It's as if the past year had never happened. Twelve months on and Tyrone are wondering how they'll manage without Brian McGuigan and anxious about Stephen O'Neill's hamstring and Owen Mulligan's form. With Peter Canavan retired, only two of the attack - Brian Dooher and Ryan Mellon - that won the All-Ireland two years ago will line out. Both teams had disappointing NFL campaigns and bring in newcomers to this level - four for Tyrone and three for Fermanagh.
Most attention has focused on Tyrone's selection because of the difficulties facing Mickey Harte. John Devine's recall to goal was a surprise given Pascal McConnell has played throughout the league and Tommy McGuigan's debut on the 40 is in place of his brother Brian. The younger McGuigan has plenty of talent, but asking him to step into the play-making role in his first championship outing is a daunting challenge. Down the middle Tyrone are forced into changes up front, but are more settled in the back eight.
The important triangular platform between Conor Gormley at centre back and the 2003 All-Ireland centrefield of Seán Cavanagh and Kevin Hughes is very experienced and Cormac McGinley has a championship season at full back under his belt.
Up front, McGuigan and another younger sibling, Cavanagh's brother Colm, backbone the attack, although there is scope for changes given the latter's inter-county experience is more as a wing forward. A more practised presence might be required to make an impact on Barry Owens and a switch involving Hughes, whose physical strength has been tried previously on the edge of the square, and Mellon, who can play in the middle, would facilitate that adjustment.
Fermanagh have been a competitive presence in the Ulster championship recently and took Armagh to a replay last season. Their attack is hard to handle, but during the league they weren't at their best and failed to finish a respectable ratio of what chances were created.
Marty McGrath and James Sherry will provide plenty of opposition at centrefield, but the reservations about the forwards' ability to contest the ball persist in the absence of a focal ball winner, with the only new forward, Ciarán McElroy, another one off the zippy, elusive template.
The counties look more evenly matched than in recent years, but it's a big opportunity for Tyrone's newcomers to demonstrate the ability and the appetite to step forward.
FERMANAGH: C Breen; N Bogue, B Owens, S Goan; S Lyons, S McDermott, T McElroy; M McGrath, J Sherry; M Little, T Brewster (capt), E Maguire; C McElroy, C O'Reilly, C Bradley.
TYRONE: J Devine; R McMenamin, C McGinley, D Carlin; D Harte, C Gormley, J McMahon; K Hughes, S Cavanagh; B Dooher (capt), T McGuigan, R Mellon; N Gormley, C Cavanagh, C McCullagh.
An indication of how the teams felt about last weekend's draw is evident in the team selections with Down manager Ross Carr opting for an unchanged line-up whereas Cavan make four changes. For most of the match Down looked probable winners until Jonathan Crowe's late goal followed by Dermot McCabe's massive free looked to have whipped out an unlikely win.
There will still be surprise that Carr has seen fit to make no changes at the back despite defensive lapses, particularly in the full-back line, but the reckoning is obviously that a young unit will have benefited from the experience of going to Cavan and surviving.
Donal Keoghan hasn't been as patient, and the normally reliable defender Paul Brady pays the price for not being able to limit the damage wrought by Benny Coulter.
The other changes were equally forceful, with Lorcan Mulvey making way for debutant Ciarán Galligan and up front two of the bigger names walking the plank. In the case of Raymond Cullivan the move simply suggests that his acclimatisation will take more time whereas Seán Johnston struggled to reach the high standards he set last year.
Better news for Cavan sees Michael Lyng fit to resume in attack and he is named in his customary position of centre forward with Mark McKeever switching to full forward.
Considering the gradual toll taken on Dermot McCabe's mobility his ability to dominate a championship centrefield was remarkable. So integral was the performance to Cavan that there was no question even of giving him a gallop at full forward.
DOWN: M McVeigh; D McCartan, D Rooney, K McGuigan; R Murtagh, B Grant, J Clarke; D Gordan, J Lynch; J McGovern, A Carr, R Sexton; D Hughes, P Downey, B Coulter.
CAVAN: J Reilly; M Hannon, E Reilly, M Cahill; J Crowe, A Forde, R Flanagan; D McCabe, C Galligan; L Reilly, M Lyng, S Brady; G Pierson, M McKeever, J O'Reilly.
The feeling is that Waterford will never have a better chance to break their championship blank - now surpassing Antrim's 1982-2000 drought - going back to 1988 when Clare were also the opposition.
Páidí Ó Sé has to bring in no fewer than nine debutants, including David Connole, who will have played minor, under-21 and senior in the space of a few weeks. The list of unavailable players is debilitating in terms of experience and physical presence.
Waterford don't look as well positioned as last year when they put up such a feisty performance against Kerry, but they have decent footballers and much-improved self-esteem after the under-21 success of four years ago and the relative success of their clubs in the Munster championship.
Verdict - Waterford.
A year ago there was collective shock at how poor the football was in the Gaelic Grounds when this pair met, and tomorrow doesn't offer guaranteed improvement.
Cork are in buoyant form, however, after putting behind them a difficult league and getting everyone back on board - most significantly Graham Canty - plus the not insignificant morale boost of winning the under-21 All-Ireland, even if surprisingly few of that group are named tomorrow.
John Galvin's return to centrefield is a plus for Mickey O'Sullivan's team, although lingering doubts about his full fitness are a concern. Limerick were very competitive in the league and unfortunate to slide all the way back to Division Three, but Cork have too much fire-power compared to the over- reliance on James Masters last year.
Verdict - Cork.
Derry had to scramble hard to beat Armagh, but, despite the usefulness of a competitive run-out, they will be underdogs against a Down team that spent the spring playing Division One hurling and have the carrot of a home Ulster final should they progress.
Verdict - Down.
