Second-tier promotion tussle has championship edge

The promotion race in the second tier has proven unexpectedly competitive this year and the frontunners collide in Páirc Uí Rinn this weekend. Division 1 obviously hogs most of the television coverage and most of the column inches, including the ones that lie beneath this byline. And yet it's undoubtedly the case that there's an urgency and a jeopardy to the fixtures in Division 2. True, the greater lag time between the end of the league and the beginning of the championship should encourage Division 1 teams to go after the latter stages of the league campaign this time around. Or at least they mightn't feel such pressure to start minding themselves ahead of a looming championship opener....