A strong opening and equally smart 10-minute period midway through the second-half delivered the home side a second league win, while also patching over long periods of Kerry mediocrity.

Alan Brogan feels there is too much uncertainty about the amount of additional time being provided by referees.

Laois manager Mike Quirke, 2010 All-Ireland winning Cork manager Conor Counihan, and four-time All-Ireland hurling final referee Brian Gavin have called for the introduction of the clock-hooter system to lessen the "unsustainable" demands being placed on football referees.

We’re sure we heard a few Donegal supporters in Navan singing ‘Can we play you every week?’

Our writers pick out the main talking points from the weekend’s Allianz League action.

The harsh and punishing reality of life among Gaelic football’s elite stared Meath in the face as they made their return to Division One after a 14-year absence.

It was a touch harsh on Eamonn Barry, Meath’s manager at the time, though the national newspaper headline ‘Barry’s bizarre decisions backfire’ did sum up the confusion felt by some supporters at the time.

McEntee made his comments after Meath’s 4-16 to 1-15 O’Byrne Cup win over Laois, a game watched by county title winner Conor Nash, who is now established in the AFL with Hawthorn.

Former Limerick captain Donal O’Grady has replaced Brian Geary in John Kiely’s management team for 2002 as Kiely was last night ratified for another two years at the helm with the option of a third.

We live in strange times. Not only can a team lose four championship matches in the one summer these days, but they can feel pretty good about themselves on the back of it. And with good reason.

If Kerry were comfortable in Navan this evening then it was only in small pockets.

Meath manager Andy McEntee admitted there was a touch of Groundhog Day about his team’s latest nine-point defeat in the Super 8s.

Leading by a point with 54 minutes played, underdogs Meath had hauled themselves into a winning position against a county they hadn't lost to since 1951.

Hugh McFadden believes the championing of the likes of Donegal and Sunday’s opponents Kerry as the main rivals to Dublin’s throne is merely something the media latch on to.

Alan Foley Just under a year ago Patrick McBrearty trundled out of MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey on crutches after his Donegal team-mates had squandered a four-point lead against Tyrone to miss out on a place in the All-Ireland semi-finals.

You know what? These Super 8s might be something after all.

Donegal were 9-point winners against Meath at the sun-kissed Ballybofey, although the scoreboard only tells half the story of a gripping contest.

Paul Keane in scoreboard Watching this epic qualifier tie unfold in Portlaoise, Clare sweating buckets and Meath literally spilling blood, we recalled how Colm Collins once described the Super 8s as a ‘cynical exercise in collecting more money’ by the GAA.

So that’s Wednesday nearly wrapped up. Here are some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

A local paper is calling on an inter-county GAA manager to apologise after comments allegedly made after last weekend's Leinster senior football final.

Graham Reilly has no concerns about Meath coming up short for their All-Ireland SFC round-four qualifier the weekend after next.

The Leinster Senior Football Championship has long been crying ‘stop’ and Dublin have long since stopped listening. This wasn’t quite a pulverisation, but unquestionably another endorsement of capital might.

In the build-up to the Leinster final, Meath manager Andy McEntee was adamant that the game and the outcome wouldn’t define their season.

It sure wasn’t the most fruitful weekend for anyone looking for chinks in Dublin’s drive for five.

It’s the unspoken fear among conservative Meath supporters this week, that their team could be mowed down in Sunday’s Leinster final, leaving their summer in ruins.

The powerful midfielder crashed home a goal in the 31st minute to put Meath into a lead they wouldn't relinquish and his second with nine minutes to go killed the contest.

Paul Keane in preview box Andy McEntee is a manager on the up, on the verge of elevating Meath to a first Leinster final in five years, having already masterminded a return to Division 1 in the Allianz league.

Two goals in as many first-half minutes laid the platform for favourites Meath to cruise past Carlow in Portlaoise and through to the Leinster SFC quarter-finals.

It was the result most expected but Donegal's journey to the Allianz League Division 2 title was anything but straightforward at Croke Park.

An hour after last June’s extra-time qualifier defeat to Tyrone in Navan, by which time even the most vocal of Meath supporters had composed themselves, manager Andy McEntee took part in a radio interview.

Mickey Burke, Meath’s longest serving player, has admitted securing a belated return to Division 1 of the Allianz League was his big target for the year.

Graham Reilly has said that Meath have the physical conditioning of a Division 1 team, but that their footballing ability needs to go ‘up through the roof’ to survive there.

Meath 2-12 Fermanagh 0-11

As Meath stand on the brink of promotion to Division 1 for the first time in 13 years, former star Graham Geraghty has commended manager Andy McEntee for handing over a lot of responsibility to coach Colm Nally.

Meath snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to take a major step in their quest for a return to top-tier football with this victory in driving snow at Páirc Tailteann yesterday.

Bruce Springsteen’s Glory Days blared out over the tannoy prior to the start of this Allianz League Division 2 tie at breezy Páirc Tailteann yesterday and while that may have been a bit premature for the Royals there were some positive signs in this hard-fought victory.

The suspicion throughout Andy McEntee’s three-season reign as Meath manager is that he’s always been just one big win from turning things around.

Declan Bonner, the Donegal manager, commended the resolve shown by his young side as they came from four points down late on to overcame Meath in a frost-bitten Ballybofey on Saturday night.

The fare on offer from both side was well short of what will be needed to win promotion but it was Meath who were happiest at the end of this dour Division 2 tie at Páirc Tailteann yesterday.

Mid-December yet already the challenge of the old enemy Dublin is high on the mind of Meath manager Andy McEntee.

Managers Jim Gavin and Andy McEntee are in regular contact to discuss the logistics of the game.

Over the next number of weeks, the emphasis in the GAA championships moves to football. Galway’s victory in the Connacht final on Sunday against Roscommon means they are the first team to, coin a phrase, be “safe in the [Super] 8”.

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.

Meath 0-19 Tyrone 2-14