2008 National Football League:There was a general welcome for the newly-adopted close season at yesterday's launch of the Allianz National Football League by An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

The managers of teams from the top three divisions were present at the headquarters of the sponsors in Dublin.

Brian McIver, manager of holders Donegal, Paul Caffrey of Leinster champions Dublin, who will campaign in Division Two and newly-appointed Wexford manager Jason Ryan, whose side will be in Division Three, were asked whether the decision of last weekend's special congress to prohibit intercounty activity in November and December would have impacted adversely on their preparations.

"We don't have any collective training in November and December and just started this month," said Caffrey who is facing into his fourth season in the league as manager and his seventh in all as part of the team's management.

"I'm all for it. I know it's hard in a manager's first year to have to set out your stall in January, but we're more than happy with it. There are a lot of players who carry injuries through the season and the break is important for them."

McIver, who took Donegal to the county's first title last April, was in agreement.

"Players do need a break although you have to take into account someone who's over a team for the first time. It may be important to run trial games, but even in terms of clubs getting competitions wrapped up this is worthwhile. Look at other sports - every player gets a break at some stage."

The proviso about new managers directly applied to Ryan, who wasn't able to organise any training before Christmas. The Waterford man, who at 31 will be the youngest manager in the NFL, took the Wexford job knowing that the county board weren't going to allow training in November and December. He was more ambiguous than his counterparts.

"I wasn't in a position to run anything before Christmas so I had to run trials, preparations and play O'Byrne Cup all at the same time. It's been tough in January without pre-Christmas training."

This year's NFL has reverted to the straightforward hierarchical four-division format. The shake-up means that there will a break from the established fixtures list in recent seasons, something that Caffrey felt would be an improvement.

"We've been in the same Division One for the past four seasons with the same fixtures. This time there's more excitement. I was talking to supporters in Carlow and they're looking forward to going up to Cavan where Dublin haven't played in years. The fixtures had become stale and maybe a bit unhealthy."

This was taken as a reference to the past few years of Dublin-Tyrone fixtures that have been edgy and which, two years ago, erupted into a controversial brawl in Omagh, although a year ago the counties inaugurated the Croke Park floodlights before a league record attendance of over 80,000.

At the launch, Dublin veteran Ciarán Whelan, who is currently back in training with a view to resuming his place on the team in the coming weeks, articulated an interesting perspective on the weekend's moves to counter burnout and facilitate a more club-friendly balance to the fixtures' list.

According to Whelan the initiatives in fact add up to a greater burden on inter-county players because they are designed to facilitate them playing more matches for their clubs.

"Club seasons seem to be getting dragged out longer all the time. In Dublin, we've 15 league games and this year they've a group championship format, which ultimately adds more games, more pressure. I don't necessarily agree with club competitions finishing in December on artificial pitches.

"I ultimately think the whole club fixture list needs to be looked at and, when people talk about player burnout and creating time for club fixtures, ultimately players end up playing more games. Whether that's solving the burnout problem I don't know. They're just creating more time to fit in games for intercounty players."

In this context he suggested that intercounty players mightn't be required to be available for all club matches.

"Maybe club structure has to be looked at similar to the rugby situation where players are involved with their county, but you're not depriving the club player of his games on a weekly basis. It's a difficult process and I don't think you're ultimately going to get a closed season for a month."

GAA president Nickey Brennan yesterday welcomed his own county's re-appearance in the NFL after an absence of eight years. "I am delighted to see Kilkenny back in the league," he said. "I believe they should never have been out of it and I know that people are hoping to make a decent stab at it."

Brennan both played for and managed the Kilkenny senior footballers in the NFL.

2008 NFL - Round One

Saturday, February 2nd (7pm)

Division One - Tyrone v Kildare, Omagh; Donegal v Kerry, Ballybofey; Derry v Mayo, Celtic Park. Division Two - Dublin v Westmeath, Parnell Park; Meath v Cork, Páirc Tailteann. Division Three - Down v Sligo, Newry.

Sunday, February 3rd (2.30pm)

Division One - Galway v Laois, Tuam. Division Two - Armagh v Cavan, Crossmaglen; Monaghan v Roscommon, Clones. Division Three - Limerick v Louth, Limerick; Leitrim v Fermanagh, Carrick-on-Shannon; Wexford v Longford, Wexford Park. Division Four - Kilkenny v Tipperary, Freshford; Wicklow v Antrim, Aughrim; Offaly v London, Tullamore; Clare v Carlow, Cusack Park; Waterford bye.

NFL Betting - To top each table

Division One

Kerry11/4

Tyrone4/1

Derry5/1

Galway6/1

Mayo13/2

Donegal7/1

Laois12/1

Kildare16/1

Division Two

Dublin13/8

Meath5/1

Cork5/1

Monaghan5/1

Armagh6/1

Cavan20/1

Roscommon20/1

Westmeath22/1

Division Three

Down9/4

Louth4/1

Fermanagh5/1

Sligo13/2

Wexford13/2

Longford9/1

Limerick10/1

Leitrim14/1

Division Four

Offaly4/6

Wicklow4/1

Antrim4/1

Clare10/1

Carlow16/1

Waterford33/1

Tipp50/1

London200/1

Kilkenny1,000/1

(Odds courtesy of Boylesports)