The weekend started with talk of the most open All-Ireland race in years, and it ended with what feels like a four-week run-in to a Dublin-Kerry final.
Ultimately, the quarter-finals were a bit of a damp squib, with the two headline games ending in landslides and while there was plenty of excitement to Monaghan-Armagh, it was low on quality, much like Derry-Cork.
The fact that repeat pairings aren’t allowed in the semi-finals rinsed the drama from it. I’m sure that Derry and Monaghan would have loved to have drawn each other and there’d be one novel finalist guaranteed, and a blockbuster semi-final between the other two.
There will be so much hype around an anticipated Dublin-Kerry final that we may see flat performances from them in the semi-finals, but while I could certainly see Monaghan and/or Derry being difficult opponents, I ultimately can’t see an upset in either game.
But then, I certainly didn’t envisage a 12-point Dublin victory at half-time.
Mayo had played most of the football in the first half and their one-point deficit wasn’t a true reflection of the play. Dublin were vulnerable, with Colm Basquel and Cormac Costello the only forwards making an impact and Con O’Callaghan and Paul Mannion effectively marked absent.
But even when Mayo were scoring, I didn’t feel that it would be sustainable given that Ryan O’Donoghue and Tommy Conroy were their only threats.
And having thrown so much at Dublin in the first half, I doubted if they could match that effort for another 35-plus minutes.
Still though, that third quarter was devastating from Dublin - seven scores from their first seven attacks in the second half. It was game over when the second goal went in.
They outscored Mayo 1-11 to 0-3 in the second half, an awful drubbing really, in what was their best display of the year.
Mayo really was the draw they needed to get themselves firing again and I have no doubt that they drew on the hurt from the defeat two years ago.
James McCarthy was magnificent and he’s most at home in midfield, where Brian Fenton hasn’t hit the heights of previous years.
Injury-wise, things seem to be clearing up nicely with Eoin Murchan probably the only doubt for the semi-final. Jack McCaffrey hasn’t enough under his belt to go for 70 minutes yet but another couple of weeks will bring him on.
He and Ciaran Kilkenny made an impact off the bench, with Kilkenny having been seemingly dropped for the first time in his Dublin career.
With McCaffrey, Mannion and Stephen Cluxton back, along with Pat Gilroy’s addition to the management team, Dessie Farrell appears to have pulled a masterstroke.
You’d wonder how the last couple of years would have played out with those three players on board.
But, having hit 2-17 and 2-18 respectively over the weekend, Dublin and Kerry appear to have timed it to perfection.
If the final we all expect comes around, it’ll be a toss of a coin.
