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.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte is set to postpone his annual January cull due to an injury crisis ahead of the start of the Allianz League.

McKenna Cup specialists Tyrone lifted their eighth title in nine seasons with an uninspiring win over Monaghan at the Athletic Grounds.

Holders Tyrone reached yet another Dr McKenna Cup final with a nine points win over Down at the Athletic Grounds.

Connor McAliskey has left the Tyrone squad, and will play no part in the Red Hands’ challenge for honours in 2020.

And so what stands between Dublin and immortality is the county that itself was denied that very place in history on another All-Ireland final day.

Protect the D and Pepper The D: Kerry know that an aerial bombardment is coming their way and they must protect the D with their lives. Tadgh Morley and Jason Foley have the ability to break even with the Tyrone duo of Donnelly and McShane but naturally they need some help.

A satisfying end to one of the most bizarre weeks ever for Tyrone GAA ended up with a controlled second-half performance, featuring five unanswered scores in a 13-minute period, which proved enough to get them the opening two points of the Super 8s series against Roscommon.

Tyrone struck an early and perhaps decisive blow in their Super 8s opener at Hyde Park, where they scored a four-point win over Connacht champions Roscommon.

Tyrone blew Cavan away as they charged into the Super 8s series with a ruthless demolition of the beaten Ulster finalists.

No fireworks in Newbridge. Not this time.

Donegal swept past Tyrone to book their place in the Ulster SFC final, scoring a first win over fierce north-west rivals Tyrone in four Championship clashes as they triumphed by four points at Kingspan Breffni Park.

The game itself was a walking, talking, advert for a tiered football championship, so when the competition on the pitch doesn’t scare you, you look for motivation elsewhere, and Richie Donnelly found it within his own dressing room.

Tyrone charged through to the Ulster SFC semi-finals with a demolition job at the Athletic Grounds.

Last year's All-Ireland finalists Tyrone came through a draining battle when they just couldn't shake off a game Derry challenge in the Ulster Championship preliminary round in Omagh.

Mickey Harte declared himself satisfied with their new attacking strategies after his side moved a step closer to Division One survival with an Ulster derby win over 14-man Cavan.

Anthony Cunningham hailed his side’s resilience as Roscommon kept Tyrone’s second-half rally at bay to earn a share of the spoils in difficult conditions at Dr Hyde Park.

The game was played without the controversial hand-pass rule which had just hours earlier been ditched by Central Council, and Sunday’s FBD Connacht League final between Galway and Roscommon at Tuam will also be played without the ill-fated regulation.

Killyclogher came back from the dead to deny Ardboe in an extra-time thriller at Carrickmore yesterday and book their place in the Tyrone SFC final.

Former Meath captain Kevin Reilly rejects the resigned attitude of some players who left the panel this year and believes their decisions have cost the county.

Tyrone great Sean Cavanagh claims the county has produced a number of potentially great forwards whose development has been stymied by Mickey Harte’s defensive style.

Waterford manager Tom McGlinchey has received an eight-week sideline ban after he chose not to contest the proposed suspension last night.

Tyrone 1-12 Donegal 1-16: Donegal and Tyrone threw the play-books out the window and served up an entertaining Bank of Ireland McKenna Cup final.

Kildare 0-18 Tyrone 1-16: Kildare manager Cian O’Neill hit out at referee Paddy Neilan for a series of “embarrassing” mistakes that may have cost his team a vital Allianz league point.

Galway 1-9 Tyrone 0-8: A sharp winter’s day, a wet ball on a heavy pitch and a swirling wind that went all over the place … perfect conditions, you’d imagine, for Tyrone to get their league campaign off to a winning start and get Mickey Harte’s 16th season up and running earnest.

John Divilly on the takeaways from the opening weekend of league action.

Galway scored their 13th ever league win over Tyrone when they led throughout a tough contest at Tuam Stadium.

His manager is certainly no fan of the ‘mark’ but Niall Sludden thinks it is helping the game evolve for the better.

The greatest provincial rivalry of this decade has often been damned as excuses for cynicism, over-aggression and downright defensive football.

The Ulster championship’s status as the undisputed market leader in competitive provincial combat took another tumble yesterday with Tyrone repeating last year’s 11-point victory over Derry on their return to Celtic Park.

Seven years have passed since Tyrone last defeated Kerry. It came by a point in Omagh in late March, the visitors having assembled a five-point lead by the 55th minute only to be sucker-punched by Colm Cavanagh’s last gasp goal.

Tyrone turned on the power in the second half to take over the leadership of the Division One table and send Cavan crashing into a relegation dogfight.

Donegal’s bitter Allianz League clash with Kerry last year was a one-off in terms of their rivalry, according to Paddy McBrearty, who admits he was lucky not to be among those sent off in Tralee.

Tyrone and Derry will meet in the Dr McKenna Cup final next weekend, after two close and exciting semi-finals, writes Francis Mooney.

The semi-final pairings for the Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup were confirmed last night after the final set of group fixtures.

“Sixty-two minutes into the year 2017 and it’s over…” the devastating words of resignation from Tyrone’s attacking ace Connor McAliskey as he struggles to deal with the cruel fact his season is over.

They’re not happy being stuck on three All-Irelands. In Tyrone, they crave more and, going by what we observed last Saturday, the county looks geared towards achieving that.

Role reversal is the phrase that came into my head watching Saturday’s first All-Ireland quarter-final.