Derry, March 23, 2013. Overcome with emotion, Football Review Committee chairman Eugene McGee sheds a tear upon the announcement that the black card, against the odds, has received 71% support and will come into rule.

On March 19, 2017, Kerry are set to entertain Dublin in their round five Division 1 game. Should Dublin extend their current 29-game unbeaten run to that point, they will have the opportunity to match the greatest invincible stretch set by the Kingdom between 1928 and 1933 when they went 34 matches without a defeat.

By now, you’ve probably heard where Diarmuid Connolly was the evening prior to the drawn All-Ireland final: Crossmaglen. You might have also caught where he should be right now: Ibiza.

Tongue firmly lodged in cheek, Tipperary’s Robbie Kiely tweeted in the closing stages of Sunday’s All-Ireland final: “Any black cards in this match yet?”

Self-awareness has never been Tipperary’s strongest suit. 

In the previous decade, both times I was collared for penalty points happened on the way to meeting the Ó Sés. 

Give or take a day, it was July 23, 2014 when Jim McGuinness put the finishing touches to his successful plan to beat Dublin. Having managed to run the gauntlet of Ulster, he couldn’t have afforded to scheme any earlier.