You imagine as the Kerry party left Croke Park yesterday evening they were preparing a case for the defence of Stephen O’Brien.

Andy Moran kicked two injury-time points to ensure his Mayo side sealed a place in the All-Ireland semi-finals as they withheld any notions of Donegal comeback.

Collateral damage or a typically tigerish season? This evening’s all-or-nothing duel with a county they have not beaten in five league and championship games will go a long way to defining Mayo’s 2019.

The contrast couldn’t be starker. Of their 26-man panel that travelled to Roscommon last Sunday, 11 Kerry players have yet to lose a national final in Croke Park.

David Clifford is in line to make his first start for Kerry this season as he is named in the full-forward line in tomorrow’s final round Division 1 game in Roscommon.

Both Mayo and Galway have championship debutants for Sunday’s Connacht SFC quarter-final clash in MacHale Park in Castlebar (4pm).

There’s a school of thought that Chris Barrett should have been named man-of-the-match in last year’s All-Ireland football final.

Reigning Footballer of the Year Andy Moran has admitted he acted out of character when he remonstrated with referee Maurice Deegan last month and says he was “disappointed” with his actions.

Although it wasn’t widely identified as a trend — more reported as a series of unrelated events — an intriguing development in 2017 was the signing by the managers of the country’s top four football teams to stay on until 2020, writes Kieran Shannon.

When Mayo are in town, there’s usually drama and that was certainly the case in Ballybofey yesterday when a point from Kevin McLoughlin in the fourth minute of injury time preserved the top-flight status of Stephen Rochford’s side at Donegal’s expense.

Poor decision making invariably leads to poor results.

Monaghan 0-12 Mayo 0-13: One point sourced from a disputed free was all that separated Monaghan and Mayo in Clones yesterday and Malachy O’Rourke was of the opinion that his men may have edged it had the crest on their chests been different.

There was late drama at today's EirGrid All-Ireland U21 football semi-final between Mayo and Dublin at O’Connor Park in Tullamore.

Mayo 1-12 Galway 0-13: Andrew Farrell’s goal 10 minutes from the break helped Mayo to their first Connacht junior football title since 2012.