Absent: Louth's Brian White

There was your proof then. Leinster is the new Ulster. In a championship draw that provided plenty of pairings to keep you warm through whatever pre-league competition it is you attend to prove your loyalty, it will be those speckled around O'Byrne terraces that stave off the sleet and the ice best. It was most definitely the best draw until last, in fact the only thing wrong about the pairings for 2011 in Leinster was Marty Morrissey's introduction. "It turned out to be a good year for Dublin... while Laois and Kildare are still hovering around the top table." Laois, who haven't won since 14 June 2009? Perhaps he meant hoovering around the top table.

But if Morrissey, Tony Davis and RTÉ's Gaelic games department had clearly gone into hibernation, no one in Leinster will have a chance to. It might be October but all players involved should have already received texts from management and won't be lacking any motivation through the early months of 2011. On the top side of the draw there's Kildare-Wicklow part three; possibly Kildare-Meath part two and probably Dublin still thawing out on their first day against either a new dawn or another false dawn in Laois. And while the Leinster champions will more than likely come from the above, there's plenty for the rest to aim for in what has become the number one provincial championship in either code.

If 2010 showed us anything, it's that the summer isn't just about All Ireland winners, in fact more important are the little victories achieved by the underdogs along the way. Louth minus emigrants Brian White, Shane Lennon, Mick Fanning and John O'Brien got the bit of luck on Thursday that they didn't get in 2010 but Wexford, Westmeath and Offaly will all fancy a day in the sun in July. Even the bean counters should be thinking ahead with thumbs twitching, because if games are kept out of headquarters, there's nothing better than a provincial ground bursting at the seams.

After the year we have just had, there's plenty saying provincial titles are a burden to carry. But in the nine years of the qualifiers prior to a bizarre but brilliant 2010, 53 per cent of provincial winners went on and won their quarter-finals, 50 per cent of All Ireland finalists won their province, and 67 per cent of All Ireland winners had perfect seasons. So if you are good enough, you win whatever way it comes and that will be on plenty of minds in Ulster as one the best rivalries in football, Armagh and Down, will most likely open the new Athletic Grounds, Derry have a genuine shot at reaching an Ulster final for the first time since Billie Piper was topping the charts and Tyrone must come through one new regime in Monaghan and then possibly another more potent one in Donegal.

Even the Connacht and Munster line-ups will give some lesser lights days when the entire county can and will get behind them. Upset of the year could be Roscommon in New York, James Horan and Tomás Ó Flatharta will shake hands nervously in June knowing their seasons are on the line, Sligo could finally get what they deserve and Limerick will charge at a Munster giant armed with little more than a slingshot and a dream.

As for hurling, all eyes will be on Semple Stadium. For the third year in the preliminary round and fourth year in both sides' openers, Cork clash ash with Tipperary. After that hurling's problem remains though. The loudest boom is followed by too much silence and that alone should be reason to chisel away at the championship's structure. But for football there is no such problem. This season was always going to be the hardest act in the history of the sport to follow. But on Thursday it got off to the perfect start.