Croke Park are sticklers for All-Ireland final protocols so when they state two minutes will separate the run-out of each team onto the pitch on Sunday, they mean two minutes.

Rory O’Carroll is unlikely to miss out on Dublin’s All-Ireland final on September 22 despite a photograph showing him making contact with Colm Cooper’s face on Sunday.

Things will only get better. Fear not, Kerry fans — this is not some hollow hushabye as you contemplate your longest stretch without an All-Ireland title since the 11-year famine ended in 1997.

At a get-to-know-you meeting with the media earlier this year, Jim Gavin showed journalists footage of Dublin football from the 1970s and 1980s.

Sooner or later Limerick hurling will stop breaking mirrors, walking under ladders or whatever superstition it is they seem to keep doing.

Watching last Wednesday’s Munster U21 final on TG4 in the company of my better half’s father proved a useful exercise.

Cast your mind back to March 16 this year, when Tyrone deservedly ended Dublin’s winning run in the national league in Croke Park.

“We’re playing those mind games together, Pushing the barriers, planting seeds”.

The IRFU’s accounts don’t look too pretty at the moment but if they’re looking for a quick buck, they might make a call to Croke Park.

Bringing in a sports psychologist was a master move by Limerick manager John Allen