Hold your horses, Mayo fans

SURE was deadly seeing Mayo beat Dublin, wasn’t it? I’ve nothing against the Dubs, but it was still one of those ‘where were you’ moments given they haven’t been beaten in championship football since 2014. While it was a particularly special victory for Mayo, I can’t help but feel we’ve been here before – they’ve won plenty of semi-finals down the years, but things have a tendency to go wrong on the big day, so I wouldn’t be getting too excited for them just yet (and of course I’ll be supporting Tyrone if they upset the odds against Kerry). It’s just hard to know with Mayo, and to be honest at this stage I half-expect them to lose in tragic circumstances. Still, they’re good craic. Oh and for the record, John Small should’ve been sent off – sure it wasn’t shoulder to shoulder so he had to go.
NIALL GARTLAND

It’s good for the game

I DON’T care how much you love or respect Dublin – I’m talking to you, Kevin Cassidy! – Mayo’s victory at the weekend is good for the game. Domination can be fun for a while, but it gets boring very quickly. A lot of eyes will now watch the All-Ireland final who maybe would have skipped it had Dublin been in it as there was a sense of inevitability. In my native Armagh, Cross may still be the most frequent county winners, but having won 19 in 20 years between 1996 and 2015, they have ‘only’ won two of the last five. They’re still probably going to dominate to an extent, but a bit of competition definitely makes Armagh football more exciting.
NIALL MCCOY

Doing their bit for the duals

THE Antrim championship continues this week and the good news for the dual clubs is that the county did not schedule hurling in the middle of the football competition this week. There are lots of clubs in Belfast who are desperately keen to play both codes. Their players enjoy the challenge of both games but that is despite the fact that they often had to play games within days of each other. They often had to play matches on the weekend, and then again midweek. They would do so because they wanted to win in both codes. The option of playing one code at the expense of the other was not an option. But the heavy schedule was a challenge. For the dual clubs the development of having a clear schedule will be welcomed. Fixture makers deserve credit. Unfortunately there are only so many days in the week, and the fixtures will have to ramp up, but clubs have told me they are pleased with the development.
RONAN SCOTT