Patience will be a virtue for Mayo against Donegal in their Super 8 encounter at MacHale Park on Saturday evening, according to Alan Dillon.

Around 45 minutes from throw-in time, with the sense of anticipation building in Kingspan Breffni Park ahead of Donegal’s semi-final win over Tyrone, a familiar figure was calmly stepping out distances between the cones he was setting down and the poles he was plopping in.

Two-time All-Star Alan Dillon has called on Mayo’s big players to ‘step up and show leadership’ in next Saturday night’s All-Ireland SFC Qualifier against Down in Newry.

Not one for watching recorded sport, especially if the result is known in advance, but an exception was made for this year’s Division One football league final between Mayo and Kerry.

Former Mayo captain Cillian O’Connor made his first appearance in almost five months when he lined out for Ballintubber in the first round of the Mayo SFC on Saturday evening.

Ahead of last Sunday’s league final on the always-entertaining GAA Hour podcast, Steven McDonnell and Colm Parkinson came from contrasting schools of thought when it came to predicting a winner.

It's been a few years since the two of us last spoke and 20 years now since we first met but the wit, wisdom and warmth of John Morrison continued to pop up in conversation and the imagination.

A stunning second-half display from Corofin earned the reigning All-Ireland club champions a third provincial championship title in a row this afternoon.

The same week Stephen Rochford embarked on his first of three underwhelming Connacht championship campaigns with a visit to Ruislip, another manager familiar with some football grounds in London as well as working with top players for a support base craving silverware brought out a book called Quiet Leadership.

These are players to be admired and celebrated, not pitied, says Paul Rouse.

These treacle-slow championship starts of Mayo’s are not a new phenomenon.

One of the tactical moves of the year?

Eugene Lavin knows relegation, the reality and the fear of it. There was the relegation play-off defeats to Armagh and Kerry 30 years ago. Hazy in his recollection now but it was the loss to Kerry in Ennis that saw them drop from the top flight.

‘Our county is nothing without its people within it.’ Having toiled for 16 years to bring Mayo football within sight of the summit, Alan Dillon wants to move mountains to keep the Mayo brotherhood within the county bounds.

Whether you believe spring began on Thursday or doesn’t until March 1, Kerry have weathered their winter of discontent.

Recently retired attacker Alan Dillon reckons the Mayo and Cork forwards are kindred spirits, undervalued and underappreciated by the majority of neutrals.

Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea has revealed his team-mate Alan Dillon played with a broken foot in the 2016 All-Ireland final games against Dublin.

Dillon remained underrated both inside and outside his own county, right up until he announced his retirement yesterday morning, writes Kieran Shannon

Former Mayo captain Alan Dillon has announced his retirement from inter-county Football.

Castlebar Mitchels 0-15 Ballintubber 0-13: It was no surprise to hear the Castlebar Mitchels squad described as a “phenomenal bunch of men” after winning their third successive Mayo SFC title yesterday on home ground at MacHale Park.

History was made in today’s Mayo SFC Final as Castlebar Mitchels retained their title and claimed the Moclair Cup for the third season in a row.

Tom Parsons is here and he isn’t. Like at a séance, journalists sit around a mobile phone in Breaffy as the Mayo midfielder chats from his Dublin base. Certainly a first for an All-Ireland team’s press event.

Mayo’s decision to deploy Aidan O’Shea at full-back to man-mark Kieran Donaghy isn’t the first rabbit from the tactics hat that the westerners have employed 2017 – Lee Keegan, drawn All-Ireland quarter-final v Roscommon.

Speaking on Newstalk on Wednesday, David Brady hit the nail on the head when he disassociated Mayo’s 2014 semi-final replay loss to Kerry from the 2006 All-Ireland final defeat.

Former Mayo forward Conor Mortimer has said that more of his county's forwards "need to step up" after their single-point defeat to Galway in Sunday's Connacht Football semi-final at Pearse Stadium.

Former Galway footballer Diarmuid Blake doesn’t expect Aidan O’Shea to start Sunday’s Connacht semi-final, claiming the two-time All Star is “not at the top of his game” at present.

Mayo fatigue is being experienced across the country but this team doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. That belligerence has to be respected yet the question is, can they transform doughtiness into dominance? John Fogarty looks at the arguments for and against.

Mayo manager Stephen Rochford doesn’t believe his team are under any more pressure this season than any other year as they once again try to end an All-Ireland famine going back to 1951.

Mayo’s football panel will not be issuing an official response to extraordinary claims made by former co-managers Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes.

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.

Beleaguered Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly yesterday revealed his heartache following Saturday’s All- Ireland final replay defeat.