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Lee Keegan said that he “absolutely” meant to loop the ball over Paul Durcan’s head and into the top corner of the net three minutes into the second half. As soon as the green flag was raised by the umpires, Mayo were on their way to a fifth All Ireland semi-final in a row. That goal put seven points between the sides and it was a matter of seeing out the game from there on in.

After blitzing their way through Connacht without much fuss the first test of Mayo's credentials from a side outside Connacht will come tomorrow when they square up against Donegal in Croke Park. Mayo joint managers, Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes, announced their starting 15 for the showdown on Tuesday this week, much earlier than they have done for their two other championship games, and the starting line-up showed no changes from the one that started against Sligo in the provincial decider.

At half time last Saturday in Croke Park, with the teams level, most Galway supporters were pleased with their team’s work-rate and performance and even twenty minutes into the second half, those of us in the Cusack and Hogan Stands were still hoping that if Galway could get a goal, or pull a few points in front, it would ask serious questions off Rory Gallagher's men.

I am sure many of you felt as deflated as I did last Sunday. After leaving Elverys MacHale Park deflated I went home to watch the game again on TG4, and just in case I missed anything on second viewing I had to watch Sunday Sport later on that evening to see what the pundits said about the game. The reality is Mayo should be playing in Croke Park this Sunday against Cork in the semifinal of the National League. They threw away the game against Donegal or should I say kicked away. Some wayward shooting late on cost us a place in the semifinal.

I am really looking forward to Sunday’s county final, Castlebar and Ballintubber met in the group stages with the Mitchels winning by a single goal but it seems the tides have turned slightly after Ballintubber’s devastating display in the semi-final win over Knockmore. Castlebar seem to have the measure of Ballintubber as of late, but will certainly be fearful of going up against one of the most lethal club forward lines in the country. They will also be reminded that Ballintubber have beaten them in two finals in the last five years. Castlebar have a better defence than Ballintubber but Ballintubber have a better forward line than Castlebar so something has to give.

Physicality and power of inter-county GAA teams at a new high

Physicality and power of inter-county GAA teams at a new high

Once Monaghan had ended Donegal’s three-in-a-row Ulster championship dreams in St Tiernach’s Park in Clones, a couple of hours after Mayo had wrapped up their own hat-trick of provincial titles, this Sunday’s quarter-final pairing was the one that the neutral and plenty of non-neutrals wanted to see come out of the hat. And so it came to pass, not long after 8.30pm last Saturday, the gods conspired to set up a rematch of last year’s All Ireland final, with Cavan man Joe McQuillan the man brokering the peace in the middle of the two packs.

Having watched Donegal in the flesh last weekend in their awe-inspiring victory over Cork, it is difficult to see either Mayo or Dublin stopping them taking Sam back to the hills for the first time in 20 years.

Having watched Donegal in the flesh last weekend in their awe-inspiring victory over Cork, it is difficult to see either Mayo or Dublin stopping them taking Sam back to the hills for the first time in 20 years.