Imagine trying to convince somebody that, after 68 years of trial and epic failure, the prize they crave so badly will never be theirs, always beyond them.

And with that, the Super 8 became the final four with the remaining quartet arguably the best in the country.

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.

John O’Mahony and Conor Mortimer have taken issue with the blame apportioned to goalkeeper David Clarke for Mayo’s restart difficulties.

Former Mayo selector Tony McEntee insists tomorrow’s Super 8 decider is not personal for Stephen Rochford - but claims Donegal are in difficulty going to Castlebar.

When David Clifford reduced the deficit to one point in the 72nd minute of the league final, the game hinged on the next Mayo kickout.

It was two minutes after 10pm when the Roscommon team bus, led by two garda squad cars, departed the scene of a most unexpected raid.

If Mayo supporters didn’t see their lives of final anguish flashing before their eyes as Stephen O’Brien squared the ball for David Clifford in the first minute of additional time then they are lying.

It turned out to be an exhilarating, exciting, and excellent game of football did this Allianz Division One decider between Mayo and Kerry.

Mayo 3-11 Kerry 2-10

NUI Galway will play wither UCC or Garda College in Round 2 of the Sigerson Cup as first-half goals from Damien Comer and Brian Donovan set them on the road to an easy win over IT Sligo.

Galway’s Rebecca Hennelly will relish this week’s historic camogie All-Star tour in Madrid, Spain, more than most. 

Ex-Mayo ladies football boss Frank Browne has hit out at the “farcical process” to appoint a new Galway camogie manager, writes Eoghan Cormican.

Education Correspondent Niall Murray reports from the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland annual congress and also meets a teacher hit by the mortgage deposit trap.

Keepers’ conundrum

NUI Galway 4-14 St Pat’s Dochas Eireann 1-12: NUI Galway manager Tony Ward praised his side’s character but knows they didn’t play to their potential as they saw off a valiant St Pat’s in the Fitzgibbon Cup at Dangan in Galway.

Mayo’s football panel will not be issuing an official response to extraordinary claims made by former co-managers Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes.

Michael Moynihan looks back on the past month’s big GAA news...

Larry Ryan breaks down the Rob Hennelly episode...

Mayo manager, Stephen Rochford, has been the object of scathing criticism this week.

Dublin will be rightly hailed as one of the truly great sides and are in the middle of writing a very special history for themselves, writes Mike Quirke.

Beleaguered Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly yesterday revealed his heartache following Saturday’s All- Ireland final replay defeat.

On March 19, 2017, Kerry are set to entertain Dublin in their round five Division 1 game. Should Dublin extend their current 29-game unbeaten run to that point, they will have the opportunity to match the greatest invincible stretch set by the Kingdom between 1928 and 1933 when they went 34 matches without a defeat.

Heartbroken Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly has vowed to persevere with his inter-county career after the All-Ireland final blunder that cost his county dear against Dublin.

Chekhov’s gun. It’s a literary, ahem, thing. Erudite and discerning folk that they are, readers of the Irish Examiner’s sports section will be familiar with the concept. 

An understandably dejected Stephen Rochford explained the reasoning behind the decision to start Rob Hennelly in this evening’s All-Ireland final replay.

Mayo’s misery will extend to a 66th year after Dublin’s excellent bench scored them a second successive All-Ireland title this evening, their hero in the drawn final Cillian O’Connor widing a last gasp free to force extra-time.

Mayo 2-11 Monaghan 1-12: In the absence of Aidan O’Shea, Lee Keegan, and Cillian O’Connor for the final few minutes in Clones, Mayo supporters might have reasoned they were all out of inspiration.

Peadar Healy is an under-the-radar sort, so announcing themselves with 1-18 against the second-ranked team in the country is probably leaping a little too energetically into February for the new manager of the Cork footballers.

Some years ago, Páidí Ó Sé told the GAA world that ‘a grain of rice can tip the scales’. He must have heard it from a Chinese Emperor on a visit to Ceann Trá!

They say to really see a game properly, you need to be in the stand taking it all in, being in a position to see players’ movement, the real shape of a team or the off the ball tussles which TV cameras often don’t pick up.

Carlow 1-13 NUIG 2-10: Carlow hurlers recovered from a disastrous start to carve out a commendable draw against NUIG in this Walsh Cup first-round tie at Dr Cullen Park yesterday.

Kilkenny 4-12 Galway 3-07

Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly has rejected the common belief the county don’t have a marquee forward. The claim has been made for most of James Horan’s term in charge but Hennelly need only point at Cillian O’Connor to dispute it.

Mayo 3-14 Galway 0-16

Dublin 3-14 Mayo 2-17

Milford 0-6 Ardrahan 0-5