Crescent 33 - Castletroy 12 

Castlebar (Mayo) 3-8 Clann na nGael (Roscommon) 0-13: Castlebar Mitchels managed to keep Clann na nGael at arm’s length to set up a mouth-watering provincial final against Corofin in two weeks’ time.

For a weekend that has served up some lovely football in recent years, there’s been little love for the football league semi- finals in some quarters.

It escaped the attention of the press box in Killarney at the time but Michael Conroy was indeed a temporary replacement (ie, a blood substitute) for Evan Regan on Sunday, writes John Fogarty.

The four O’Connor brothers stole the show as Ballintubber went on a goalscoring spree in yesterday’s Mayo SFC semi-final, hitting the net nine times to set up a mouthwatering county final against defending champions Castlebar Mitchels.

Mayo will not look outside the county for James Horan’s successor — but favourite Kevin McStay faces strong opposition from Pat Holmes for the position.

The question is this: what have Donegal, Joe Brolly, the general GAA media, the Mortimer family, Brian Cuthbert, RTÉ, Mayo County Board and Jim Gavin all got in common?

Ah, August. That time of the year when referees are that bit slower to reach for the whistle and shy away from making the big calls.

For every Kevin McManamon there’s a Richie Feeney.

Mayo SFC: Beaten All-Ireland club football finalists Castlebar Mitchels got the defence of their Mayo SFC title off to a winning start yesterday.

RTÉ pundits met GAA officials on Saturday to get a rundown on new football rules as well as interpreting rules in both codes ahead of this year’s championship coverage.

New York 0-08 Mayo 4-18

Doing the rounds on the internet at the moment is a hilarious caricature of a bandwagon Dublin supporter standing on Hill 16.

He was held aloft as the poster boy for those advocating the introduction of the black card after being infamously hauled down by Sean Cavanagh in last summer’s All-Ireland quarter-final, but Monaghan’s Conor McManus remains unconvinced about its merits.

Richie Feeney has publicly apologised to his Castlebar Mitchels’ team-mates for his early black card in Monday’s All-Ireland club final defeat.

Pat Holmes admitted losing Castlebar Mitchels’ “spiritual leader” Richie Feeney to an early black card was a major setback yesterday.

1. Diarmuid Connolly is a top-class footballer

St Vincents (Dublin) 4-12 Castlebar Mitchels (Mayo) 2-11

Diarmuid Connolly laid on a majestic performance at Croke Park, hitting a 2-5 tally to guide St Vincent’s to glory in the All-Ireland Club football final.

Castlebar Mitchels 3-13 Dr Crokes 1-11

St Vincent’s of Dublin will play Mayo kingpins Castlebar Mitchels in the AIB GAA All-Ireland club SFC final at Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day, after the two teams emerged from a pair of titanic and hugely entertaining tussles in today’s semi-finals.

A recent end-of-year interview request with a Mayo player was declined at the request of James Horan on the basis that 2013 is a chapter closed. No bother, we said.

Last Saturday in Claremorris’s McWilliam Park Hotel, the Mayo management and backroom teams gathered to formulate their 2014 plan of attack.

There was lots of spectacular action in an absorbing game in Hyde Park yesterday, before Castlebar Mitchels managed by the experienced Pat Holmes, saw off St. Brigids, and denied the Roscommon men a four-in-a-row.

St Brigid’s 2-12 Castlebar Mitchel's 3-13 (aet)

Limerick's Na Piarsaigh and Castlebar Mitchels took AIB Munster Hurling and Connacht Football Senior provincial titles respectively, while Portlaoise and St. Vincent's advanced to the Leinster Club SFC Final today.

Reigning AIB Ulster Club SFC Champions Crossmaglen Rangers bowed out following a replay defeat to Kilcoo today.

Castlebar Mitchels’ 1-11 Breaffy 0-08

Five final questions. Stupid or not, their relevance will be decided tomorrow

Out of sorts for half-an-hour and still they saunter through.

Mayo 4-17 Donegal 1-10

Cillian O'Connor and Donal Vaughan have been unsurprisingly drafted back into the Mayo team for Sunday's All-Ireland SFC quarter-final against Donegal at Croke Park (throw-in 4pm).

Mayo 5-11 London 0-10

Recalled goalkeeper Robert Hennelly is one of four changes to the Mayo team for Sunday's Connacht SFC final against London in Castlebar (throw-in 2pm).

It’s too early to make a call on James Horan’s Mayo as the bigger tests lie ahead

Mayo 0-21 Roscommon 0-9

His team have amassed an aggregate winning margin of 29 points in their two Championship outings so far and James Horan doesn’t mind it one bit.

Mayo 0-21 Roscommon 0-9