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Galway led by three points at half time in Sunday's  All-Ireland senior final, and for a few brief minutes at the interval some supporters talked of pressing on and winning the game from that position.

No matter what when on in the build up to this game, the simple truth when it came down to the crunch was that Dublin were the better team and won out in the end. The pantomime theatrics of the crowd booing the perceived villain on either side of the debate gave way to a game of football in the end and Dublin were the side who landed the knock-out blows when it mattered most.

Liam Gallagher once described a gig he played in Slane Castle as biblical, what went in Croke Park last Sunday was nothing short of the same. It was the most anticipated All-Ireland semi final in living memory and it certainly did not disappoint. I arrived early to do a piece with Radio One outside the Croke Park Hotel alongside former Hill 16 favourite Barney Rock and the place was buzzing at 12.30pm. I ran into a few former team mates, namely David Heaney, David Brady, and Kevin O'Neill who had just flown in from the USA for the game. I also had a chat with current Kerry minor and former All-Ireland winning senior manager Jack O'Connor who was rightly cock a hoop about Mayo’s chances. He told myself and Brady that he was coming up to Mayo for a week after they eventually win Sam which he said could be in a few weeks time. I hope he’s right.

His attention is currently turned to ensuring things go right for the Galway minor hurlers on Sunday, but Galway minor manager Jeffrey Lynskey also wants to see fairer play for counties like Galway so they can progress and develop players.

An elderly lady once told me that “Apart from the Irish language, we have nothing more Irish in this country than the game of hurling.” I agree. It is the greatest game of them all. It is probably the number one game in the county, attendances at senior county finals being a very good criterion — the hurling final has always been the bigger attraction than the football counterpart, “even in the balmy days of our football three-in-a-row,” according to the late Jack Mahon.

First match for Galway: 

When you sit down and talk Galway hurling with David Collins, you can imagine what it is like to be in the dressing room and ready to go to war in maroon and white. If passion alone won a Celtic cross, then Collins would be weighed down with them at this stage of his career. But, alas, the 31-year-old  Liam Mellows' man has just the one from the u-21 championship  in 2005.

Joe Canning v Joey Holden

The GAA community and wider community in Mayo were in mourning this week following the death of the talented 19-year-old Darragh Doherty who lost his life in a road traffic collision on Sunday night. Doherty from Ballyhenry in Kilmaine was killed in a single vehicle traffic collision at Carromore, near Ballinrobe on Sunday night.

This Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final clash between 2013 All-Ireland champions Dublin, and the team they defeated by a single point in that final, Mayo, has the entire country anticipating a humdinger of a game. Croke Park itself is a total sell-out, so there will be 82,000 plus a few stragglers at the game itself, and about 750,000 viewers tuning in on TV.