Both sides kicked some wonderful points though remarkably, the second half of extra time yielded no score.

There was late drama as Wicklow footballers gave red-hot favourites Kildare a real fright at Netwatch Cullen Park this evening as the Leinster senior football championship got under way before an attendance of 3,800.

Ryan Lyons scored the only two points of the final 20 minutes to guide Fermanagh to their first victory of this league campaign against a woefully below-par Kildare side at Brewster Park on Saturday.

In the end, it was all too comfortable for Kerry. But it mattered little, the result they needed from Pearse Stadium didn't materialise.

Donegal came through something of a must-win to give themselves a fighting chance of Division 1 survival at Kildare’s expense at Ballyshannon.

The statutory body responsible for food consumer protection has confirmed it is investigating an allegation that a Cork restaurant may have misinformed customers over the source of products on its menu.

The statutory body responsible for food consumer protection has confirmed it is investigating an allegation that a Cork restaurant may have misinformed customers over the source of products on its menu.

Westmeath’s Kieran Martin believes they are in a better position to seriously challenge Dublin this year and has indicated they won’t rely on a blanket defence strategy.

John Heslin held his nerve to kick an equalising point from a free in the fourth minute of injury time and send this local derby to a replay in Mullingar next Saturday.

Early July and Tom Cribbin is sitting in the Annebrook Hotel in Mullingar wondering aloud about an audacious plan that could go a long way towards the impossible and overcoming the Dubs in the upcoming Leinster final.

Dublin 2-19 Westmeath 0-10: Same as it ever was, then. An 11th Leinster title in 12 seasons for Dublin, another lopsided scoreline and a renewed bout of hand-wringing as to what the rest of the province – and everyone else – can possibly do to reduce a gap that shows no sign of closing anytime soon.

Westmeath 1-12 Kildare 1-11: Shot down in spring, but singing in summer. Such is the way of Westmeath under Tom Cribbin these last couple of seasons.

Trepidation has turned to anticipation in the Westmeath camp.

Kildare just about held out at the end of a pedestrian game to set up a Leinster semi-final with Westmeath or Offaly.

Kildare 0-22 Clare 1-14: Despite losing out to Kildare in a high-octane shootout, Clare will still join their conquerors in Division 2 next year.

Westmeath 3-14 Limerick 0-7: Tom Cribbin wore the look of a man who just had his shoulders relieved of the heavy load which had sat there since the final Sunday in January. That was the afternoon Westmeath’s promotion plans were refused take off at Cusack Park with Kildare bagging maximum points behind enemy lines.

The notion Kildare have nothing to lose in tomorrow’s All- Ireland SFC quarter-final is one I’ve heard bandied about a few times this week.

Three games were played at Thurles last weekend, two of those set the talking points for the week and one county led the discussion, writes Steve Neville.

From second-level colleges glory to All-Ireland minor and senior titles with Kerry, Jack O’Connor has seen it, done it and written the book.

Fermanagh 1-13 Westmeath 0-7: Fermanagh displayed new levels of maturity and confidence to overcome Westmeath in Breffni Park on Saturday and book their place in the last eight of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

Sitting in the Hogan Stand two weeks ago watching John Heslin roll in the game-clinching goal, it was hard not to get drawn in by the pure joy and excitement the Westmeath squad and supporters were experiencing.

Dublin 2-13 Westmeath 0-6: Gone in 60 seconds? It’s a tempting cliché to toss out in light of the two goals Dublin scored early in the second-half to turn this Leinster final encounter decisively in their favour.

Tom Cribbin and those who know him, there was poetic symmetry to his Westmeath side’s 10-point comeback victory over Meath. As an Ironman veteran, Cribbin knows all about perseverance and absorbing pain to make gain.

Westmeath’s Kieran Gavin admits their historic first championship win over Meath will be forgotten if they are beaten heavily by Dublin on Sunday.

Earlier this year, Ger Egan conceded he’d almost questioned himself as a footballer after Westmeath’s horror 2014 campaign yielded 12 defeats in 12 games.

Tom Cribbin admitted it was a little ‘miracle’ to emerge from the depths of despair grasping a Leinster final place, but the man who actually conjured it, Kieran Martin, could only shrug.

Peter McNamara assesses the live matches this weekend.