February 2011 and Dublin have beaten Cork by six points. Under the Hogan Stand, Pat Gilroy is quietly praising his team for getting their discipline in check in the second half, but his calm words betray his delight. Inside he’s dancing.

Getting chilly, isn’t it?

September dawns and the GAA’s disciplinary system finds itself occupied in a month in which it is usually dormant.

As Conor Mortimer said earlier this week, the needle between Dublin and Mayo started back in 2006 with Warm-up-gate.

Things you come to expect from Jim Gavin as Dublin manager in a championship game.

At the behest of a reader and a Kilkenny friend of ours, we took another look at Barry Kelly’s decision to overturn a Tipperary 65 last Sunday week. 

And the prize for most predictable GAA headline of the year goes to “Tiernan McCann avoids eight-week ban”.

They played nice at their respective press evenings but it’s hardly surprising that when two counties who share such a storied, chequered recent history meet, there are going to be unpalatable truths for both.

Trevor Hogan is a Tipperary man. His background is rugby. On those two counts, some may disqualify him from commenting on the defeat of his county but they shouldn’t.

In February of last year, Kerry were chasing a late equalising point against Dublin in their opening Division 1 game in Croke Park when Aidan O’Mahony fell to the ground in the hope of persuading David Coldrick to award him a free.