Our writers look ahead to the major talking points ahead of the weekend's Allianz League action.

Second half goals from Shane Ryan and Gary Cooney were enough for a the Limerick side that were down by two points at half time.

Ellen Walshe became the first Irish woman to break the one-minute barrier in the 100m butterfly.

Waterford chairman Seán Michael O’Regan believes the increasing number of players stepping away from senior inter-county teams in their 20s is a sign of the times.

It took a penalty shootout to separate Austin Stacks and Rathmore at a cold Rathbeg on Sunday with Kieran Donaghy scoring the decisive penalty in the first shootout to decide a Kerry club game.

Shane Ryan has claimed Ireland’s second medal at the LEN European Short Course Swimming Championships in Glasgow.

It is unusual to find a team heading into a provincial club fixture having not played championship in seven weeks. Then again, it is an unusual position Austin Stacks find themselves in.

Man of the match Sean O’Shea provided 1-6 (four frees) but Kenmare Shamrocks needed a point from Stephen O’Brien to force extra-time, before they advanced to Round 3 of the Kerry SFC at the expense of a dogged and determined Rathmore.

Having twice been shortlisted for the top individual award, six-time All-Ireland winning captain Stephen Cluxton is in the shake-up to claim his first footballer of the year as one of Dublin’s 13 PwC All-Star nominations.

2018 champions The Nire staged a miraculous comeback from ten points behind to overturn An Rinn in last night’s Waterford SFC quarter-final at Fraher Field (1-15 to 2-11).

"You go away, you lick your wounds, gather yourself and come at it again next year,” said Peter Keane.

Having wrestled momentum back from Dublin when managing to draw level on the stroke of half-time (this was the first time since the 15th second the Kingdom had stood on level terms with their opponents), Kerry found themselves on the backfoot once again when Eoin Murchan supplied the sole goal of this All-Ireland final nine seconds after the restart.

Dublin have won their fifth All-Ireland title in a row in a stunning battle with Kerry at Croke Park.

The three points which Paul Mannion and Con O’Callaghan supplied on September 1 compared rather poorly to the impressive totals the pair had run up en route to the decider.

The first instalment was one of those rare games that seem to get inside your soul and suck you into the emotional rollercoaster that was playing out before your eyes.

All-Ireland winning Kerry keeper and selector Diarmuid Murphy joined Cian O’Neill, Mike Quirke and Tony Leen on this week’s Renault

Diarmuid Murphy selected five areas where Kerry impressed in Sunday’s thrilling decider and identified scope for improvement in the replay.

Maybe more than a Kerry victory to save the game from the evil empire, maybe more than a phenomenal Dublin team winning a historic five in a row, Gaelic football needed a game to remember.

When Gaelic football is played right, this game has it all. We haven’t been blessed with a lot of outstanding matches these last five or six years because of the way some teams play, but we were all lucky to see an All-Ireland final like that.

Jim Gavin’s response when asked if there was a sense of regret at neglecting to take Jonny Cooper off David Clifford when he had the chance could have hardly been more definitive.

Dublin and Kerry will have to battle it out again on Saturday, September 14 (6pm throw-in), after this absorbing if error-strewn tussle finished tied.

The 5/1 outsiders for Sam Maguire must challenge the five-in-a-row-chasing champions with imagination and intensity, says Éamonn Fitzmaurice.

Gavin White comes into the team in place of Shane Enright

Kerry must simplify their kickout strategy and go long from the tee against Dublin, says former Kingdom star Declan O’Sullivan.

Talk of Dublin’s drive of five, or Kerry somehow bringing a halt to it will grow inescapably deafening in the next few days.

Seventeen Kerry players are in line to make their All-Ireland senior final debut on Sunday afternoon.

Declan O'Sullivan, Ray Cosgrove, and Oisín McConville preview the All-Ireland football final with Mike Quirke.

Peter Keane wasn’t the least bit surprised to hear Jim Gavin regard his Kerry side as a team of the now, rather than one for the future.

Peter Keane told reporters afterwards that he did not watch Saturday’s Dublin-Mayo semi-final (“there was no point, we were worrying about ourselves”), but he clearly heard some of the commentary which followed the Dubs’ comprehensive win as the Kerry manager was incredibly quick off the mark when it was put to him that nobody was giving the Kingdom a prayer on September 1.

A rousing second-half Kerry display ensured it will be they who are the last men standing between Dublin and the five-in-a-row that eluded the Kingdom in 1982.

The Kerry defence has been worryingly devoid of leadership since the closing rounds of the league, according to former Kingdom footballer Seán O’Sullivan.

There was a point midway through the second half on Saturday when this Super 8 game, and any ambitions Kerry held to progress to an All-Ireland semi-final, appeared to be in grave danger of slipping through their fingers.

We are on the cusp of a revolution in consumer tastes, which will rock the agri-food industry to its core, regardless of the Climate Change Advisory committee recommendations for a substantial reduction in the cattle herd to meet Ireland’s 2030 greenhouse gas emissions targets.

Shortly after the final whistle, the two teams mingled, swapped jerseys, and smiled in the middle of the field. Level 15 times and never more than two points difference between them, it was all they could do.

The climax to the second weekend of Super 8 football was needed to keep us interested. In truth, the other games disappointed in various ways.

A last gasp Michael Murphy free levelled this game for a 15th and final time in a cracking Super 8, Round 2 game.

Unlike 12 months ago, Kerry got their Super 8 campaign off to a roaring start with this annihilation of Mayo.

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.

Kerry may have a chance to exact revenge on Galway in Fitzgerald Stadium, in Killarney, on July 13 or 14, but David Moran is not sure it’s an advantage for the Munster champions to have their home game first day out this year.

Life was breathed into the Munster championship on Saturday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Cork showed up and battled, stayed with Kerry for the game but ultimately came up short. Kerry played in fits and starts, put up a good score and got the job done. Both teams have plenty to reflect on this week as they ready themselves for the serious stuff.

Regrets? They’ll have a few.

Just 18,265 souls, the worst crowd for a Cork-Kerry Munster SFC final in 36 years, were treated to entertainment if anything else as the challengers gave Kerry their biggest test in four years.

Big enough to expect a win, small enough to fear a defeat — that’s the position Clare are in travelling to Carrick-on-Shannon this evening.

Cork have been forced into three late changes to their starting fifteen ahead of tomorrow’s Munster football final against champions Kerry (7pm).