This weekend is traditionally the start of the football season's ascent into full flight. Tomorrow's Church & General NFL quarter-finals will have some sort of relevance above and beyond the mechanics of this year's League. What the relevance is, we won't be sure of until assisted by retrospect, but there have been certain indicators throughout this decade.

None of them are particularly positive about the secondary competition. Only one team has completed a league and championship double and that was Kerry two years ago. It is an example that is erroneously used by those who want to disprove the charge that NFL advancement actually damages a team's championship ambitions.

Kerry's ability to win the two titles largely rested on the lack of championship competition in Munster that year. From winning the League in early May, Kerry didn't have a match they weren't overwhelmingly favoured to win for over three months.

No team from Ulster or Leinster (it's nearly 20 years since a Connacht team won the title) can count on such an unhindered passage and consequently no team from Ulster or Leinster has won the double for over a decade - which is effectively the pre-history of the modern game.

When Kerry are taken out of the equation, no other team has won an All-Ireland after reaching an NFL final earlier in the year. Seven of the nine counties who have won out in September either failed to reach the knockout stages or lost in the quarter-finals.

The latter statistic is particularly relevant because in five out of the nine years, the All-Ireland champions had been beaten in the quarter-finals. Elsewhere on the page, John O'Mahony discusses Galway's experience of this last year, but Donegal, Derry, Down and Meath travelled the same route.

Generally speaking there is a reason for this. Reaching the playoff stages is usually - but by no means always - a sign that team development is going well. Two things can happen at this juncture: either the positive trend is confirmed or else it falls apart.

Teams have found to their cost that well-laid plans can unravel like bandages once subject to a little pressure. As it is possible to lose a match without undermining self-confidence too badly and as managers will agree, you generally learn more from losing a match than winning one - defeated quarter-finalists can get the best of both worlds.

Losing a quarter-final won't have quite the same demoralising impact on a team as losing a final or even a semi-final when the stakes are higher. And if the team loses for clearly identifiable reasons which are capable of remedy, defeat is useful.

This year most of the likely All-Ireland contenders are present in tomorrow's quarter-finals and their preparation from here on will help identify the ultimate winners over the summer.

Croke Park hosts a double-bill heavy with championship resonance. At 3.30, Dublin face Kildare. Six years ago, the counties met at a similar stage and an easy Dublin victory confirmed the relationship between the counties and accurately prefigured the teams' meeting in the Leinster final later that year.

This time it's different. Kildare are the established team trying to accomplish the fine-tuning necessary to turn an All-Ireland defeat into something a little better. The side is so experienced and settled that you could almost detect the shifting of gears as they slowed down after establishing a comfortable lead in Division One B and more or less guaranteed their quarter-final place.

Glen Ryan is still missing and a couple of AN Others indicate that the side is understrength, but they'll be wary of allowing Dublin break the incipient stranglehold they established in the championship last summer.

Dublin have a number of items on the agenda. One of them is the psychological consideration, but more important is the question of settling on the best team. Over a mixed League campaign, Dublin have been sometimes good and sometimes unimpressive.

Problems remain in the defence. Shane Ryan is named at full back, but has played his best football in the corner. He may be the only option on the square as Paddy Christie and Paddy Moran look less appealing candidates, but by moving Ryan out of the corner, is Tom Carr settling for second best in two positions?

The half-back line looked castiron before Paul Croft picked up a three-month suspension and created further problems. Will Enda Sheehy continue to hold his own as a good inter-county centrefielder or will some traumatic experience set the whole project back?

In attack, there are more questions. Brian Stynes, Jim Gavin and Dessie Farrell are proven at the top echelons. Declan Darcy has yet to achieve the consistency he needs to make the most of his talents and unflappable temperament. Then pick another two.

Tomorrow looks like Kildare's match - if they want it.

Earlier Cork and Derry re-enact the 1993 All-Ireland final since when neither has been back. Cork have been a bit like Dublin in that you're never sure if they quite know what they're doing, although some times it's quite good.

Mark O'Sullivan's performance against Dublin was encouraging, but would be more so if it can be repeated against someone else. Joe Kavanagh played well and the team at least went out and did what they needed to do.

Aidan Dorgan's form hasn't been up to his best and none of the remaining forwards are delivering on a consistent basis so the ability to compete tomorrow will be a necessary reassurance for Larry Tompkins.

Defence will be tested by Derry's familiar looking attack, including a hefty-looking half line where the statuesque Anthony Tohill and Dermot Heaney flank the ample presence of Geoffrey McGonigle. Declan Bateson is back on the track now that Eamonn Coleman has taken up the reins again.

Coleman's return with Adrian McGuckin has steadied the ship. During Coleman's previous tenure, they won an All-Ireland and in the other three years were beaten by the eventual champions. Of all counties they know the hollow promise of League success, but in the past have sometimes been unable to resist once they reach the play-offs.

In Limerick, Meath and Kerry meet in an old pros' convention. After a regulation season playing the likes of Limerick, London and Kilkenny, it will be more in Kerry's interests to advance to the semi-finals. Maybe that will be enough to decide it. Meath are injury-hit, but at least John McDermott is back to fitness.

Finally, Armagh and Sligo meet in Longford. Again Armagh look promising and have had a successful campaign, but with the exception of Kildare (who face Offaly), no side has such an imminent and demanding championship date. In less than two months, Armagh must travel to Donegal for their Ulster first round.

Sligo will probably start their summer against Galway, but not until the end of June. Mickey Moran's decision to rest his under-21s ahead of their Connacht final this day week is puzzling.

Injury is such a capricious problem that not playing tomorrow looks bad value when set against the decision to sacrifice a full-tilt work-out against a good team.

It also places a lot of pressure on the under-21s who could have simply played through tomorrow and not have had to bear the intensified expectations triggered by their omission.