It was supposed to be a festival of football, a celebration of our game played out amongst the best teams the competition has to offer in one of the finest stadiums in the world.

We’ve been waiting all year to see what all the hype was about, and now that we are on the eve of the inaugural Super 8s stage of the All-Ireland series, it’s hard not to get bloody excited about the prospect of seeing the best teams in the country go head to head. Slugging it out.

Mayo have been one of the great mysteries of the GAA world. The ‘nearly men’ of the modern generation.

There was a weird atmosphere walking away from Páirc Uí Caoimh last Saturday evening, writes Mike Quirke.

A dyed in the wool GAA man stopped me on the street during the week and had something he wanted to get off his chest.

Back in 2009, my club, Kerins O’Rahillys, had the good fortune to reach the Munster Club SFC final against Kilmurry-Ibrickane from Clare. Unfortunately for me, it was down to be played the week after my wedding when my wife and I were supposed to be on a cruise ship somewhere around the Bahamas.

There was always going to be a certain fascination with seeing what this young, fresh-faced Kerry side could produce in Fitzgerald Stadium on Sunday, considering so many had never been on the senior championship stage before.

Once upon a time, former senior manager Jack O’Connor thought it would be a good idea to bring in a sport psychologist to do a group session with the Kerry players of the last decade.

It’s still difficult to wrap your head around the tumultuous goings on in Offaly last week, following their defeat to Wicklow in the Leinster football championship.