If there was one blot in Cillian O’Connor’s copybook last Sunday it was his missed goal chance in the first half. In a period where Kerry dominated, it may have arrested all the good work Mayo’s opponents had been doing.

Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna says attracting American football, including NFL games, to the stadium is part of a long-term strategy designed to help the GAA to maintain its financial independence.

Reading the article in this newspaper last week, people will think I have something against Mayo, but this is not the case.

It wasn’t just Mayo who benefited from Donie Buckley’s expertise last Sunday, according to Eoin Brosnan.

Gerry Fitzpatrick is well versed in managing the six-day turnaround, the Wexford hurling trainer charged with conditioning the Model troops through a most hectic schedule this summer — four games in 24 days they played.

GAA Árd Stiúrthóir Páraic Duffy admits the decision to schedule an American football game at Croke Park during the height of Championship season, removing the availability of HQ for the All-Ireland football semi-final replay, backfired.

ALL-IRELAND SFC SEMI-FINAL REPLAY:

From a county that bred mythical footballing giants, Kerry’s 2014 crop of defenders are more tight and tidy than terrifying.

Sometimes you can’t do right for doing wrong. Management is one area this idiom is applicable.

The question is this: what have Donegal, Joe Brolly, the general GAA media, the Mortimer family, Brian Cuthbert, RTÉ, Mayo County Board and Jim Gavin all got in common?

They’ve been pilloried by their own for Croke Park failures — often against Kerry — but turbo-charged wing back Lee Keegan feels this is a quiet, determined Mayo group who won’t get caught up in the past when there’s something so big in the present — like qualification for their third successive All-Ireland final appearance.