All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers:In the broad coverage of the impact on Division Four teams of the new AllIreland qualifier system, there hasn't been much focus on the fate of those counties who won't find themselves in the qualifiers until the beginning of July.

Mayo on Sunday became the highest-profile team to end up in this position and, although manager John O'Mahony pointed out he had experience of taking the alternative route through the championship, the situation differs from 2001 when he led Galway to an All-Ireland after a provincial championship defeat by Roscommon.

Six years ago, Galway had what was by the standards of the old qualifiers a long break of five weeks between defeat in Tuam and the trip to Aughrim to take on Wicklow in the second round.

This time - because of changes intended to reduce the qualifier schedules - eight counties aren't eligible for the chance to travel a parallel route if beaten in the first round and those who are have a long wait ahead of them.

Football teams beaten in the past two weeks won't be resuming their summer schedules for seven and eight weeks.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte, like O'Mahony, took his side to All-Ireland success after being beaten in the provincial championships. He believes the situation facing counties having to cope with nearly a two-month break is "very problematic".

"Seven weeks' preparation is too long. Players are with you and then gone again.

"They have to focus and refocus on the county while going backwards and forwards to their clubs, who understandably want them back. Getting into the right frame of mind is difficult when you have to make all of those adjustments."

John Tobin was manager of the Roscommon side that beat Galway in 2001 and went on to win the Connacht championship before O'Mahony's team took their revenge in that year's All-Ireland quarter-final.

He too sees the task as being harder this year. "It's very difficult. There's a lot of reflection and introspection, which can be hard to manage. The ideal ratio of training sessions to matches is two to one.

"You'd end up doing a lot of training sessions in seven weeks. When do you let them off and when do you get them back?"

Harte points out that the ideal break in his experience of coming through the qualifiers in 2005 is two weeks. "You need a week to recover from injuries and another week to wind up to the game. We had it hot and heavy for a while that summer, but most of the games came at two-week intervals.

"This was great because it meant that the whole panel was more like a club team. There was no time to send players back to their clubs and take their eye off the county team so a club spirit developed amongst the players."

Harte has made it an article of faith that his preparations don't include challenge matches. Asked whether even with a seven-week gap on his hands he would reluctantly take these fixtures for match practice he says he wouldn't.

"I would just stay with my normal preparations. Challenge matches make it difficult to gauge the quality of your players because you simply can't gauge the quality of the opposition.

"The team that starts might be completely different to the team that finishes and you don't actually learn anything."