WHEN the draws were made I, like many others, had a stab at who I thought would top each group and who would go through. We all do it but I have no problem admitting that I made an absolute hames of the whole thing.

These group games have blown the championship wide open and at this stage you would be forgiven for admitting that you haven’t a clue who will win Sam.

When we cast our mind back a few weeks the main front runners were Galway and Donegal. Donegal have shown some weakness while Galway look like a team on borrowed time.

The likes of Mayo and Derry, who were written off, have now fired themselves back into contention with one big performance. I was at Derry’s draw with Galway last weekend for GAA+. What a game we were treated to.

Like many others, I had doubts about Derry over the last few months and, in truth, I wasn’t sure they still had that level of performance in them. There is no doubt their backs were to the wall, but no one saw that performance coming.

From the throw-in, you could just tell that there was something different about this performance. They brought an intensity and hunger that has been lacking from Derry since Rory Gallagher departed the scene. The Derry we saw last weekend reminded us all of the team that some tipped as potential All-Ireland contenders not that long ago.

Their big players showed up on the day. Conor Glass and Brendan Rogers were immense in the middle of the park. I was delighted for this Derry team because things have been tough on them over the last few years and you don’t become a bad team overnight.

In all honesty, they deserved to win the game and they will be kicking themselves that they didn’t but they still have it all to play for heading into the final round of games.

On the other hand, Galway were extremely disappointing all over the pitch. If I’m honest, I’m not sure what lays in store for them for the rest of the campaign.

This is a team that was talked about being perhaps the stand-out contender for the All-Ireland but the performance I witnessed last Sunday leaves a lot to be desired.

Galway lacked energy all over the pitch and their big men were all hauled ashore, so there is no doubt that there will be some head scratching in Galway over the next two weeks before they play their final group game.

Everything is really up for grabs. From an Ulster point of view, you would hope that by the quarter-final stage, we will have a number of teams still standing. The likes of Tyrone and Monaghan seem to be getting their house in order. Down are still there as dark horses too.

I think at this stage of the competition, given everything that has happened in the group games, we won’t get a true reflection of where teams are at until perhaps the quarter-final stage.

I know the decision has been taken to change the format next season but perhaps it’s time to have a rethink because what we have been served up this year has been nothing short of fantastic.

Next week I’ll delve into the big games and where I see them being won and lost. As a GAA fan, what a weekend of games we have to look forward to and that’s what the championship should be all about.

There is no doubt that there will be some hard graft and some tough soul-searching done in a lot of grounds all over the country over the next two weeks, so I expect to see fireworks as teams scramble to secure their place in the knockout stages. It all happens in two weeks’ time. Bring it on.