing off to see who makes the Division Two semi-final, and the losers playing off to see who avoids Division Four.

There is a lot of merit to the restructuring. The six counties already condemned to Division Four - Wicklow, Antrim, Tippperary, Waterford, Carlow and London - are the same six who have failed to make a Division Two semi-final in any of the past eight years, and have never gone beyond the last 16 in the championship since the advent of the qualifiers. If anything, having their own cup and league gives them something more tangible to play for; two wins in the Murphy Cup and go to Croker.

There can be little sympathy for either Offaly or Longford. If they want to avoid the Murphy Cup next year, then win today or come first or second in next year's Division Four (with whoever comes seventh and eighth in next year's Division Three playing in next year's Murphy Cup). It's all a bit rushed though. P�raic Duffy's committee, which proposed this restructuring, also recommended a two-year lead-in, with such changes not taking place until 2008. But delegates at Special Congress last October could only see the windows in the calendar for their clubs. They didn't consider how scrapping that extra round of qualifiers might infuriate their county players and manager.

A few of them will know all about it today.