Your GAA Championship weekend review

HERE THEY COME again!

Mayo are back in the All-Ireland final for their latest attempt to take the Sam Maguire trophy back west for the first time since 1951.

For most onlookers, the attacking verve of James Horan’s side made them favourites of both the heart and the head against Tyrone.

They held the smart money, yet even the most assured punter must have been shifting uneasily in yesterday’s first half in Croke Park as Tyrone settled first and powered to a 0-7 to 0-3 lead.

Mayo are well versed at this stage of the competition, though. They may have taken their time to get going, but they displayed the cool heads necessary to cancel out the gulf and the skill and physicality needed to end the match as a contest well before the finish.

Here’s the match report with all you need to know about the first All-Ireland SFC semi final. Alternatively, relive it through our live minute-by-minute account.

However, not every game wound up with the result you would have expected…

Mayo v Tyrone summed up in a single image

Aidan O’Shea tackles Colm Cavanagh of Tyrone. ©INPHO/James Crombie

Harte made to wait for Tyrone game #201

The veteran manager reached a double century of games in charge of the red hand county on Sunday. He’ll have to wait until 2014 to hit 201.

Harte with Peter Canavan in 2003. ©INPHO/Tom Honan

Seventh time lucky for Mayo?

Life hasn’t been easy for fans of the green and red in the past decade or three. Not only have the senior footballers fallen at the final hurdle on half a dozen occasions, but so too have the county’s minors.

Yesterday, the minors paved the way for history as they trounced Monaghan by 3-19 to 1-12 with goals from Michael Plunkett, Tommy Conroy and Conor Loftus.

What are the chances of a double celebration on September 22?

©INPHO/Lorraine O’Sullivan

The turning point

Though Mayo had already reeled in the four-point gap between the sides, Alan Freeman’s firmly struck spot-kick twisted the knife in Tyrone and gave Horan’s men an important bit of breathing space.

Casualties of war

Earlier, we brought you the news of Cillian O’Connor’s shoulder injury which makes him a real doubt for the All-Ireland final.

Sadly for minor Cian Hanley (brother of Brisbane Lions’ player, Pearce) he is almost certainly out of the curtain-raiser having fractured his collarbone.

©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Fancy another go?

Tyrone had plenty long-serving players in action yesterday, but will 33 year-old Pascal McConnell, 32 year-old Stephen O’Neill and 33 year-old Conor Gormley be back in action next year?

©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Likely explanation for Tyrone defeat

©INPHO/Cathal Noonan

‘Unidentified fan’ of the day

He’s a divil for the headbands.

And loves to fist-pump his way through some bangin’ tunes.

©INPHO/James Crombie

Kenny and Creighton were kindred spirits for 70 minutes.

Miss of the Championship?

Whatever you make of the decision to call Freeman’s first attempt on goal back for a free, Kevin McLoughlin surely won’t argue that coming away pointless from that attack is inexcusable.

High speed collision of the weekend

Tom Cunniffe and Peter Harte sent the G-Forces surging through each others cheeks.

©INPHO/Cathal Noonan

Much less impressive stuff from Aidan O’Shea

gif credit: Balls.ie

It’s not all good news for Mayo footballers

Cora Staunton’s 1-9 wasn’t enough to stop the Kerry women from staging a dramatic late surge comeback to book a place in the All-Ireland semi-final.

The Kingdom edged the thrilling contest by 2-14 to 2-13 with Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh matching Staunton’s tally and providing one of the three points in the final five minutes which propelled Kerry into the next round.

‘Nought to 60′ performance of the weekend

In Saturday’s other quarter-final, Cork showed tremendous character to overturn a 2-12 to 0-9 deficit against Dublin.

Not alone did they overturn it, they shifted into another gear altogether as they hit 1-10 without reply in the final 20 minutes to end up 1-19 to 2-12 victors.

Clare’s David McInerney collected his ‘counting chickens’ award

Whoa, whoa whoa! Antrim won what now?

The Ulster U21 side produced one of the shocks of the year by getting the better of Leinster hurling champions Wexford on a scoreline of 2-15 to 1-16 at Semple Stadium.

Read more on that seismic result here. The Saffrons join Clare in the All-Ireland U21 final. No doubt there’ll be plenty of northern accents in McInerney’s ear when that day comes.

Planning ahead

While Dublin’s Jim Gavin was adamant he wouldn’t set foot in Croke Park to see a potential final opponent at work, Kerry boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice showed no such superstition as he took in the action from the Hogan Stand.

What’s next?

So, we know who three of this year’s senior Championship finalists will be. The hurlers of Cork and Clare will clash on September 8, but who will join Mayo for the September 22 decider?
Next Sunday, a whole lot of questions about this Championship summer will be answered by the meeting of Dublin and Kerry in the second SFC semi-final.
The last man to mastermind an All-Ireland football win may not be a part of the game next season. Donegal’s Jim McGuinness again side-stepped questions about his future, telling the BBC that the situation is “undecided.”