Dublin's grief after losing to Longford in the O'Byrne Cup at the weekend will be assuaged by the news that All Star nominee Ian Robertson is available again after a protracted injury.
According to manager Tom Carr, the player is ready for a "gradual return to training" as the resumption of the National League in a month's time draws nearer.
"We considered giving Ian a runout on Sunday for 15 minutes or so but he's someone we really want for the championship so I'm not going to rush his comeback."
Further good news for last year's league and Leinster finalists is that defender Tomo Lynch, who was taken off injured in Longford, should be back in time for the league. His injury has been diagnosed as a hairline fracture of the jaw.
Carr views the defeat of his largely experimental team, after extra-time, with mixed feelings. "I would have preferred another match because there's a few of the panel I'd like to give more of a run but we'll just have to organise a couple of challenges this month.
"Then on the other hand, there's no harm in not playing the likes of Laois and other teams at this stage of the year with second-string sides."
After a busy 1999, Dublin aren't hurrying back in the New Year.
"I'm not killing them at the moment," says Carr. "There's no point in bringing players out three times a week on dreary nights, so we train on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
"There's so much football being played by the players at the moment with Sigerson, under-21 and other demands. I'm conscious that although young fellas don't get tired that easily, there's still a danger of getting stale and we're concentrating on the championship this year."
Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding the North Kerry championship match between Tarbert and Finuge will come to a head tomorrow night when the divisional board meet to consider the referee's report.
At the heart of the matter is the fate of two players, Tarbert's John O'Connell and Finuge's Enda Galvin, who were sent off during the match. They received red cards which should result in automatic suspension yet both played a week later, O'Connell for Tarbert in the subsequent round of the championship and Galvin for Kerry in the National League match with Dublin.
North Kerry PRO Christy Walsh resigned in protest at the board's handling of the matter. Both he and match referee Patsy Curtin are members of Listowel Emmets and at the club's a.g.m. last week, the matter was raised and Curtin made his only statement to date on the affair.
He stated that the players had been sent off for causing a fracas. This explanation was necessary because in his original report, Curtin cited the players for "rough play", a now redundant category of offence.
Accordingly he was asked for clarification. That clarification is where the ambiguity arises. Curtin had apparently decided that the offences merited immediate sending-off and the one-month suspension which follows. Yet his clarification is also believed to contain an assertion that he intended the players to be suspended for the remainder of the match only.
The North Kerry board appear to have acted on this more lenient explanation and cleared the players to line out the following week. But for this to have been in order, the players' dismissals would have had to have arisen from two yellow cards rather than an immediate red.
It is thought that the North Kerry board will tomorrow night adopt the referee's report - complete with its oracular "clarification" - but the matter is unlikely to rest there and Listowel Emmets may appeal the decision to the county board.
In that case, an investigation into the incident is likely to be approved and a definitive verdict reached as to the referee's intentions.
Anto Finnegan has become the first Antrim footballer to win the Bass/Ulster GAA Writers' monthly award. This is recognition for his contribution as captain and centre back to the county's All-Ireland B final victory over Fermanagh at Casement Park last month.
