Apart from being pointless after three games, if Clare ever needed a win they were never more desperate for a result after Davy O’Halloran’s comments in a newspaper interview on Saturday morning.

Gaelic games is a participation sports at its broadest base.

Of the Kerry team which began the drawn All-Ireland semi-final with Mayo, eight had played Sigerson Cup football for UCC.

FR Pat O’Donnell wouldn’t be in the habit of giving tips but this one he was full sure of.

As football game plans go for underdogs, this was almost utopian.

ALL-IRELAND SFC SEMI-FINAL:

Imagine Brian Mullins without aggression and physicality? He’d be more suited to playing for Cork today than Dublin in the ‘70s.

There is a danger that Gaelic football will stagnate unless it reforms itself radically, argues Dónal Óg Cusack

Tyrone, Donegal, Monaghan, Derry, Antrim and Cavan were victorious in the Power NI Dr. McKenna Cup in Ulster this afternoon.

Just a couple of weeks back, a trip through the Far East happened to briefly coincide with a trip by Barcelona through the same part of the world.

“I’m not afraid of any man” — so said Philo Beddoe, the Clint Eastwood character in ‘Every which way but Loose’.

James Horan aimed a withering pop at Donegal assistant manager Rory Gallagher for his comments about Mayo sports psychologist Kieran Shannon last week.

Donegal 0-14 Laois 0-8

Victorious Monaghan manager Malachy O’Rourke admitted he and his management team had studied Donegal forensically prior to yesterday’s Ulster final.

If you weren’t there, you’d have missed the send-off Joe McQuillan got from St Conleth’s Park on Saturday night.

CONNACHT SFC FINAL:

A top Dublin footballer has been hit with a proposed three-match ban for biting Donegal’s Patrick McBrearty — but last night vowed to appeal.

Donegal 1-10 Dublin 0-13

Mayo 1-10 Donegal 0-9

Cork 0-12 Donegal 0-10

Disappointment was the key word for Donegal boss Jimmy McGuinness after Saturday night’s League defeat to Cork.

Watching Cork-Down encounters over these last two years and the dreamer in you would be inclined to think Gulliver and Lilliput.

It took just a few sentences, but in those few seconds Jimmy McGuinness managed to depressingly sum up the next three months.

Jimmy’s winning matches with incremental marginal gains

Dr Crokes boss Noel O’Leary will not be sending a Christmas card to Jimmy McGuinness.

In GAA terms, we are well into The Twilight Zone.

Kerry legend Mikey Sheehy may be the holder of eight All-Ireland medals but still gets that tingle of excitement at the prospect of being back at the coalface of the Kingdom’s resurrection bid in 2013.

It’s been some journey.

I remember the evening I first heard a certain scooter crunch across the gravel of a certain fabled backyard near a certain storied village where the wisdom of uncertainty has always been a driving force.

A few questions give you an indication of the kind of man he is.

Barry Moran is adamant Mayo’s recent history of All-Ireland final misfortunes will have no impact on James Horan’s side.

Former Galway captain Ollie Canning suggests Brian Cody has attempted to put All-Ireland final referee Barry Kelly under “a bit of pressure”.

New Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice doesn’t expect many of the team that started the All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Donegal to retire.

Donegal 0-16 Cork 1-11

There was a stage in my footballing life where Donegal was more important to me than Cork.

GAA pundit Joe Brolly believes the Donegal footballers will “shock the world in the next six weeks”.

Though he wears the number 12 jersey for Donegal, Mark McHugh’s role is far removed from that of a traditional wing-forward.

Sunday’s opponents impressed Graham Canty long before they dumped Kerry out of the championship earlier this month.

After Cork defeated Kildare in their All-Ireland SFC quarter-final earlier this month, the squad and management stayed on at Croke Park to watch Donegal’s clash with Kerry, knowing they would be facing the winners.

Donegal football boss Jimmy McGuinness has an extra couple of subs on his team this year and even if they never kick a ball they plan to help him all the way to Croker success.

Cork or Donegal are reporting no fresh injury concerns ahead of their All-Ireland SFC semi-final meeting at Croke Park this Sunday.

Allow Colm Parkinson, if you will, a told-you-so.

Seanie Johnston is unlikely to play for Kildare this year after the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee yesterday turned down his transfer request to St Kevin’s, Staplestown.

Carbery Rangers issued a significant statement of intent at the opening hurdle of the Cork SFC in Dunmanway last night when they swept past Clonakilty.