It’s been fun so far, eh?

Mr Wolf (Harvey Keitel): “You see that, young lady? Respect. Respect for one’s elders shows character.”

It was the early hours of the morning at the GAA All Stars in the Convention Centre in Dublin last October and Anthony Cunningham was rounding up his passenger for the trip home when someone said hello and shook hands with him.

And so Championship 2012 ended with the most predictable winners imaginable after the least predictable journey imaginable.

Those tremors you may have felt at around 8.30pm on Friday?

So there we were, on the seventh level of the Hogan Stand three weeks ago.

Tommy O’Connell was chatting to a couple of friends in the Croke Park Hotel an hour or two before last year’s All-Ireland final when Jimmy Magee passed by. One of the friends buttonholed Magee and, pointing to O’Connell, asked him why this man had a place in hurling history.

Of all the things that will exercise Brian Cody ahead of the All-Ireland hurling final replay, few will grate more than the thought that Anthony Cunningham has his measure.

Teatime Saturday... A thought strikes.

Let’s begin where we left off back in late May, on the eve of the championship, with the text message sent by a glum young man from south Tipperary a few hours after Kilkenny had sauntered to the National League title.