Ulster champions Donegal flexed their muscle with a 10-point win in Navan, their first of the Allianz Football League Division 1 campaign.

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.

A dogged Tyrone gave newly-promoted Meath a flavour of the realities of competing in Gaelic football’s top tier as they eased to a five-point success at Healy Park.

The ceremonies take place at the Gleneagle Hotel Convention Centre which is now the venue for the foreseeable future for the conferring ceremonies.

The shifting power in Meath GAA was further emphasised when first-time finalists Ratoath claimed senior football championship glory at Páirc Tailteann yesterday.

All-Star nominee Conor McGill has admitted Ratoath’s journey from the junior ranks in Meath to the brink of senior success has been a rapid one.

Ratoath will be appearing in their first decider following their fully merited 2-14 to 1-10 win over the Kells men. The north Meath side were continuing their losing streak at the semi-final stage, having lost four in the past five years.

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.

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.

As a referee, there are games you look at and are so glad that you aren’t involved in. Mayo-Galway on Saturday night was as difficult a match to officiate as you can get.

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.

The annual Listowel Writer's Week, founded by the late John B Keane and Bryan McMahon which takes place each year over the June Bank holiday weekend opened last night for its 49th year.

Bryan McMahon saved Meath's blushes with a late goal to turn a potential disaster into a battling Leinster SFC win for the hosts in Navan.

Some of Ireland's newest citizens have been urged to seize the opportunity afforded to them by their new status by taking part in the upcoming referendum on May 24.

Three separate ceremonies will be held in Killarney to mark the occasion.

This is a must watch.

Magnificent Longford’s long wait for a Leinster championship win finally ended when they created a massive shock with a thoroughly deserved victory over 14-man Meath before an attendance of 5,591 at Pearse Park yesterday.

A language test for new applicants for Irish citizenship is under consideration, a senior Department of Justice official said in Killarney, Co Kerry, where more than 3,500 people from more than 160 countries officially became Irish citizens.

The “big-ticket items” that could have substantially improved life for asylum seekers in Ireland have still not been addressed, three years after a seminal report recommended numerous changes to direct provision and the level of support available.

Cavan are sitting pretty on the summit of Division Two of the Allianz Football League thanks to a jet-propelled first-half display at Kingspan Breffni yesterday..

Applications by British people for Irish citizenship has increased more than tenfold in the last three years.

The judge, Mr Justice Donal O'Donnell, noted the costs of the seven-day case 'may outweigh the damages' of the farmer's case against the Department of Agriculture.

Only two asylum seekers qualified last year for third-level grant support under a Government scheme designed to assist young people in the protection system.

Graham Reilly crowned his first Championship game as Meath captain with a thrilling display to help secure a Leinster SFC semi-final clash with Kildare.

Over the weekend, yours truly had to hike himself down to the shops to get a fidget spinner (if you don’t know what that is then you clearly don’t have children under the age of 10 running around your house but don’t worry, soon the fidget spinner will be part of your life too.)

Allianz FL Division 2

Meath 2-22 Wicklow 0-9: There was a honeymoon start for new Meath boss Andy McEntee in this O’Byrne Cup tie at Páirc Tailteann yesterday.

As Donald Trump’s blatant misogyny is rewarded by the US electorate, there is hope in the achievements of movements such as Waking the Feminists, says Marjorie Brennan.

A former High Court judge has called for an amnesty for asylum seekers stuck in the application process for five years or more, saying the gesture would honour the ideals of the 1916 rebels.

Meath 1-10 Armagh 0-8: On goes Meath’s winter of content.

All-Ireland Club IFC semi-final - St Mary’s (Kerry) 2-20 Ratoath (Meath) 1-5: Perhaps it was the talk of litmus tests and stern examinations that drove St Mary’s to such dizzying heights.

Little girls with pink bows in their hair, tall men in turbans, and nuns in habits were just some of the 3,350 people in Dublin’s Convention Centre yesterday being declared as Ireland’s newest citizens.

Dozens of asylum seekers can apply next week for student grants and to be exempt from international college fees that would make higher education here impossible for them.

The Government has signalled it will act on many of the recommendations contained in a new report on the asylum seeker process, amid calls from support organisations to overhaul the system.

Those who partitioned Meath from Westmeath around 500 years ago didn’t do the Lake County any favours, not in Gaelic football terms at least.

The chairman of a government-appointed group on protection and the asylum-seeker system has said he hopes the content of its report is published soon, after it was given to the ministers responsible.

An intriguing feature of the build-up to Meath’s first championship outing was the positivity of the players and their insistence that Dublin aren’t unbeatable.